How do you talk to yourself, my love? How do you know what you feel? How can you trust it? Can I lead you deeper in so you know?

“As the deer longs for streams of water,/ so I long for you, O God./ I thirst for God, the living God./ When can I go and stand before him?” (Psalm 42: 1-2, NLT)

What are you responsible for, and what are you not? Do you know? What are you doing with what I’ve given you? And are you carrying things I did not ask you to pick up?

It doesn’t take long to hear me. And when you hear Me, what are you focusing on? Can I teach you a way to let go of an old habit? Can we practice this together?

I want you to experience more of my love for you.

Why?

So you can live courageously and with joy.

“Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “‘It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” (Genesis 41:51).

When you look at yourself and consider your worth and value, what/whom do you see? If you see what I see and know what I know, you will respond–with your efforts–in a way that reflects your worth and nothing less.

It is simple here, here with me. It is just us two. My strength, your strength. My heart, your heart. You can drop all that you are holding so you can more completely hold onto me.

Hold onto me, and let me hold everything else. Isn’t that better? Me holding you and the whole world?

Come to Me. Stay with Me. Whom are you talking to throughout the day? For you are always talking to somebody. It could be yourself; it could be fear. It could be self-control talking. But let it be love. That is who always wants to talk to you–love. Guard your heart. Let all your conversations with yourself be reframed. Ask yourself: am I speaking with Love? Yes? No? To whom am I speaking? Draw in. Draw deeper. Be outside yourself–in the world and outside the world–as you are inside your heart, where I speak.

Quiet the noise inside you. Let me quiet you. I have sung to you all of your life. I have comforted you. I have held you. Together, we danced and laughed. For you are home, able to relax and breathe easily, in my presence.

Will you let me in right now? Will you let me hold you now? Will you let me love you? How easy you are to love.

Will you trust me in all areas of your life? Will you believe me–that I am good–in all moments? Will you believe I am steadfast and steady you in all circumstances–though you don’t know when, how, or how long?

God delivers–but the how and when of that delivery becomes the training grounds for our life. Will we trust Him? Do we believe He will do what He says even if it is not how we would plan for it to go?

You can be free–right now, because I have set you free. But do you believe it? Do you believe me? Will you take action towards this belief? For there is freedom for you from all the ways you are entrapped–when you step toward it, when you step toward me, now.

You are my dearest one. My love for you is without end.

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.