When I say Just Breath, it goes far beyond the act of just inhaling and exhaling! To truly let go of this world’s angst, and all the gnashing of teeth that wears at our peace… and Just Breath!
Be at peace with the knowledge that things of this world, can be observed, but shall not permeate one’s spirit while resting beneath the shadow of the Almighty!
To purposefully practice the form of physically exercising my lungs… choosing to breath out all the burdens of this world, and breath in the pure and sustaining peace that passeth all understanding…
His Peace… I take in the very breath of my Creator, My God!
I love purposely allowing God to be the very air that I breath…
As I’m soon to be looking back at 55, I think my path is pretty firmly set in one direction… God’s!
We’ve recently answered a prompt, regarding taking a risk at something new, and another prompt asking if we were guaranteed not to fail, what would we attempt… so I’m not sure how many more times the prompt can try to beat a dead horse, as they say.
Still, I realize that not everyone has seen these questions before, so I shall do my due diligence at answering with something decent, for those that are new to the daily prompts.
To answer this prompt here, today, straight up… While I have pursued multiple different careers throughout my younger years, I’m no longer interested in any of them. Add to that, the fact that I’m not considering any new directions at all, aside from the path I now follow… this one’s a deal breaker on any other pursuit I’ve ever chased after!
My career pursuits involve following only One CEO, One Leader… One! How boring and confining, you might be thinking. On the contrary, my friends. This career path has me fully engaged, at every moment, and in every action or thought. I walk with a magnificent Leader, who has me in the word, on my knees in prayer, feet on the ground out here in the trenches… and fully sustained, at all times!
My life is full of joy, adventure, action, suspense… and He has me constantly on the move… and with Him, at all times.
In all my years, never have I been hired by someone who knows me better than He does… and I’ve not been fired yet!
Before you start thinking that I’m lazy or something, maybe living the posh life, and too comfortable in my current position… you might consider my resume before being too quick to form an opinion on this matter:
0 to 13 years of age, severe childhood trauma
13 to 18 years of age, ^#$%^&^
18 to 34 years of age, pregnant 9 times with only 3 born to me, divorced, denied by the church, disowned by my family, and abandoned by those I knew as friends.
Lost and running in the wastelands for 16 more years… 16!
The rest of my career credentials, as well as my production timeline, will be within the archives of My Closet. I’ve already shared far more of my job description than anyone should have to wade through… and no, there won’t be a cover letter to accompany this Responsume…
But I did make cookies…
Honestly, I don’t know how these exec’s are going to get anything accomplished, with their mouths stuffed with cookies… sheesh guys, slow it down!
“It’s not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that’s what a ship needs but what a ship is… what the Black Pearl really is… is freedom.”
Now, I bet you’re trying to figure out what on earth I’m talking about, as far as answering the prompt. Lucky for you, I plan on breakin it down for ya! As Castle says, “It’s what I do!”
If we assume that my ship is a metaphor for my heart, or spirit if you want to call it, then the quote might look something like this:
It’s not just flesh, blood and oxygen that sustains this vessel, that’s what the human body needs but what a heart is… what Wiwohka’s heart is really filled with… is freedom!
Now it should make more sense to everyone reading this blog response. I’m proud to say that I’m still alive and breathing, singing His praises, sailing in freedom through life’s many storms, and dangers!
In a world where black is white, up is down, and right is wrong, we may sometimes feel as if God isn’t paying attention… or is sitting idly by, while we suffer through things that He could easily rescue us from. Our human hurt, confusion, anger and/or grief overwhelm us, blotting out the SON!
For me, it is very easy to become discouraged about my circumstances, when I naively begin assuming that He isn’t paying attention. If I let myself, I can have a myriad of differing types of pity parties… all in an instant, if I hold to my own understanding and forget to look up!
Look up for what, you may be wondering? When I look up to see what God has done, is doing, and will faithfully continue to do for my good, and my future within His purpose!
It is so frustrating to observe how we humans have such a propensity to take our eyes off of God when things are going good, but when we experience anything beyond our understanding, rather than being angry at Satan and his minions for the wickedness they’ve caused upon this earth, in our hurt and confusion, we blame God!
Oh, we don’t blame Him for causing a thing… no no, we just like to blame Him for apparently doing nothing to help us!
For so many, it is far easier to make a list of what God wouldn’t, couldn’t or won’t do for us, his children… than to believe and trust in who we know He IS!
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[a] I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
When I am struggling with a thing, regardless of what or how difficult it might be, I tell you this… I go to His word!
Writing down a list for you, reflecting my grief credentials and qualifications, might be great for playing the “I’ll show you my scars, if you show me yours” game, but not for expressing genuine empathy to others, who are hurting desperately, over a thing.
Another blogger wrote an article the other day about understanding why God seemingly steps back and allows bad things to happen to good people, refusing to intercede. That is an age old question… mainly because humanity has a habit of circling the wagon, as far as repeating a thing over and over, expecting a different outcome.
Things went sideways from the moment Satan tempted Eve, and in turn, Adam. We could go all the way back to asking why God allowed Cain to murder his brother, Abel? Or what about the flood, why didn’t God let anyone else on the boat… well, that was ultimately their sinful choice, if you want my two cents.
Or, how might things have gone with Abraham and his son, Isaac? How must the man have struggled with the why’s, as he walked his only son up that mountain to offer him as a sacrifice to God, on blind faith? Did God actually ever make him kill the child… of course not! It was all about the man’s faith!
Let us not forget Joseph in the well, Moses and the Israelites, or King David, all those years before he was actually sitting upon the throne. Oh, the questioning and doubts they must have wrestled with, deep into the shadows of the night! We don’t have all day, so I’ll leave you with one last example before you go:
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39
Just in case you were wondering, the Son of The Most High God felt our human emotions… though HE overcame all of it, for our sakes!
When I am in the depths of things beyond me, I hold to that!
We sinned
But He wouldn’t turn away…
We turned away
But He wouldn’t abandon us…
We denied Him
But He wouldn’t refuse us His only Son!
I ran, I fought, I raged, I sinned, I screamed for Him to just smite me… blot me out of His vision forever…
I’m being fully honest when I say that I’ve probably told far more about myself on this blog, than most were prepared to read… one of my common self-titles is “the oversharer!”
When I saw this morning’s prompt question, I knew that I’d answered it last year, but I thought it would be fun to tell everyone something new. That is, until I tried thinking of a thing to share.
I’ve hit a wall here, my friends, as I can’t think of anything that I’m willing to offer up. Why, you might ask? Because my transparency stops at the place that holds the things of my deepest hurts and scars. I stopped voicing the things that did not produce goodness, love and God’s healing light.
If you would like to know anything about me that is worthy of sharing with others, I’ve re-opened my archive’s page on this site. Within those dusty old writings is who I Really am, though God is forever molding and reshaping me into that which He sees as beautiful. The place to catch glimpses of that part of me, would be the WordPress Daily Prompt response’s that you currently receive a lot of cookies from… Miss Moody Maelstrom, some might call me!
I recognize that Thursdays are normally when I write about my thoughts, but just this moment… there aren’t any thoughts. It’s as if I’ve somehow discovered that elusive Nothing Box that men swear by!
It’s rather nice in there… all spacious and peaceful. Metaphorically speaking, my brain’s barn doors are just lazily swinging back and forth, from a soft heavenly breeze.
I’ve been simultaneously reading through the Psalms and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, for several weeks now. While I’ve read them many times over the years, this has been the first time reading both Old Testament and New, side by side.
I have to say that if you read the Psalms next to the four Gospels… it’s an amazing experience! Reading through passionate poems by David and other Psalmists, and then moving to read through Jesus’ life, I’m seeing the life and holy purpose of Jesus, from those looking toward His coming… to those that watched as He came to earth, fulfilling each and every prophesy foretold.
I don’t know, my bible always has this familiar feel to it, upon first opening it for a re-read… but then I find myself getting lost in it, as if it were a brand new book that I’d never before read. It really is true, you know, the scriptures are God’s living and breathing word! Whenever I pick it up, he’s right there with me… I can feel his presence, as of one sitting close by.
I suppose that today it just feels good dwelling in His presence… and I’m in no hurry to leave.
But, I will walk over to the microwave and reheat my coffee. OOh, and grab a breakfast muffin… mmmmmm!
In such a short time upon this earth, He healed, saved, resurrected, taught, and ended it with the sacrifice of his own life to make a way for so many, to this very day!
Whether or not one believes Him to be a mere man… when I think of the word “successful,” I think of Jesus, the son of a carpenter… and yet, so so much more!
Why? Because He showed me… from the moment of his birth, all the way through history itself… to save ME!
So, remember how I told you that my brain doors blew open yesterday, while I was taking my trail walk?
I spent the rest of the afternoon, and then even more hours this morning, doing research. I began digging deeper into the story behind our bat thingies that are flying around in the barn. Remember them?
It turns out that there is an entire community of them, roosting in our rafters. When I discovered this… I was inspired!
One by one, each of their little faces and personalities began appear. Quickly, they found their way out of my brain pan, and all the way onto the page, so to speak.
I’ll introduce them to you in the order that I discovered them. Keep in mind that while being cute and adorable, each one of these creatures carries something very valuable within their tiny little frames.
For today, we will simply make introductions, so as to give each of you a chance to make your own initial impressions, without my intrusive input… there will be time for that later.
From first to last, there are ten…
We begin with,
Mother of,
And,
Then there’s,
and her little one,
Next we have,
and his little brother,
Followed by,
and her orphaned cousin,
Tune in next week, as we learn their story, their purpose and the gift carried within each of them.
*P.S. No spoilers will be forthcoming, so don’t even try. As they say, all good things come to those who wait…
Yup! With only two intersections to cross, I got there… and two hours later, I’m just sitting down to write.
It was wonderful, I tell you, simply divine! Remember me telling you that I was missing my literary mojo, with this living in no mans land stuff? Well, oh my! I found that sweet spot… just inside of those two hours in the fresh air.
Long story short… my brain doors flew open, somewhere around mile two, and now it’s once again the Willy Wonka Factory in there!
I leave you with a song that should leave you with a visual of how I’m feeling right this moment…
Journey With Me! 