No Limits to knowing HIM

By now you can imagine that the life of a designer creates space for change.   Many walls limit where we store our stuff.  You can see by the glimpses inside and up close that  grey days became opportunities to fill my space with more of Jesus.  This is the back story...

“ In fact, after completing  a Discipleship Training School with Youth With a Mission as a young single mom, the mandate of the mission “to know God and make Him known” was revealed.  This uncovered a wonderful life of learning to lean on God’s character, not mine.  New wonders of my amazing God gave me strength and a better knowledge of how to get to know Him. My shattered life with two small children and a husband in prison could not compare.   His suffering shaped my character. Transformation. To know Him .  Power came as I let go of my past and I pressed into Him.”

“Wonderful and exciting has been the journey. We have gone to places others do not dare venture. Prayer has been the vehicle that has carried me faster than a moving train to get close enough to know Him.  Jesus. He is my everything.  We have had moments in other countries learning and leaning together. We prayer walk. We jog. We sing.”

  “Here’s another way I’ve come to enjoy ‘hanging out’ with Jesus, just him and me. Usually it is very early morning or late night, when there are only sounds of slumber around me.”

“It’s a time when I experience the ‘intimacy with God’ so many people have spoken about. When thoughts and ideas form, it’s as if He talks. I listen.”

“Then, I either pray for revelation from the Holy Spirit on the subject, or I am compelled to dissect the  Word. His words to me, found in Bible passages, are so precious.  It is like we are thumbing his picture album.”

“I like to savor each page, reflecting on events, like when He walked on water or neared the darkest hour of his life in the garden--alone. He faced His present to take care of my future. My heart cries with Him. he is so beautiful in times like these. He lets me know that it’s like I am giving Him another cup of chamomile tea to soothe His aching heart. I really love these times because I get to work from the cross instead of striving to it. Somehow, my life struggles vanish.”

“Faith. Hope. Love. These triplets seem, to shout as the pages of Scripture reveal His heart.”

“The greatest thrill for me is that I have not exhausted all there is to know about Jesus. The more I know Him, the more there is to know, and I get thirstier for ‘tea time’. I encourage others to savor time, to spend time, to adjust schedules with friends to schedule time with Jesus.”

“I’ve found that He is waiting for each of us to get to know Him and His ways. His love waits for each of us!”

Walls that limit

It was now the connecting air terminal in  Houston, the last leg home to Phoenix. Here is a praise of someone’s prayers.  I met a lovely young lady and asked directions for seafood  and told her how much I enjoyed her state.   Let me recap our walk in the terminal.  We walked and talked about the late flight.   Suddenly, she let me see inside her heart. 

Time elapsed, or did it stand still?  Thoughts of what happened became a surreal film.  After sharing the “gospel” with a stranger who was struggling with TRUTH, she had found no Mercy within the church walls.  Incidentally, her uncle was inside the walls of Angola.  She was outside the walls but was she free?  She was judged.  Her story could be your story.   Years ago, she was with another friend from her youth group and they frivolously shoplifted a dress they wanted to wear to Sunday church.  Crime does not pay.   The shame they felt in the jail did not compare with the alienation this young girl felt as the supposed friend “set her up” to keep her dad from “blaming” her.  This was a “frame up”.

  I wonder how many inside Angola were judged unfairly?  Shame always crowds out hope.  She was alone in this walk as her parents did not attend church.  She was asked to leave the church and youth group “to not cause anymore of the kids to stray”. Wow. 

 She hardened her heart towards God, choosing to call herself an “atheist”.  She wanted to belong to something. This group rehashed the “why nots” and lessened the blame.  I thought to myself where had I not extended mercy  and truth to my own family or a friend? My heart pounded as I walked with her to find a place to sit away from the crowd. I asked her a question as I put my hand on her shoulder and quietly said “ would you please forgive me for expressing  judgement for the wrong  you did?  I am the church, as an ordained minister.  I am so sorry. This is not the GOOD NEWS and not my God?”  Tears, rolled down her eyes, we hugged as I shared the Truth of who HE was again.   She was suddenly free.

Today I ask you, who or what is in the way of really knowing God?  It will cost you everything.  My personal story is just what the cost has been to me.  Don’t be incarcerated by “others” judgement.

 This day inside Angola changed everything and made me reexamine  the scripture about being willing to loose my life  unto death. 

Inside the walls, these men’s lives were altered by “doing time”. The power of the Word and the love expressed through people of  faith changed them.  You could tell the ones that “got to know Him”.  My story, outside the walls, is no different.  I just had to “make time”.

The visit to Louisiana  reminded me of my own personal quest. Here is an article written by a reporter from the Washington Times about our visit. His perspective will enhance and highlight even more details. http://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/collection/the-prison-that-dared-to-pray-angola-used-faith-

Hopefully this will unmask truth and you will see mercy as it appeared in an excerpt from Lindsey Clifford’s workbook to complement her book “Just Jesus”.  (www.justjesuschrist.com) This was from the topic “knowing Jesus”.   One day in Angola connected me to people who know HiM!  Lindsey begins Mary Ann’s story: “When Mary Ann recently reflected on her life, she realized that she had been on a quest that led to the prize of knowing Jesus. She suddenly understood the difference between acquiring knowledge and getting to know him.”

“The verse etched in my heart is Philippians 3;10-14, that I man know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

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Up close continued

This day we witnessed hope and dignity arise as one man, Warden Cain, who chose to  establish Mercy and Truth.   He constantly used kindness to establish truth.  The children ran out on the field as their dad’s name was called. The hearts of the children really did turn to their fathers!

 Reflecting on my personal journey, I was reminded of the “Tikvah”, or “red cord” that Rehab the harlot had used to rescue many.  This is the HOPE for families and nations.  Her past did not frame her story.  She extended help that became her future.    She knew her God. 

This is my “take” on the story inside Angola.  I see this as Hope for our future, in every sphere of society.  Apply the principles that Warden Cain used allowing the Word of God to transform his sphere. 

The scripture below from an article by Paul Keith Davis waiting in my computer when I returned from  Angola truly spoke to me.       

Ps 89:14-15 Your throne is founded on two strong pillars‑‑ the one is Justice and the other Righteousness. Mercy and Truth walk before you as your attendants. Blessed are those who hear the joyful blast of the trumpet, for they shall walk in the light of your presence.   His words  pierced me.  Was I really welcoming these two pillars in every area of my own life?  It brought to mind a teaching I did for a women’s bible study and the teacher  asked some of us to share a “.topic” for her soon to be published workbook.   I chose  KNOWING GOD. 

Inside and Up Close

      This will be another angle  and interior view, with a slant towards beauty from the inside out. If you love surprises then get ready for what I saw as I stepped off the bus and entered a massive place, 18,000 acres, with lots of buildings. This was not a typical day for a designer. It was a day for stark contrasts. So often I have  prejudged a space before entering. Reactions create a response. We can either go oh wow, or oh yuck! We immediately are tempted to form a judgement.  I will give you little snippets. Let's go inside...

      Instead of styles of furniture, we will glance inside and up close for a personal look of one designer on a mission.  She will put herself in this space.