let it come, let it come, let it come.

I think the answer might be snow.

Umm, okay? Sooo...what's the question?

I'll get there.

First, I gotta say that this summer I acquired a new found love of rain. Now that it started snowing in beautiful Northern Minnesota and winter is truly upon us, I acquired a new found love of snow.
  

This is a strange comment for me.

Summer has always been my best buddy when it comes to seasons. Winter and snow...I don't not like these things. However, my spirit has never had such a response to the snow like it has during the first snowfalls this season.

Something's different this year.

  

And it's snowing again tonight.

Gently.

Powerfully.

Steadily.

When you look up, it seems never ending. Pure, white flakes just keep falling from sky, filling the air and landing on this city. A fresh blanket of snow rests upon the streets. On rooftops. Over fields. It traces the tops of fences and makes it's home on the tops of tree branches.

Everything out in the open has a new covering.

It's awesome.

When I got off work tonight, I spent time outside by the lake simply enjoying the snow. 

I can't help but desire to be surrounded by it. I genuinely want it to fall upon me. I can't stop gazing into it. It's captivating. It carries such peace and hope.

After I got home, I started listening to this song.

  

"What does it sound like when you sing heaven's song? 

What does it feel like when heaven comes down? 

What does it look like when God is all around?

Let it come."

That's the question: What does it look like when God is all around?

What do I think the answer is?

Snow.

I think it looks like snow, at least in part.

Something inside knows it's a lot more than just the snow. But this is one of the tangible ways God is showing me the awesomeness of His presence right now...through the snow.

And it doesn't show signs of stopping.

So let it snow.

Let it come.

Let Your presence come and fall.

Let it be a new covering here.

90° corner back.

I took my drivers test twice in high school.

During my first attempt, the 90 degree corner back got me. My parent's Buick got a little too acquainted with those bright orange cones.  

It wasn't the Buick's fault. Or the cones. The driver just hadn't quite mastered the move yet.  

But as a 15 year old hoping to walk away with my farmer's license that day, I allowed it to be a pretty big bummer. As a 29 year old looking back on it all, it makes me chuckle.  

Especially when I think about an image that God gave me the other day as I thought about all the stretching and growing I am in the midst of right now.  

I saw myself in my car with Jesus and he was teaching me to drive. And guess what we were working on?  

Yep, 90 degree corner backs.

He certainly has a sense of humor, don't you think? 

In this vision, Bertha, my Pontiac, was getting acquainted with those bright orange cones. I wasn't exactly thrilled about it right away.  

Until I realized Jesus wasn't freaking out about it. He wasn't upset with me. He didn't think I was incapable of getting it. He wasn't disappointed. In fact, he was kind of laughing. Not at me. Just at the situation. He was delighted in the whole deal. And he released a whole bunch of grace and joy in the learning process. I lightened up and laughed, too. And kept pressing in and trying.

In life lately, I'm learning how to do 90 degree corner backs. Things with relationships. Confrontation. Stewarding time. Forgiveness. Honor. Leadership...

As I learn, I am hitting some cones. Each time it happens, I'm realizing more and more that I have a choice. I can choose to give attention to the pain and lean into the disappointment of the situation. Or I can choose to press into God, praise Him, and receive healing and courage to keep going.

I'm not suggesting we need to deny the hits and shove them under the rug. But we certainly don't need to glorify and feed them either! The pain of "hitting cones" will happen in life. As Becky said last night, "Put it on your planner!" 

It's what we do when we're faced with the challenges. I think how we react or respond is the true test of revealing in whom or what we're placing our identity.

...phew, that's hitting my heart big time in the last couple of weeks.

It always comes back to identity. Wow. 
    
... this seems like a good pause point ...

Alright, now jump back to my drivers test for a second. If I didn't go back and take the test for the second time in high school, I'd still be getting around on a bike today.
  
I'm not knocking bikes here. But seriously, why ride around on a bike when there is something far greater and more powerful as your inheritance?

If I don't press into these current challenges, before I know it, I'll be 89 and still avoiding the corner backs of life and will have strayed away from my purpose and inheritance.

No thanks! I choose to press in and leave an imprint in my Daddy...

What are your corner backs of life right now? What would it look like for you to press into God and courageously move forward...or backward, that is, if you're doing a corner back.

Friends, I declare right now an outpouring of grace, healing, and courage to take ownership in our lives!

thank·ful [thangk-fuhl]

Tonight, I choose thankfulness.
     
It's been a week of living in tensions. Fighting to remind myself of the truth of who I am. Sifting through many thoughts and emotions with Dad. I sense so much rising up in me. New revelations. Healing. Destiny. It's gotta break soon. Until then, I press into Him and choose to remain thankful. Praise and thanksgiving alter the condition of our spirit and our atmosphere.
       
So, tonight, I declare my gratitude for...
      
::time today to rest and be still in God's presence.
::spending time with friends I haven't seen for awhile.
::sleeping in.
::a new winter hat. Let the winter hat wearing commence.
::a Daddy who catches our tears and draws in near to His children.
::Branch Court.
::my family. I miss them so very much.
::going deeper.
::(I can't believe I'm saying this) but the snow. It's a quiet night as I look out my bedroom window and see it accumulating on the grass and on the porch. It's peaceful.
::the fact that "elf yourself" is back. If you know what elf yourself is, you are probably thankful as well.
::unexpected provisions.
::cozy coffeeshops and hot chocolate.
::journals.
::ibethel.tv
::the city of Bemidji.
::psalms.
::Bemidji Area School of Transformation.
::new life. (A friend is in labor right now...they will be welcoming to the world a precious little one soon!)
::healing.
::discovering new music.
::words of encouragement.
::friendship.
::the way all this makes me smile.

one.

Just One Drop 

by Jonathan David Helser

Just one drop of your blood and my sins are gone

Just one thread of your robe and I'm made whole

Just one glimpse of your face is all I dream of

Just one moment of your favor is so much greater

You are the One who was

You are the One who is

You are the One who will always be

Just one word from your lips and the heaves were made

Just one touch of your hand and I am changed

Just one breath from your mouth and I come alive

Just one moment of your favor is so much greater

No matter what my circumstances try to say

I will trust in you, I will lift my voice

And I will say, "You are greatly to be praised!"

Just one drop and everything will change

Just look at the nations

And watch and be amazed

I'm gonna do something in your days

You wouldn't even believe if I told you

All it takes is one drop

One mustard seed

And mountains will move

Just one

Just one drop, just watch

Just one drop

That's all it takes

And everything will change

Just look at the nations

Rain is coming

I can feel the first drops falling

Open up you ancient wells

Open wide

unprecedented awakening.

ripples that steadily form into tidal waves.
washing over and flooding life into everything desperate. dry. withering.
  
a single spark exploding into a mass of radiance. 
pressing through a barely cracked open door.
swinging wide the barrier with an invasion of light.


darkness vanished.


illuminated love and hope in homes.
on the streets. entire cities. the world.
nations.


souls no longer sleepwalking.


eyes opened.
seeing again.
truly seeing. 
the way we were created to see.

ears unplugged.
hearing again.
truly hearing. 
the way we were created to hear.

minds renewed.
knowing again.
truly knowing.
the way we were created to know.

bodies healed.
living again.
truly living.
the way we were created to live.

emotions captivated.
feeling again.
truly feeling. 
the way we were created to feel.

hearts beating.
loving again.
truly loving.
the way we were created to love.

an army rising up.
walking in the confidence and power of our true identity. 

the way we were created to walk.

on earth as it is in heaven.

keep hoping, waseca.

There will always be something special about your hometown. 

Mine rests in southern Minnesota where highway 13 and highway 14 intersect. As you drive into the city, the signs welcome you and invite you to "Discover Waseca".

If you spend much time there and get to know the residents in this little town, I think you'd quickly discover that there is a unique sense of community. I totally felt it growing up but didn't realize the depth until I graduated college and I'd come back to visit. 

Just see what happens when students gather for a sporting event and the community rallies around them. Or when the Marching Jays play their show one last time long after the judges are gone and it's just the parents and others from the community who traveled hours to cheer them on with an outpouring of support. 

Or see what happens with tragic events hit hard. There is a coming together to encourage each other towards healing. 

But there have been too many of these instances over the years and even recent months. Another one just occurred in the last 24 hours. There is a sadness inside knowing that when life ends abruptly, it has deep impact on many people whom I love so dearly. I mourn alongside you, family and friends.

In the midst of this mourning, I am compelled to speak of Hope.  

City and community of Waseca, you are a unique and special people with a purpose and destiny. Declare with me for the release of Life and Hope that comes from the heart of Jesus to fill the streets of this city and saturate the lives of all who reside there! We speak Life over Waseca! 

This song, by Kristine Mueller, was written as a song of Hope for San Francisco. It's a genuine and mighty cry out for a city to keep holding on to the promise that God will bring freedom, healing, and restoration to a wounded community.

"So keep hoping, [Waseca]...You'll see the sun shine again over your city streets..."

cartwheels.

Cartwheels = Joy.

I'll explain.

Some of you, if you're like me, can't really do a cartwheel. I can hardly do a summersault without getting dizzy. 

I'm not kidding.

Whatever happened to the days I could flip upside down, spin around in circles, and roll down hills without losing my cookies?

Things change, I guess.  

I didn't associate cartwheels with joy until last week. It was part of the crazy adventure last Friday. You can read more about that here if you haven't already. Looking for a reason to believe that God speaks and truly wants to love us? Then check it out. It's a long story, but totally worth the read. 

After passing a very bad accident on the way to the cities, we were overcome with sadness and grief. It's hard to describe what shifted in the air. But something definitely shifted.

A few miles more down the road, we passed a baseball field full of children. They were playing and throwing around a huge ball to one another. A girl wearing red out in left field caught my eye. Out of nowhere, she did a cartwheel. It brought a smile to my face in the midst of a heaviness that we were feeling after the accident scene. Something shifted again in the air, this time in the direction of Hope.

I really don't think this girl was disinterested in the throw-a-super-giant-ball-at-each-other-game. Who wouldn't enjoy that?!

Although I don't really know everything she was thinking in the moment she gracefully rolled herself over, I do like to think she just had something inside her that compelled her to release some goodness and joy out there on that green playing field on a sun filled, fall afternoon.

I like to think she just couldn't help it.

When you've got the joy and you are full of it to the point of overflowing, it's hard not to do a cartwheel. Or laugh uncontrollably. Or speak words of Life and Hope. Or serve humbly. Or forgive. Or honor one another. 

You might be asking, "But, what about the times when trial and pain are all around me? What about the times I pass by a horrendous accident on the road of life? It's hard to do a cartwheel then."

Then hold onto Joy and lean into God's Truth in the midst of challenge with such intensity that you leave an imprint in Him. He's the source of joy. When you press into Him, it'll absorb right into you.

Then release it to the world around you...

Do a cartwheel.