Category: Grace

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Fire Seeds

Lord, I lift up my own need of…my own need of You. Thank You for a beautiful morning. You can fill the void–darkness on the face of the deep, and God said–and there was. What You spoke came into being. So, Lord, I’m praying. Lord, I am Yours. I am all Yours. What would You say?

You cannot carry results. You are not planting full-grown crops. You are planting seeds. You are planting seeds in the confidence that within the seed itself is the possibility. You are planting possibility. You know My heart to water and nourish, but it is up to each field’s steward what happens to the seeds. Some seeds lie dormant for years and only fire awakens them. These seeds, like those of the bristlecone pine, are seeds called healing. Called forgiveness. Called grace. It is not that these seeds call forth the fire, or relish it. The miracle of these seeds is that they will replenish even the most ravaged landscape. You planted some of these types of seeds long ago, and you are planting more now. Having access to the field is huge. You walk so softly, so gently. You have gone out mourning, carrying your seeds. Part of what you are reaping now in joy, is access to the field. Keep loving the field no matter how hard and dry and stoney it looks. I Am the Superfund Champion. I can cleanse and transform any field that yields. By yielding even slightly to the seeds you plant, the field is yielding to Me. Keep positive, stay gentle, and you will also enjoy the bountiful harvest, in time–meaning in this life, on this earth, in your experience, of those lives transformed. Don’t ever stop believing for that, for My Promise is True. It does take two–and they have you and Me. That is the twosome that will create miracles.

 

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Grace

Lord, I’ve been remembering, 45 years ago this very weekend, not Easter–Easter was later back in 1973–but this weekend, how I decided even though we were not a church-going family at that point, to give my life to You, to knowing You, to being Yours. What I remember the most was saying to You then, at 16 years old, I want this to be real, and I want this to be for always. I don’t want to make this commitment now and then renege on it later. I want this to last. And it has. Sure, I had some ups and downs, not so much in my belief in Your existence as in my understanding of how powerful and true and real Your Love is. Once I began to build a relationship with You based on Love and not on fear, everything changed. My whole life changed. I am so grateful, God. You stuck with me, even when my understanding was flawed, or incomplete, enough so that I made some really poor decisions at times. Yet You were faithful despite all of that, faithful to continue to call me Yours. I think I will spend the rest of my life, the rest of eternity, trying to find more ways to say thank You. I guess that is why I keep trying to give other folks the benefit of the doubt, as the saying goes. That is what You did for me. Even when I doubted, You gave me the benefit of Your love despite my doubt. I guess that is what Grace means, right? 

Grace shows the lengths that I will go to bring each of My children, each of My sheep, home. And what is home, but a sanctuary of safety and love? I went to the Cross precisely so that I could say, Father forgive them.

Lord, I had this insight a couple years back; at least, it felt like insight at the time. You didn’t say, Father forgive them because they are so sorry. You did not wait for humans to be sorry, or to apologize, or to change, or even to ask for forgiveness. You proclaimed it in advance. And You proclaimed it over a terrible act, Your own betrayal and murder. You didn’t say, Father forgive them when they realize what they have done…not even that! You just said it like it is–they don’t know what they are doing. And isn’t that true so often of all of us? We THINK we know, but we don’t. And in that moment, there was no sorrow, there was no repentance, no change of mind or heart or purpose. So when that insight came, it seemed to me at the time to have come from You. I am not sure I would or could have thought that up on my own.

You did not. Indeed, that was Me teaching you.

So… So Your response was not to judge, not to proclaim righteous judgment, or anger, or even to ask for justice. You did not even ask that they would be made sorry! Your response was to ask for mercy–in the very moments of Your dying, You are asking that those putting You to death be forgiven. Am I right? Is that what You meant? And so…what does that mean today? In our time? At this Easter, 2018?

Just as some believe the window on miracles, or answered prayers, has closed, so some believe the window on mercy has closed as well, or at least, has narrowed and shuttered to admit a very limited number into the inner circle of My Favor and forgiveness. The criteria for earning that forgiveness varies according to doctrine, but the general idea that My forgiveness is limited is the principle that has endured through the centuries within numerous faith traditions that disagree on many aspects of worship or service or the afterlife. The one agreement seems to be, entry into My Kingdom, be that favor on earth or favor after death, is limited. These same traditions then teach different criteria for admission! From each one’s perspective, all the other traditions seem wrong, and only theirs is correct and true. No wonder so many have rejected all of them wholesale!

There are prayers I always delight to answer in the affirmative. One of those is, Father, please forgive them. Of course, I always also hear, Father please forgive me…but those prayers often have to be repeated again and again as the petitioners’ behavior remains the same. But prayers for forgiveness of others, forgiveness for those who have wronged the one praying, those prayers are powerful, and are based in love and compassion and a true commitment to peace and accord. That is the prayer Jesus prayed from the Cross. That kind of prayer always gets heard. Do you think I would answer NO! to a prayer uttered in that spirit, with that heart, from My Own Son? From One Whose life and love mirrors My Father-God’s heart?

Over and over you have examples of His refusal to enact revenge, of His trying to teach about mercy and grace. Yet so many, in His Name, will use this weekend to proclaim a mercy that is stingy or so full of conditions it is not mercy at all–it is reward for following a rulebook of codes for behavior.

What this means in your time is the same thing it meant when Jesus uttered those words in the first place: I, God, Am constantly answering His prayer for mercy, with every act of human injustice, with every deliberate action of evil, for all the ways humans hurt one another. I Am always, always working to mitigate ill-will and to encourage the reuniting of humanity, humans with humans, humans with nature, humans with Me. Here is a hard question–what do you think about that kind of radical mercy? The kind of mercy that would ask for and proclaim forgiveness even in the midst of the unspeakable act? The mercy that would extend a hand not only to the one drowning but to the one watching on shore doing nothing to help? The mercy that turns the key in the lock and throws open the jail cell door even as the sentence of judgement is being shouted out by the pious mob? What kind of justice is this, that offers and extends and in fact insists on mercy? The Divine kind. The kind that says, mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy wins the day. The kind that knows, the one who is forgiven much, loves much. The kind that is building a kingdom, one act at a time, one hour at a time, one life at a time, all on love.

Lord, I decided some time ago, I want to be a part of that kingdom. I think I have some friends who will decide that is heresy. That judgment is the last result.

They are mistaken. And you know what is precious about that? Their being mistaken does not jeopardize their eternal destiny one bit! They may well be surprised by discovering how broad and wide and deep and rich My Love actually is. But in that Moment, when they understand, all their misunderstanding will melt away, and only full understanding, and their own reciprocal love, will remain.

The same is true of those who have committed acts of unkindness–or worse–on earth. In the Moment when full understanding comes for them, so comes full regret and the weight of that regret will be unbearable. You were correct when you shared that insight with another recently. That is indeed the Moment of wailing and gnashing of teeth. And right at that exact Moment, Here I Am, the Burden-Lifter. When their burden of regret is lifted, and is replaced by My Mercy and Forgiveness, the answering response of their soul will be gratitude and love so great they will not be able to contain it. The overflow of the love and gratitude from those many would call the “worst sinners” will become the sweetest perfume in all of heaven. No earthly rose can rival that perfume! What will be evident throughout eternity is the strength of My Love and My Grace–not My Justice, nor My Retribution, but My Mercy. For I Am He Who Pardons. Remember when Jesus said, so you love those who love you? What great thing is that? Love in the way Your Father in Heaven loves, for He sends His rain–His blessing–on the just and the unjust alike.

I tell you, that is the “perfection” Jesus was speaking of — full, complete, whole Love. That is the Love I Am. That is the Love I Give. That is the Love you will know in fullness, after your earthly life ceases. That is the Love that everyone will know–for My Will shall be done, and it is not My Will that any perish, but that ALL come to repentance. In that Moment, that Moment of clarity and understanding and regret, all shall come to repentance, to the intensity of wanting to have made a different choice, not out of a desire to save their own souls but out of a desire to not have caused such suffering for others–THAT is repentance, and that is the Moment when Grace and Mercy flow. That is tripping the switch that floods the soul with light and with love.

So who do you think has the most joy, the deepest appreciation of grace, and the greatest capacity for love? Those who feel they don’t have anything to apologize for, that they are righteous in themselves, that they have followed the rules “well enough” — or those that realize all their mistakes, all their missteps, all their acts of unkindness have been wiped off the record books by the mercy and love of Someone much greater than themselves? Someone with the capability and capacity to inflict great punishment, but Who chooses instead to show great mercy?

God, I would assume the second ones. The ones who receive the most mercy, let’s say. The ones I would probably shun, or judge, if I met them here, now, before they received that mercy. Gosh, God, how can I ever learn to love like You love?

You know how married people begin to look like each other after they spend 40, 50, 60 years together? How their gestures begin to be the same? How their shared experiences and shared life make a new whole, still individuals, yet also one? This weekend is our 45th anniversary, yours and Mine. You look a little more like Me with every passing year. You already have grown beyond what you thought was your capacity and ability to love and embrace others unlike yourself. Start with compassion. If you can extend compassion, it is a very small step to extending mercy and forgiveness, and from there, it is a small step indeed to extending Love.

 

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The Heart of Lent

Lord, the other day someone I love told me, I am giving up guilt for Lent. I thought that was brilliant! I’ve had pastors in past years speak about releasing, letting go of habits or patterns of life that are not in line with Your love or our best values. And I have heard others talk about sacrifice and giving up something we love to undergo a fast in order to somehow make ourselves more attuned to You. And I have heard still others say, no, Lent is not for doing without, Lent is for adding to — adding in habits or patterns that actually help a person draw closer to You or be more loving in their earthly relationships. Lent is really an invention of humans, meant to prepare us for Easter. What would You say about Lent, about all these different ideas about how to mark it?

The different ideas really reflect different human personalities.

Well, how should we mark it then?

The important thing is not how you mark Lent, nor even how you celebrate Easter. The important thing is, in light of Christmas, in light of Easter, how do you live? How do you live the other 360-some days? How do you live the 360 degrees of your life’s round circuit of the year, when you are not celebrating these signature “holy days” like Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and your national holidays of Thanksgiving and New Year’s? What about all the other days? Too many ramp up what they think of as holiness during Lent, or during Advent, only to return to what they think of as secular lives during the other weeks of the year. What I would prefer is that you think of all your days as secular AND sacred. Both/And. No day is so secular that I Am not present. No day is more sacred than another. Every day, every hour, is present to Me and you are present to Me and I to you, at every moment. It is that presence that makes every second sacred. And I call you to live a sacred, consecrated life, in the middle of a very human existence, in community, with family, with friends, at work, at play, in business. What I mean by a consecrated life is a life in which you fully show up to be present while simultaneously aware of your connection to My Presence. One foot on the soil and one hand in heaven, so to speak. And your heart connected to both. So to answer your question about Lent, what I would say is, do you feel you are the most connected to Me you can possibly be, or is there room for a closer, deeper relationship? If you answer the question, there is no way I can be closer than I am living now, one of two things is true: you are very close to your Homegoing, or there is more for you to understand and grow into. And if you answer, I know I can be closer, but I don’t know how, then Lent has served its purpose. For I Am here to draw you and reach to you and teach you how to live a human life with a heavenly heart, with a heart connected to heaven and earth.

You saw the heart reflected tonight on the water, and you wondered, how can this phenomenon be happening? And I told you then, this is a reflection of your heart. And inside, you doubted. You doubted not Me but yourself. You doubted you were hearing My voice.

And then what happened? Your friend sent you a timely message written by Richard Rohr about divine radiance, about our human hearts being attuned to that radiant Presence, and how you need to keep your lens clean and your heart pure in order to see God. And where were you as she was preparing to send you that message? Out in the world, walking at sunset, camera in hand, very attuned to nature, beaming your own love of the land and the birds out from your heart. And what did you receive in return? A radiant heart shining and shimmering on the water. This is your calling, in Lent, in Advent, in all the other “ordinary times” — see with the eyes of your heart. See as God sees. And remember that the lens God chooses to see through magnifies good, and diminishes evil by applying mercy and grace and forgiveness and a seventy-times-seven second chance. So by all means, keep walking. Keep seeing. Keep sharing. And keep loving.

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Making Waves

One of my favorite quotes of Louise Hay is, you can start your day over at any time. God, I sort of feel like that about my week, like I need a do-over. Things are actually going quite well, but I think my attitude has needed a readjustment, and I’m sorry. I think I have, actually, I know I have been letting the stress get the best of me, meaning overtake my best self. I don’t know who else has noticed, but I have noticed. And obviously You have noticed.

I have a shorthand word for do-over also, and it is Grace.

I say that sometimes, God. I said it inside a lot this week, when I was panicked, about the wiring, about the computer hookup, about staging, about placement of fixtures: I move through my day with ease and grace.

So think about what you are really saying. If you are moving through with grace, with My Grace, then what that really means is you are moving forward in My Power. My Power is not only power to do, it is primarily power to be. In your case right now, that means power to be your best self, as you do all that needs doing.

Lord, I’ve gone months, months, without picking my fingers. Right through the ER visit with what turned out to be a mini stroke with Pete. What in the world set me off this week? I really need to know. It’s a stress response I no longer want to have in my psyche. Yet for some reason, it surfaced this week. Why?

This week you were confronted with many expectations and suggestions, so many coming at you at once that you literally could not hear yourself think. And you were so bombarded with having to react in the moment, moment after moment, that you could not figure out how to make time to hear Me either. Isn’t that true?

Lord, it is true. I just want to do everything right, everything correctly. And somehow please all these different people, some of whom want, or seem to want, very different things. I get lost in all of it.

Yes, you do get lost — you lose your focus, you lose your center and that is when you lose your way. In those moments although you may seem outwardly to be in control, you are actually free-falling into a very old fear, so old you can barely remember its origins. At the bottom of that fear is the prohibition against speaking up, speaking out, verbalizing your own thought or feeling or opinion, or asking for what you truly need or want. Your personal primal stress responses are all born out of silence. But as I have told you before, I don’t want you silent. I don’t want you shouting, either. As always there is a third way. You can find safe and sacred spaces to speak. Not to be silent, not to shout, but to speak. To speak up. Up from the well that is inside you, that is full, by the way, of creative, innovative, inspired ideas. On the one hand, you think it is dry, when it is actually full to nearly overflowing. And on the other hand, you are afraid if you pry the lid off this long-capped well, what will emerge will be anger or rage, something that would hurt someone else. You have been long schooled to think your words and thoughts have little value. They are precious to Me. Hear Me: your words, your thoughts, your feelings are Precious in My sight! Not anathema. Not cursed. Not rejected. Precious. Try that thought on for size!

Lord, that thought is huge. It is like a very large coat, several sizes too big.

Not too big. Not too big for your mind and not too big for your heart. But let’s talk a moment about your stress.

Ummm. Do we have to?

No, of course we do not “have to.” But you are the one who brought it up in the first place. Don’t you want to?

I guess. Maybe. Yes. Okay. Yes.

Do you know what stress is like? It is like picking up something too heavy for you to lift and carry, and then staggering under its weight, trying to prove you are strong. I Am not asking you to prove you are strong. I Am not asking you to prove anything. I know you and I love you. All I Am asking you is to walk with Me. Walk with Me and be honest. Tell Me what you cannot lift and carry. It may just be that you are trying to tote a burden that is not yours in the first place.

Not mine?

No. Not if what you are trying to carry is to meet others’ expectations that are either irrelevant, or impossible to truly satisfy, or counter to your true values. One of your core values is abundance. Another is the importance of connecting, if only for a brief few minutes. Another is that everyone ought to have a chance to shine. Another is that you recharge by drinking in air and light, clouds and water, wide, broad land and high tall land, and eye contact with all critters. The world did not always understand Me. It will not always understand you. You can seek to be understood or you can accept that you will sometimes–and sometimes more than other times–be misunderstood, and that is actually okay, because you are walking a different pace on a different trail than those who misunderstand. No judgment against them, and no judgment against you. But you have to decide in those moments whether it is worth it to you to just keep walking. It is when you turn aside, stop walking, and try to match either their path or their pace that you stumble into stress.

But Lord…shouldn’t I care what people think? 

If you can continue to love them, and show love to them, even if they misunderstand you, then your love is really what is most important–not their understanding.

So You think that is why I felt so stressed the past few days? I was trying to be understood?

You were longing to be understood, and considering the many thoughts and opinions all around you, you were literally trying to morph yourself into being a chameleon in order to blend in, not make waves. But let Me ask you something about making waves.

What did you photograph this week?

Oh, ha, Lord! Waves!

What kind of waves?

Oh, my gosh–big waves, huge waves, sunlit waves, magnificent curls and splashes, wave spray backwards and shooting up in ethereal angelic forms and rainbow colors, multiple wave sets breaking all at once. Fabulous huge waves!

What would you rather photograph, if there was no danger, no destruction, associated with your images? A flat lake-like ocean, or the ocean you saw yesterday?

The ocean I saw yesterday, Lord. I felt so alive out there. It was cold and windy and until I came in and realized my lips and face were chapped, I hardly noticed in the moment!

So I would ask you to carefully consider your answer in terms of your own life, your own influence. If you had a choice–and you do have a choice–do you want to be a placid lake or a wild ocean?

Gosh, God, that doesn’t seem fair, asking me that question. You know how much I love peace. How much I don’t want discord.

Who said anything about discord? I am asking about energy and influence. Which would you rather be?

Hmmm. Can I be both peaceful and inspiring? Because that ocean yesterday was inspiring, God. It was. It made me think of possibilities. It woke me up somehow.

That ocean uncapped your well. And what came spilling out? Rage? Anger? All that you feared? Anxiety? Panic? Stress?

No, God, none of that. Exhilaration and gratitude and gladness and exuberance. Joy. Joy is what came out, I guess. 

So let Me ask you one more time: How do you feel about “making waves” now?

Nervous. But I hear You. I do. Can You help me?

Of course. To paraphrase what Aslan said to Lucy, I shall be helping you all the time.

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Disconnected

Whew! I just tried to open this page and got the “not connected to internet” message–several times. Tried Pete’s computer which was fine, came back in, jiggled some wires, and here I am.

And what message did you get from that?

Honestly, God, the very first thing I thought of was how hectic my day was, and how I didn’t take time to connect deliberately with You in the morning. I am doing it now, at the end of my day instead of at the beginning.

You felt disconnected?

I did. All day long I was scattered. I’d woken with a migraine which went away a couple hours after I took my imitrex, and thank You and thank them again, whoever was involved in its formulation, but that put me behind schedule. 

But were you really disconnected? Is your internet service truly out, or did it just require a little effort, the tiniest focus and intent, on your part?

That’s all. It was weird.

Not weird. Wired. You just needed a gentle reminder that, despite your feeling disconnected, you are never truly disconnected from Me because I Am never disconnected from you. You might have to–as you say–jiggle your wires a minute, set your receptors and your attention on hearing from Me, and then what happens? Here I Am. Right where I was all day, patiently waiting for you to be ready, to reach out.

God, this connection we have, it is amazing. And I am so afraid that it is like my internet service is sometimes, temperamental, fragile, easily broken. Can I just say it? I am afraid I am going to wake up some morning and it will just be gone. You will just be silent. Or I will just be deaf.

I know. I know all your fears and where they originate. That is why I tell you over and over, in so many different ways, don’t be afraid; you are not alone; I will never leave you. The only reason it seemed to take years to hear directly from Me is that for years, you did not believe you could. You did not believe I would speak to you, “little you.” You tended to belittle yourself instead of seeing how great My Love is, how I long to reach out and connect to every single one of My Children, no matter whether they think of themselves as great, or small and insignificant. There is no one immune from My Love or My Presence. No one is so great that I Am not needed–although that need may not be recognized. And although many, many think themselves too small for My attention, no one is small or insignificant in My reckoning.

God, sometimes I try to quantify your love, and I just can’t. I can’t make it big enough or long enough or wide enough.

Do you remember when you first learned of infinity in math class? How you could keep adding a number at the end of a string of numbers and go on forever? Well, that is one metaphor for My Being. And since My Being is Love, there is no end, no finishing point, to My Love. There is no place and no time where anyone can move past My Love. There is no boundary beyond which My Love does not exist. I, and My Love, are Infinite. Most of your human conversations are about boundaries of some sort, boundaries of geography, of distance, of time; limitations of strength or duration. Even events such as your Olympic Games, where athletes push beyond previous boundaries and set new records, are based on the idea that each new boundary will someday be broken, perhaps by milliseconds. Such precise measurement of boundaries makes the concept of Limitless and Timeless impossible to understand with a finite mind housed in a body whose very physicality imposes constant limits.

So, Lord, I have to ask. If there is no place, no time, no existence where You are not…that is what You are saying, right?

That is what I Am saying.

Then what about Hell? What about that place of “wailing and gnashing of teeth”? That place where You are not. That place of torment that people go to, depending on different criteria but in a broad stroke sense, if they don’t live in a way that provides entrance into Your Presence forever, which is what Heaven is. Are You saying Hell isn’t real? Jesus talked about Hell.

This is hard to explain given the limitations of words and your experience. At the moment of what you call death, everyone will come into My Presence. No exceptions. Now, some folks will immediately rejoice. They will be able to perceive where they are (even “where” is not an accurate word). Let’s say it this way–they will be able to perceive My Presence and literally be engulfed in the Love, the Peace, the Joy that My Presence provides. Other folks, particularly those whose lives caused harm to others, or even to themselves, will also perceive My Presence, and the Light and Truth of that Presence will create a great chasm within them of regret and remorse. They will perceive in that instance every action, every thought, every word that was in opposition to what they are experiencing around and within them. It is that regret and remorse that will cause the wailing and gnashing of teeth. Now, I want you to imagine for just a minute, in your finite way, that someone is in front of you in that kind of pain. Maybe that person even hurt you, way back when. What do you do now?

God, good grief. I am crying right now. I think, I hope, I would do anything, anything I could, to quell that pain for them. I hope I would. I can’t stand it, can’t stand the thought of it. Can’t You do something? Can’t You fix this?

You see, you have so much of My Heart in you already. I have done something, and the something I have done has the name Forgiveness. Grace. Mercy. Lovingkindness. So now imagine Me wrapping My arms around that regret, that remorse, and kissing it away. Now how do you feel?

Geez, God, now I am sobbing. 

And?

So much joy. So much giddy joy. Really? Me? This is really for me? That is what I would be feeling, if I were the one in pain. And if I were the one able to relieve that pain, wow. What an incredible feeling.

Love is the Greatest Power of all. It is Mine to give and it is Mine to withhold. Here is what so many cannot understand–I do not choose to withhold it. I could, of course I could. But then I would no longer be Good. I might be God, but I would not be Good. But as you are so fond of saying, I Am Good, all the Time. And Beyond Time.

God, you know one of my favorite verses is, the one who is forgiven much loves much.

Yes, that is why there is only Love in heaven. Even those you might consider the worst offenders, once mercy is extended to them, overflow for eternity with gratitude and love. And those who enter heaven with the most remorse initially are the strongest defenders and protectors of life on earth. To use your human terms, it is their amends.

Wow, God. That…that isn’t what I was taught. But it rings true. I have thought for a while that You had more to say on this subject…but I was afraid to ask.

You don’t have to be afraid to ask, or question. Just remember Who you are talking to, and lean into My Love.

So…there is no disconnection. In eternity.

Exactly. Now you begin to understand.

Can I ask one more question?

Of course you may.

What about faith? What about those on earth who have no faith?

A better way to phrase that is, who have no understanding. In that moment of death, they will all Understand. They will Know. They will Receive. And for eternity, they will Love and they will Give. Rest assured in that. Be at peace in that.

 

 

 

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Password Protected

Lord, thank You for my computer being repaired. That was scary, thinking I had lost documents when I thought I had them backed up elsewhere. What I did lose was all my passwords; my new hard drive has no clue who I am or where I’ve been! So I am thinking about passwords, about keywords, about Your keywords in my life. What I keep returning to–gratitude, peace, love, joy, abundance. These are overall keywords, though, right? I mean, they apply to everyone. 

What do passwords do?

Well…they grant access. They are like doors, with keys. If you have the key, you can get in, into the program, into the website, and once you get in, you can do things.

So My first keyword is Grace. Grace opens the door from My side at the slightest whisper, the least knock. You are wondering, why a door at all? Why not a pass-through with no doors at all? Do you know why?

No. I mean, I’ve been taught it’s because we weren’t holy, we aren’t clean, we need Your blood to get in, the sacrifice of your life in exchange for our life. 

Humans are for the most part very aware of justice. “That’s not fair” is an early cry of children. Fairness, rightness, fair play, justice–all are hardwired into the human psyche. So over time whole systems of justice that were based on retribution, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, were established. But what did I say when I was here on earth? I said, judge not. Why would I ask you to live to a higher standard than God the Father? The more difficult truth is, you humans needed a sacrifice in order to satisfy your own needs for your own ideas of justice. And since I Am Mercy and I Am Love, I came as Jesus to provide what you yourselves demanded of yourselves, the sacrifice you could not give but imagined I would require. Jesus’ death was essential in order for you to feel you could walk through the door of My Grace. For My part, I Who Am the Door Am also always eternally Open.

 So…Jesus had to die, not to satisfy You, but to satisfy…us? Our misinformed logic about what grace even is?

Exactly. See how much Love is revealed in that truth? “For it is not My will that anyone perish, but that all come to repentance”–that is, to a change of mind and heart and action. That all leave any thought of retribution behind. That all come to a life of abundant, limitless Love.

This is what protects you, all of you, from your greatest fear, that you are not enough, not good enough, not worthy enough, never doing or being enough. You–all of you–are created Beyond Enough. You are–all of you–created to shine and thrive. So come running and skipping, walking and leaping and praising God through the Door! And as you pass through, watch it dissolve behind you and breathe the fresh air in front of you. No more locks, no more keys, free and complete access to My Kingdom. That is what My Will looks like for every human life, every human heart. That is what I live and love for–and it is what I Am asking you to commit to, spreading that message in every way you can.

Ok, Lord, I don’t completely understand, but I do hear You. 

 

 

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Empath

You said I can talk to You about anything, and I can be honest.

Of course.

So I want to talk to You about Star Trek. I want to talk to You about that episode about the Empath. I always identified with her, how she literally absorbed whatever bad thing, whatever illness, was happening to her people. It was her destiny to do that, and ultimately it killed her.

Ultimately it killed Me, you mean.

Whoa, no, I didn’t. But, yes. I hear You.

So it doesn’t need to kill you. It already killed Me. And I already Rose, victorious, over all of it.

To save us from punishment?

To save you from enslavement. To save you from any power that would harm you, power that you would yield yourself to. To save you from choices, habits, addictions, anything whatsoever that would cause you harm, or prompt you to harm another.

So among everything else You are, You are the Empath?

I Am. And you cannot be, you must not be. This does not mean you have no compassion or show no mercy. It does mean you do not have the role of absorbing into yourself all that is false or negative and transforming it to the true and positive. That is my role; that is Divine Alchemy, Holy Chemistry. Your role is to see the end result, and you do that by asking Me for Vision. When you see through the eyes of My Heart for the world, you begin to envision what is possible, what is best, and right, and true, in any situation. This takes practice and a discerning ear, eye, and heart. But this is what is truly meant by the scripture, “let the same mind be in you that is in Christ Jesus.” You can share one mind, one body of thought, with Me. The only transformation you have direct control over is that of your own life. You can influence others; you can model a life lived in union with Me; you can speak and share from your life experience, but you are not meant to carry the weight of the world’s sorrows and sufferings. That is uniquely My burden to bear.

So when the world’s sorrows burden you, bring your burden back to Me, and let Me transform your mourning back into dancing. Let Me repair any breach such knowledge has made in your trust or your confidence in My Nearness and Goodness. Let Me continue, like Atlas, to carry the weight of the world. You continue to proclaim glad tidings of great joy!

If you try to absorb the world’s ills, the practice will only sicken and weary you, and cause your own light to grow dimmer with discouragement and despair. That is why Empath is not E.M.’s path. Yes, I used both your first and middle name initials. Clever, yes? You sometimes forget I can be clever, and humorous. Where do you think humor originated?

Intercessor and Empath are not the same thing. You can have empathy for others, and feel with others, without trying to feel FOR others. You can pray for them and comfort them, but don’t try to absorb their pains or weaknesses. Even if you could, that would merely prevent them from coming to their true source of ultimate help, strength, and transformation–which is Me. That is why I Am the Empath, because I Am also the One Who Transforms.

So rest easy, little one. You are doing well. You love your friends and family very well. Let that be enough.

Okay, Lord, I hear You. And thank You. This is not at all how I pictured this conversation going!

And that is why our times together are so important. You need to stay on track, and for that, you need Me.

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Rain Within

Lord, I want kindness to prevail over cruelty and mercy to overtake”justice” if justice is just shorthand for revenge, for punishment. Please, please, what would You say?

Little One, you are seeing the world—My world—as it is, while simultaneously holding the vision I have of the world—My world—as it could be. As it should be. As it will be. Heaven is the church you seek, where all truly Love One Another. You are doing your part to build My Kingdom where it really counts, which is out in the middle of My messy world.

You want to find a gathering space of folks whose tenets are inclusive, welcoming, peace-centered, and when it comes to Me and My Presence, relational and experiential. You want My Presence manifest like you want air, like you want water. You are dry and thirsty without it. You are like a land in drought, spending your precious tears crying for rain when Rain is within you. You have My Spirit within you. Be church. Continue to minister. Continue to stand in love. Make your gratitude lists—and share them.

 

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Grace

What is Your watchword for today?  

 

We haven’t talked much lately about Grace, but it is the perfect word for you right now. Grace is My answer when humanity—when you—hang your head and say, I don’t deserve…or, I’m not worthy…or, not enough, not good enough. Grace proclaims you worthy. Grace proclaims you as Mine, and that is all that matters.

You can be an heir in three ways—you can be born into, you can be adopted into, and you can marry into. All three are true in some ways with humanity and Me, the Creator-God. I made you, I chose you, I love you. A maker can put goods out as “seconds” or “as is” and that implies a rejection, as less-than. So I Am Maker, and I Am also Proclaimer and I Am also the One Who Loves You. You can make something and still not love it. But I love and choose that which I have made. And I choose for good and plentiful purposes.

Every time you choose joy, you are choosing My will for you. Every time you choose abundance for yourself and for others, you are choosing My will for you. Every time you choose health, wealth, opportunity, creativity, meaningful and joyous work, meaningful and joyous relationships, you are choosing My will for you.

The model of slavery in Egypt, tied to taskmasters and brutal mind-numbing labor is not My will for any of My children. I have designed each one of you with innate loves and gifts so everything runs smoothly. There are born teachers and born truck-drivers. There are born engineers and scientists, and born bakers and accountants.

There is always more to discover—even within you. For today, your watchword is Grace.