Do you want me to make you new again? Do you want your old life with its old problems and old mistakes to remain? Or go away? Would you rather I show you a new way to look at your life, your job, your relationships, your past? It is all new, all possibilities ahead, you see.

Dear one, do not be afraid. Yet, you are afraid. You are afraid of so many things. Do you see how you hide from what you fear? Do you see how you try to protect yourself from what you think will hurt you? May I take the walls down, and will you step out? May I be your hiding place?

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Matthew 16: 25-26

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters–yes, even their own life–such a person cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).

We were created by God, and so, from our very beginning, we were with God. Our life’s stories show how we depart from Him and return to the true story we’ve always known.

We can easily take how we perceive, experience, and know the Lord for granted. Our mind knows God in one capacity–and our heart knows Him in another. In this encounter, we will invite God to lead us toward a greater understanding of how we have known Him in the past—and how He might be inviting us to plunge even deeper into a personal relationship with Him.

There is more you hold than what is good and bad, good and evil. For you hold all of these things. And to choose to see only pieces of what you hold–being blind to what, in yourself, you’ve deemed good or bad–is using your measuring stick to decide what is worthy of love–whether you are worthy of love. And what if I told you I see everything and I hold it all–that I hold all of you? I love what I love. Who you are. Right now. You. So what are you holding? How are you discerning and judging, calculating and deciding value and shame and worth? You are mine. Empty what you are holding. All of it. Give all of it–all of yourself–to me.

My love is greater than any sin that separates. Come, let your soul confess. Jesus is stronger than shame. Come, watch Him intercede on your behalf. Holy Spirit is more powerful than pride. Come, let Him destroy it—let Him help you repent and turn away from that old life that has convinced you to be your own god.

Whom do you trust more? You or me?  And whom do you know better, you or Me? 

You see, I know you more than you know yourself. Why put your trust in someone you don’t know? You know Me–your heart knows Me. but the world teaches you to forget this.

It begins with a question, ‘What do you want?’

And it ends with an answer, ‘I want / I lack. 

But the real answer is, ‘You want for nothing.’

Give Me access to your heart. Just a little bit. That is all I need. It will be the beginning of healing. And I have healing for you, healing for your heart.

Open your heart, dear one. Your bravery rests on Me. I can be brave for you. I can help you keep your heart open wide. I can help you to see what I see.

You are dearly loved. You are not forgotten. What you carry is not yours alone. Let us not be resigned. Let us lift up our heads, inhaling God's life for us now.

When we remember how we are loved–in the past and now–we can more easily participate in the life of love, our life with God. This is the life we are meant to live.

Until we are willing to love ourselves, we can struggle with loving God. Here, we are exploring the definition of “beautiful.

We are whole when we sing the songs written within us to sing–our hearts poured out to you, Lord.