I never tire of being with you. I never wish I were somewhere else. I am here to lead you. I am here to shepherd you. You are in my care. 

Oh, restless one, I bring you peace now. These years go by, and I stay. These images in your memory, pages you flip through from the past, I make them beautiful.

There are whispers you hear that aren’t from Me. There are whispers to lure you away, that want to pull you far from the place I have for you, the place I am with you, right now.

My daughter, how could I not have a plan for this world? How could I not have a plan for you? Do you wonder now, what does it mean for Me to have a plan?

In everything you do, you can listen for Me. It’s not that I speak to you constantly, in words; but I am with you constantly. And my presence is the language of your heart you’re created to hear. 

Throw down this lie you chase that makes you strive toward imaginary perfection. You will not receive my joy, my peace, my life in you that sustains if you continue to chase what is not meant for you to attain.

My daughter, listening to Me is a practice I want to teach you. So, first, take a deep breath. And again. Slow down now. Wait a bit, for Me. For I am here. Trust that I am here.

No excuses now. You are designed for relationship, for relationship with Me. You are designed for community, for your heart to crave connection, people who know you and love you.

You let Me take you deeper in, this place where the two of us can be together. And you follow Me, each move a response to my movement. You only lean when I lean. You only pivot when I turn. Your eyes are on Me and the whole world is here, right here, us two.

You can work hard to find Me, search pages in your Bible, soak up my truth, study Scripture and memorize passages until you know them by heart. But I want you to know Me by heart, my love.

I am moving. I am moving in you and I won’t ever stop. You can’t stop Me, and that’s a promise for you, my girl. I pursue you and I never tire and I fight on behalf of your heart—your complete self—the full you I created and have always designed you to be. I’m not done with you yet, my darling.

There will be a day when you behold me, full on. There will be no temptations to separate us. There will be no distractions by this world. But I will help you turn towards Me now, so you don’t have to wait. It is best for you, for your heart, to not wait. I don’t want you to miss what I have for you now. Not tomorrow, not a week or a year ahead. I want to give you the gift of my love right now. Right now. 

If you want Me, if you want more of Me in your life, I will come. I will not hold back. If you want my love, if you desire more freedom and joy in your life, ask Me to come. Let Me come to the deep places, the dark places, the unknown places. 

You cannot change yourself, although I give you the mind and the will and the motivations to take actions necessary for a person to be changed. Your will and your mind and your determination are just a piece of what it means to be changed, for good.

Waiting on Me is not a place of being alone—really. For I am always with you. Waiting on Me yields alignment with Me. It produces greater trust in my will, with believing it is okay for you to not see what is ahead so clearly. You know that I see, and you trust that it is okay for you to trust my sight, my heart, more than you trust yourself.

This day is not ordinary. This day may be one of quiet or chaos, challenge or rest. But no moment is ordinary. It may be familiar. It may be predictable. It may make you frustrated and angry, discouraged and sad. It may be one where you see hope, hope all around. It may be the day you see deeper, go further, pursue a new place you’ve never traveled before.

How do you live in this world, one of comparison and envy and slander and thievery? How do you protect yourself from comparison when that is the culture in which you live and the wedding is around the corner but not yet a date you can perceive? How do you await my coming again, my Son’s rescuing you again, in a world of tearing each other down and pain?

It might be time to let go. It might be time to empty your hands. It might be time to stop grasping. 

Open up your hands. There are things I want to place in them. For I do want you to hold on to some things.