Trusting Him

I have been thinking a lot about trust, and what that means. It's wonderful to say I trust God when things are all good in my life and in the life of my family and friends. What happens though when things are not going as well. When finances are a stretch, when health is not at its peak, when family starts to unravel or when life throws that curve ball at me? Do I then continue to trust in His goodness, His mercy, his faithfulness, His love? Or do I go down that road of doubt.....into that miry pit of darkness, letting the problems overwhelm me?

Scripture clearly points to the truth that God is trustworthy, as nothing on this earth is, that He can come through for me....but sometimes not in quite the way I would wish!!!! That I think is the crux of it all. I have in my mind the way in which God can come and meet my need and often that does not happen. I struggle then in seeing what He is doing in my situation. Then the challenge comes afresh...can I trust Him to do the best for me in His way and not mine???? After all He sees the path I am walking, He sees things in the future that I can't and that is why I can confidently place my hand in His hand and trust Him to lead me in the best way. Is it easy to trust Him? No, it's not! I am human! I very quickly loose trust even in my God who has proven trustworthy in the past. Now I must allow a fresh movement of the Holy Spirit to come into my spirit to enable me to trust Him afresh in this new situation. Then I believe that through this there will be a new level of trust and intimacy with God that will be so amazing and will take me into new depths with Him.


There are so many scriptures on trust, but one I love is Isaiah 26:3 . "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You." I want that to become a life verse for me, I want my mind to be steadfast (fixed, unchanging, loyal, constant, unmoved, firmly planted) in the midst of any unforeseen circumstance because I trust in Him...trust in His way, trust in His goodness and never ending love. How about you?????

Perhaps Today

Every time I go to the coast and travel down the coast highway to Newport, I see a sign board on the street outside an antique store.

On the white sign is a black and white profile of Jesus and the simple words, "Perhaps Today".  I love that...perhaps today our vision of Jesus coming back will come true. Those words went deep into my heart and  I thought of all the things I long to see changed by those words  and I wrote this poem.


Perhaps today - All pain will finally cease
Perhaps today - Every tear will be dried
Perhaps today - All anger will be gone
Perhaps today - Hunger will be no more
Perhaps today - All wars will end

Perhaps today - I will see Your face
Perhaps today - I will glimpse Your beauty
Perhaps today - Your love will shine
Perhaps today - Lions will lay down with lambs
Perhaps today - Creation will be restored

Perhaps today - The fallen away will see
Perhaps today - They will long to return
Perhaps today - Those that never knew You will hear
Perhaps today - They will turn to You
Perhaps today - There will be great rejoicing

Perhaps today - The sky will rend
Perhaps today - The trumpet will sound
Perhaps today - The seas will part
Perhaps today - The angels will sing
Perhaps today - Your Bride will wed.

Gods choices

I read with children at a local elementary school and this week was the start of reading with students for this new school year. One of my students in 2nd grade shared how in 14 days he was going to have a new baby brother and that he was excited. I asked him if he had other brothers and sisters and he said he had a younger brother. He then shared that his Dad wanted a boy and so did his brother, but his Mom wanted a girl and so did he. Then he said but God wanted a boy, and He got to choose!!!!!

That simple comment has really stayed with me all week and challenged me! How do I look at God when He gets to choose things in my life that maybe goes against what I want? Do I fight against Gods choices, or do I submit to His far greater understanding and accept that His ways are higher than mine? (Isaiah 55:8-9)

As I submit and see His choice is only born out of love for me and knowing things that I don't know, can I then get as excited about His choice as I would if I had my own choice?

Lord, help all of us to submit to Your plans and purposes and Your choices with a grateful and excited heart and with a childlike faith that is so precious to You.

Resting in the Stillness

I have been thinking about rest and what it means in the truest sense. We all need those times of rest and refreshment that only Jesus can give. So I looked up rest in Hebrew and the deeper meaning in the word.

What I found was amazing.

Rest: An ever changing stillness, place of repose, a place to gather energies and faculties to prepare for whatever beauty or challenge tomorrow holds.

An ever changing stillness...wow...that changes my perspective of what rest is. A stillness at my core, not static but changing. Rest is not a stillness that does nothing, but within that rest there is a changing from within that only Jesus gives!

A place of repose....my place of refuge, my high tower, a place where I can run to, where I cannot be touched by men or the enemy. How I long to always be in that place.

A place to gather energies......maybe a place to get ready, to renew my spiritual strength for what tomorrow will hold. There will be beauty in tomorrow, but I can almost be sure there will be challenges...but in my rest of today, I will be equipped, I will be strong in His strength...how wonderful that is.

Today I want to be in that true place of rest......being made strong, confident, gathering my energies for whatever comes....I breathe rest in with every breath I take and breathe anxiousness and stress out.

May you find your true rest and refreshment today in His perfect stillness.

Glorious Majesty

Having been over to the mountains for almost a week, I feel like I have been in a place of awesome beauty close to heaven, but now I am back to earth!!!

Why do I feel that way?? Because mountains always make me think of The Lord...looking up at them in all their shades of color and magnificence bring Him to mind.  Mountains hold mystery, hidden depths and secrets to be discovered, just like Jesus. However much you may think you know about Jesus there are always hidden depths and secrets that He is waiting to reveal to the one who seeks. Are you a seeker? Am I a seeker? Stop and think on that today....ask Him what He wants to reveal of Himself that is fresh and new...after all, there is no end to Him as there has been no beginning

There is something about mountains Lord,

That reminds me so much of You.

They have beauty, strength, majesty,

A mystery that waits to be unlocked.

Purity and grandeur reaching to the heavens,

Yet surrounded by lakes and waterfalls,

Refreshing the body and the soul

With life giving abundant water.

Yet lying beneath this splendor is gentleness,

Of alpine meadows full of sweetness,

From flowers of every hue living free

Delighting the eye and heart.

So too Lord You are those mountains,

Pure, serene, majestic, set apart,

Yet full of refreshment to those who drink of you,

Who rest in your shadow and delight in you.

You fill my senses with color and light,

With sweet perfume that sets me free,

That draws me close  to your embrace,

And fills me full of love and grace.

Times of Refreshing

Refreshing. So often the scriptures talk about this........how delightful it is to be refreshed by His hand.

Last week there was a torrential downpour that was so extreme there was almost two inches of rain in about an hour and a half. The ground was so very hard and dry from a long summer that instead of soaking into the ground, the rain ended up as a massive runoff that should have been life giving to the grass, soil and plants but much was wasted.

My heart missed a beat....surely my spiritual heart couldn't be like that dry hard ground in the natural!!!  Would Jesus come and pour down His rain but instead of it penetrating my spirit, would it just run off and be wasted? Do I know how to keep  my spirit soft?  Yes, I do......by constantly reminding myself of the love that He has for me, and to keep coming to the waterfall of His love daily.

I love Psalm Twenty Three. I picture it often. Each day He wants to lead us into that new valley of cascading waterfalls, of green lush verdant grass, of cool shade beneath tall trees, whose leaves shake and tremble, bringing pleasant music to our ears. There is a vibrant aliveness, an expectant anticipation that is in this valley as we wait for Him to come........it's almost as though we are inside the heart of our God, hearing His heartbeat. For He longs to bring us daily refreshing so that we can face anything our day throws at us with His joy, His peace, His love. Jesus, help us today to stand under that waterfall, feel Your life giving water fill up every place in our hearts and spirits, and refresh us with Yourself.

River of Life

O God, let the rain fall on me,
Let your waterfall submerge me,
O God, refresh my spirit
Lest I die.


For all my fountains are in You,
And in You I draw water
That will revive me, heal me
Cleanse me.


Your living waters give me life,
Fill me to overflowing,
Give me hope, give me peace,
Joy everlasting.

Riches and Intimacy

September. I always think that this is the month that holds summer in its hand, yet reaches out with the other towards Fall.

I think that is how we should be...holding what we are and what we know of Jesus our heavenly  lover, yet reaching out for more of what He has for us....riches and intimacy beyond our wildest dreams. All of us should be in that transitional place where we enjoy His presence yet long for more. Isn't that exciting? To know there is always more, a going deeper, a seeking after more of His love and a broadening of our horizons...that our tent pegs will be enlarged.

I love that....to know The Lord is never stationary, He is always moving in our lives, longing to bring us into a closer embrace with Him. I so long for a deeper closeness, that today even this very minute there is more I can experience of Him whose name is like perfume poured out. (Song of Songs 1: 3)

Love.

How I love you my Lord,
Like a singing bird I long
For your touch, to free me
To dance, run, sing for you.

Set my spirit free my Lord,
To run with You and see
Your wonders fresh this day
Through your eyes of love

Touch my heart my Lord,
Make it more like Yours
That we may sing together
Both in perfect harmony.

Magnificent Obsession

A while ago I posted a short version of this picture I had on my Facebook page, but this weekend while I was resting in the presence of Jesus I saw again this picture which still blows me away with its significance and I felt it was something to share here.

So let these words and the picture I paint  take you to a new place today with Jesus....the lover of your soul and let Him minister His love and and intimacy to you. Just imagine Jesus coming to you and speaking your name.

It was warm and sunny. The Dogwood was out, and everything was fresh and green. The sky was an unbelievable blue with wispy white clouds. As I sat there drinking everything in, I wondered what Jesus would say about His beautiful creation if He was to walk down the garden path.

Would He comment on the lovely Dogwood flowers, the Laburnum just coming out, the Lilac or the endless blue of the sky, the sweet beauty of the roses, the grass so green? After all, He must think it all beautiful as He made it.

Then it came to me that no!! He wouldn't comment on any of these, wouldn't even see them - because He would be looking only at me!!!!! I would be the only object of His gaze. He would hold out His arms as He walked towards me, pure love in His beautiful eyes. What would I do? I would run over the plants, the garden, the flowers to go to Him and be totally embraced in His strong loving arms.


After all, unbelievable though it may seem, I am His Magnificent Obsession, His Magnificent Creation, more lovely than anything else He has created.

Selah - stop and think about that!

Reunion with my Beloved

A couple of days ago I was watching a mother deer and her fawn in a neighbors yard. The mother was able to jump with ease over a 4 foot fence, but the fawn could not and was highly stressed at seeing its mom over the other side and not able to get to her. It ran up and down several times trying to figure out what to do....mom just waited patiently on the other side. Finally after maybe ten minutes the fawn ran to one end of the fence and right where it butts up against our hedge saw a tiny space and within seconds had squeezed itself through. It literally flew to its mom with jumping steps and little tail upright. That reunion was something to see!!!!!

As I watched the reunion of mom and baby (the separation which had lasted all of ten minutes) I heard Jesus speak to my heart. " Janet, do you do everything in your power to cross any obstacle that keeps you away from Me? Does your heart long for my touch and living water after being away from Me for just a few moments, a few hours? I want you to be like that fawn, longing for my presence and overcoming any obstacle in your life to reach me, being ecstatic when you do...valuing Me more than anything else."

It made me think of the obstacles that keep me on this side of the fence away from my Beloved. Daily chores, tv, computer and just the busyness of life. How much am I desperate to be with Him?  Am I running to find that space where I can squeeze those precious moments with Him that will bring me life today?

Think about what keeps you from being close to His  heart today.  He's waiting for you..............

My Beloved waits for me,
Always looking, turning, watching.
His hand, nail pierced, open
To hold my insecure heart.

My love rises to touch His heart,
As He takes my hand and
Walks beside me -my Lover
And the only one who waits for me.

Secret Places of Awakening

Have you a special place that you meet with The Lord? A secret place? I think we all need that, and if you don't have one ask The Lord where it could be. 

I have had many over the years. When we first came to YWAM on Battlecreek Road here in Salem, I used to walk to an old quarry where I would climb down for a few feet and sit in the long grass and not be seen by anyone other than the Lord. Sometimes I was so quiet I saw deer and once a possum down in the bottom. The Lord would take these natural simple things of nature to show me His heart. Another secret place was in Yachats. Whenever we went to stay , I always went out early in the morning to a little path leading around the cliff, and just below this path I found a small dip where I could sit and not be seen from the path above, and where all I could see was the sky and the ocean waves in front of me. Sometimes The Lord would speak to me from the seals playing in the waves, and sometimes from the ever changing ocean. Now it is my garden, a place where I am hidden from the world, and can just be with Him.  It can be as simple as a corner of a room with your favorite things around you, as it has also been for me many times.

We all need that fresh awakening of our hearts and minds to His thoughts and desires on a daily basis. Awakening our sense of wonder so the world doesn't come in and overwhelm us.

Awakening spiritually means worship and praise. Awakening causes our spirits to soar with the eagles above all our circumstances and allows our minds to marvel at our King. Awakening slowly melts any ice cold hardening of our hearts. Awakening is an enlargement of our heart, our soul and our spirit. The proof of authentic awakening sparkles from a inward attitude of gratefulness, thankfulness and abounding love towards God for His special gift of life.

Promised Land.

YOU are my Promised Land,

YOU are my milk and honey ,

Without  You -

There is only barren desert.

YOU are my Living Water,

YOU are my tumbling waterfall,

Without You - 

There is only empty cisterns .

YOU are my Life and Love,

YOU are the wind beneath my wings,

Without You -

I am earthbound with aching heart.

The title for my blog comes from 2 Corinthians 2:14
"But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him"
I have always thought this scripture is absolutely amazing. To think that every place we go, every person we see, there is through us a fragrance of Jesus....a tangible, loving presence , that lingers like a beautiful perfume on the air. I think of my roses that spill out their fragrance as I brush past, and how I want to be that fragrance that spills out Jesus.