Soaring at the Pinnacle of the Impossible

Have you ever wished you had a fast forward button so you could zoom past an appointment or circumstance in life? I have one today. Those moments can feel like an approaching storm when the thunder begins to bellow from the clouds overhead.

It makes me think of a fascinating fact I learned about eagles this week & how they respond to a storm. When other birds sense an approaching storm, they head for cover. But an eagle? This regal bird perches on the edge of his massive nest with eager expectation for the wind & rain to arrive! And when it does, he extends his wings with a big whoosh  & wields the  currents of the storm winds to his advantage. His wings may tire, but he keeps them in a locked position as the circular winds push him higher & higher, until he finally ascends to the pinnacle of the impossible - soaring above the storm! It is far above the ruckus below where the gleam of the sun begins to warm his wings...

Can you picture it? It kinda makes me teary thinking about it...probably because my knee jerk reaction when storms arise is more like the little birds who dart about ducking for cover.

And yet, we need not skirt a hardship or fast forward through anything because much like the regal eagle, we, as royal sons & daughters of The Most High, can soar with ease at the pinnacle of the impossible!

Isaiah promises this in 26:3 where he writes,

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!“

We cannot control the storms that come, but we do have a choice - will we react like the frightened little birds or respond with eyes like an eagle, fixing our gaze on The One who uses the hard things in life to draw us near to Him. I want to soar high above this storm & allow The Son to warm my wings! 🦅 How about you!

#OneYearBible #Hope #Trust #Wait

September 17th One Year Bible Readings

💡ISAIAH 25:1-28:13

💡GALATIANS 3:10-22

💡PSALM 61:1-8

💡PROVERBS 23:17-18

Here’s a worahip song that will minister to you amidst stormy seasons:

On Becoming People Who Eagerly Enter The Great Exchange

Sometime a few years back my dad offered a kind word of wisdom when he said, “Kimberly, be careful what you give airtime to…” I had been going through a difficult season and had settled into the habit of speaking, “just the facts ma’am”. I cannot say that it was even a heart of complaining, (although I can go there too!), but rather a reiteration of the circumstantial facts over and over and over again…

Facts are facts and even Abram faced the facts when he acknowledged that his wife’s womb was as good as dead, and yet, in faith, he believed the word of promise spoken to him that he would become a father of nations!

We will all face hardships this side of heaven, and I don’t think my dad’s advice was to deny the hardships in life, but to choose instead to be careful how we process them, and more importantly, how we speak about them.

The other day, I read Proverbs 12:25:

Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.

That resonated. Facing facts without calculating faith in the Father always leaves me weighed down. When I looked up the Greek word that was used for, “worry”, I learned that it means:

• Anxiety

• Fear

• Heaviness

• Sorrow

• Depression

• to bow down

• and wait for it…..to worship!!!!! Can you even believe that worry is a form of worship? Ay yi yi!

Every time I choose to reiterate the facts without faith in the Father, my words give creative license to letting the worrisome circumstance become an idol in my life that I figuratively bow down to!

The second part of the Proverb, however, says that an encouraging word cheers a person up! The word “encouraging” as it is used here means beautiful, pleasant, agreeable, a good report. It is in these sifting seasons of life, the hard things that are beyond our capacity, that we have the wonderful opportunity to lay the facts before our Father, entrusting them to Him and then choosing instead to give airtime to His praise with a heart of deep-felt gratitude as we remember who He is and of what He is capable!

Yesterday morning, as I was preparing for a full day of meetings, I read Psalm 81. The Psalmist writes,

Now I heard an unknown voice say, ‘I will take the load from your shoulders.

I will free your hands from their heavy tasks. You cried to me in trouble and I saved you.

I answered you out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water…

Oh my stars, how the Psalmist captured by state of my heart in those few sentences. In these overload-bearing moments of life, the Lord promises to take the load from our shoulders. In the moments when our faith is tested because there is no “water”, He reminds us that He will answer and He will save. So even though I awakened with what felt like a cazillion facts, figures and tasks swirling about in my brain, I could spread them out like water before the Father, and bow before Him instead of the facts. It is at this humble and bowed down place of trust that I can then offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise. I like to call this, “The Great Exchange”.

This is the place where we exchange worry, fear, and anxiety for praise. This is the place where our Father bends down to lighten our load by exchanging beauty for our ashes, joy for mourning and praise for despair. It is in this place that we fix our gaze above the facts to our Father, remembering that He IS God and then praising Him that we are not! Yes, it is here, in the moment when we choose to give airtime to praise and thanksgiving for the goodness of God that the enemy is defeated! (See 2 Chron 20:21 for an amazing story of God’s faithfulness!)

At this very moment of typing this post, Spotify just began playing, “Its Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise…” I mean, come on! What a God-wink! Yes, great are You, Lord!

Psalm 145 is an amazing passage of praise – the entire chapter! And it is just the perfect Word to pray (and give airtime to) in order to step into, “The Great Exchange”…

Oh, Father God,

Our heart explodes with praise to You! Now and forever may our hearts bow in worship to You, our King and our God! Every day we will lift up our praise to your name with praises that will last throughout eternity.

Lord, You are great and worthy of the highest praise! For there is no end to the discovery of the greatness that surrounds You. Generation after generation will declare more of your greatness and declare more of your glory.

Father, may your magnificent splendor and the miracles of your majesty become our constant meditation. Your awe-inspiring acts of power have everyone talking! We will tell people everywhere about your excellent greatness! Yes, our hearts bubble over as we celebrate the fame of your marvelous beauty, bringing bliss to our hearts. We shout with ecstatic joy over your breakthrough for us.

You are kind and tenderhearted to those who don’t deserve it and very patient with people who fail you. Your love is like a flooding river overflowing its banks with kindness. God, everyone sees your goodness, for your tender love is blended into everything you do.

Everything You have made will praise You, fulfilling its purpose. May we, your godly lovers, be found bowing before You alone rather than facts that cause worry. May we tell the world of the lavish splendor of your kingdom and preach about your limitless power!

We will demonstrate for all to see your miracles of might and reveal the glorious majesty of your kingdom. You are the Lord who reigns over your never-ending kingdom through all the ages of time and eternity! You are faithful to fulfill every promise you’ve made. You manifest yourself as kindness in all you do.

You help us when we are fallen and lift us when we are bent beneath our load. You have captured our attention. You give what we hunger for at just the right time. When You open your generous hand, it’s full of blessings, satisfying the longings of every living thing. You are fair and righteous in everything you do, and your love is wrapped into all your works. You draw near to those who call out to you, listening closely, especially when their hearts are true. We call out to You, Father. Every one of your godly lovers receives even more than what they ask for. For You hear what their hearts really long for and You bring them your saving strength.

God, we trust You. You watch carefully over us like a bodyguard! We praise you this day and may we ever remember to enter The Great Exchange with You, giving airtime only to your praise. Yes, we choose to praise the beautiful Lord of holiness from now through eternity! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen!

Worship Song to Help Us Enter The Great Exchange :)

Bethel Music Moment: Great Are You Lord - Amanda Cook

#trust #praise #faith #worry #anxiety #fear

The Importance of Thee Most Trustworthy Relationship | Do You Trust Me?

"Do you trust Me, now?”…that question felt like a machine gun peppering my heart as I stood in disbelief looking at a massive tree that had just fallen onto our house during hurricane season… “Really, Lord? Yes, of course I trust you, but come on!!!! This is too much for one person…”

Three years prior, that specific question kept bubbling up through my quiet time with the Lord. My immediate reply then was, “Of course, Lord! I trust You! You are faithful and good! Your promises never fail!” Every time the question would continue to surface, however, I felt irritation grow as it kinda felt like the moment when Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me, Peter?” At the time things were fantastic, but little did I know that the tables would soon be turned in my home. As I look back, I can see that the Lord in His grace, gave me a glimpse of what was to come. I remember sitting in my friend’s living room sharing that I sensed that the Lord was going to take my family on a steep climb, but that I would remain intact if I remained with Him. As we were talking about it my phone rang. That telephone call launched three years of hard, hard, hard… During that season of sifting, our finances diminished bit by bit, we walked through difficult hurdles with one of our sons, the engine on our truck blew, our microwave died, the dishwasher died, then we were given a new one and it died a week later, the AC unit died, we developed a crack in the foundation of our home, our master tub leaked to the main floor, it felt like our marriage and family were hanging on by a thread and now a tree had just fallen onto our home.

As I started out the window at the big tree, tears fell freely down my cheeks…I had no words, just grief. The battle before me seemed beyond lost and yet in the midst of the swirling, “what ifs", the Lord gently asked again, “Do you trust, Me, Kimberly? Remember I AM your God who will never stop loving you nor will my promises to you ever fail. I will not take back a single Word…in My holiness I cannot lie.“(Jn 15:13, Is 55:11, Psalm 89:34). Suddenly his promises began to flood my thoughts and I finally whispered, “Yes, I trust you, Lord. I don’t know how You can fix this, when you will fix this or even why You allowed it to happen in the first place, but to whom else will I turn? You are the only One who can save us out of this mess…”

Oswald Chambers wrote that the greatest spiritual crisis comes when a person has to move a little farther on in his faith than the beliefs he has already accepted. (Isn't that sentence worth a second read?!) My dear friend says that this stretching step of speaking Truth in faith is the very action of belief. In fact, I think it is the antidote for unbelief! And it all starts with trust. In order to be whole and available in a relationship with others, my trust must first be found in The only One who is fully worthy of my trust – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

When we choose to trust Him even when all seems lost, The Father reveals His Divine Alchemy in the circumstances of our lives…He can glean joy out of sorrow, process peace out of adversity and orchestrate healing out of sickness. (Isaiah 61:3) Now that I am on the other side of that difficult season, I can testify to the peace that falls when we proclaim His praises and speak our trust in Him even when all seems lost. He is the lifter of our countenance…when we choose to face Him, to remind ourselves of the Truth of His Word, we are transformed into His likeness and our lives begin to shine with His radiant glory. It is at this place that we can enter our earthly relationships whole, filled with His love and peace and kindness and goodness and faithfulness, pouring out what He has poured in…This is the transforming power of trusting in The One who is worthy of our trust…it is the bedrock that enables us to engage in trustworthy relationships with others.

This is the foundational “why” behind the importance of trustworthy relationships. When we first trust in the Lord and take Him at His Word, we are made whole and are thus able to walk in integrity in our relationship with others. I am praying today that we would choose to trust Him regardless of what we are facing - that we would take Him at His Word and believe that He is who He says He is and will be faithful to do what He promises. May we ever be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how we think. This will empower us to discern God’s will and enable us to live a beautiful life that is satisfying and perfect in His eyes. (Rm 12:1-2)

Proclamation Songs:

• Trust in You

• Psalm 23 - this is WELL worth the listen!!!!

Song of Promise:

• Rescue

#trust #faith #trustworthyrelationships