Soaking Up the Son

This sentence in our devo today stood out to me... "Let My Light soak into your mind and heart, until you are aglow with My very Being." (158)
It reminded me of how important light is to the plant world... green grass, spreading trees, colorful flowers, lush vegetable gardens... all do remarkably better with sunlight. We are spiritually the same... we do remarkably better when we have Son-light! So, let's let the Son-shine in!

With Windows Wide Open...dmc

PS - Have a Safe, Blessed & Beautiful Memorial Day!
May God Bless & Protect America!

An Amazing Aura

"This time of focused attention... I use it to bless you, strengthening and equipping you for the day... (creating) sacred space around you - space permeated with My Presence and My Peace." (157)
I am so grateful for people in my life who have illustrated what it means to have "sacred space... permeated with His Presence and Peace." Even as a child, I remember sensing that certain people had a certain aura about them that created "a safe place...a haven" that sparked life and love in me. One definition of aura is "a distinctive but intangible quality that seems to surround a person or thing; an atmosphere."
Time spent with Jesus creates a cushion of "sacred space" around each of us! What an amazing thought... what a privilege!
Captured in His Amazing Aura...dmc

God-Aware & Grateful

When & Where are you more open to God?
Years ago, after ministering to people who had gone through a series of good times and bad times, Joe and I were honestly reflecting on our own lives and decided we would be very intentional about staying God-aware and grateful during all the situations of life. When things were going great or when life was stressful and difficult... no matter what... we'd stay God-aware and grateful!
We decided we did not want to get into a pattern of earnestly seeking after God only when life was dark and difficult and we were in desperate need of His help. We wanted to habitually live up-close-and-personal even when life was "filled with good things" and we'd be more inclined to focus on the good things more than on the Good God behind all those good things.
It is true... "finding God in every situation" and responding "with thanksgiving and praise" does in fact open "wide the door to (His) Presence." (156)
Grateful for a Good God...dmc

The Pool of God's Presence

The devo for today speaks of how great and overwhelming God is and how man mistakenly tends "to make himself the measure of all things. But man's measure is too tiny to comprehend (God's) majestic vastness." (155)
This makes me think of how silly it would be to fill a large swimming pool with water, one tiny teaspoon at a time! It would take forever and be a seemingly impossible task! Yet, that is similar to how small we are in comparison to God's Greatness.
Yet, a God so Great longs for us to "draw near" to Him! And as we "draw near" He promises to respond by drawing near to us! Incredible! (James 4:8)
I think it's time to dive into the pool of His great Presence; to let His overwhelming "Power and Glory" wash over and around us until we are...
Overwhelmed in Worship...dmc

Put Him ON

"Seek My face at the beginning of your day...put Me on and wear Me throughout the day... To wear Me is essentially to have My mind; to think My thoughts." (154)
Have you ever noticed how what we wear impacts how we act? Our mindset and our behavior can actually be altered with just a change of clothes! For example, after a long day of work, coming home and putting on some casual clothes helps me to feel more relaxed, shedding some of the pressures of the day. I've also noticed how getting up and dressing up for the day helps me feel energized and ready to tackle the demands of that day.
No wonder Jesus reminds us that... "Clothing your mind in Me is your best preparation for each day. This discipline brings Joy and Peace to you and those around you." (154)

Getting Dressed & Ready in Him...dmc

PS - 31 years ago today God blessed our lives! Michael Kaehl Colaw was born and has abundantly blessed our lives and many others ever since! Happy Birthday, Michael!!
And thanks for being an example of a man who "puts on" Jesus every day!

Antidote for Uncertainty

"Every person on the planet faces gaping jaws of uncertainty. The only antidote to this poisonous threat is drawing close to Me." (153)
When our sons were little they would sometimes need a little extra reassurance in the middle of the night, especially if they'd had a bad dream. It was always quite amazing how quickly they would fall back to sleep just knowing dad or mom was there.
The uncertainties of this world are often like bad dreams and the antidote is the reassuring presence of of Heavenly Father! Staying in His Presence really calms and quiets our anxious thoughts, anywhere at anytime!
I am SO grateful that Perfect Peace works Perfectly....dmc

Problem Solving not Soaking

"Your mind leaps from problem to problem to problem, tangling your thoughts in anxious knots. When you think like that, you leave Me out...and your mind becomes darkened." (152)
Problem solving is much different from problem soaking! A problem soaked mind is saturated in tangled, toxic thoughts that impact and eventually assault our brains. A problem solving brain operates much differently.
It reminds me of how cucumbers become pickles! As a child I would watch Mom brew the brine and thoroughly soak the cucumbers. We could observe the change inside those Mason jars over the days, weeks, months.
Dwelling on problems can begin to dominate and dictate our lives to such a point that we become 'pickled' in our own bitter brew.
It's not likely a pickle will ever turn back into a cucumber, however, we have a Problem Solving Savior who "yearns to help" and "together, we can handle whatever this day brings."
Problems are just a fact of life, but the Presence of Jesus will make the brew...
Better, not Bitter....dmc

Gardens or Graveyards

"Bring Me your mind for rest and renewal. Let Me infuse My Presence into your thoughts...giving you glimpses of heaven while your still reside on earth...I want you to walk with Me in the garden of your heart..." (151)
The way our minds build neuro-networks of thought looks similar to branches on trees. We can literally grown a "garden" of fruit producing 'trees' with the patterns of thought we allow to develop in our minds. However, toxic, negative thoughts neuro-chemically burn the branches, eventually leaving holes in the brain where life-giving thoughts once were! The death of a life-giving mind, overcome with oppressive thoughts, is such a tragedy!
Jesus invites us "to walk with (Him) in the garden of our hearts, where (He wants to) take up permanent residence."
Growing a Garden, not Digging a Graveyard...dmc

Strategically Placed

"There are hidden treasures strategically placed along the way. Some...are trials, designed to shake you free from earth-shackles. Others are blessings that reveal My Presence..." (150)
Approaching life from the perspective of "hidden treasures strategically placed" in my daily life is a radical mind reset. I've discovered hidden doors open when I look at an encounter, a circumstance, a challenge, a responsibility or other life event as strategic opportunities to discover God's hidden treasure. Some are timely junctures. Others are timeless life lessons. While others may just be another great God-adventure. It makes me realize how my life is strategically placed in the larger and smaller scope of all things; including the time and place of my birth, who I am, why I'm here, how I live, to when and where I will die! All a testimony of being strategically "in Him" where "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden." (Colossians 2:3)
Strategically In Him...dmc

Beyond Understanding

"When things don't go as you would like...remember that I am sovereign over your circumstances...even though it is beyond your understanding." (149)
Already this morning I've had several calls of concern about things beyond our understanding. Things that tend to "shatter our thinking." However, in the midst of messy times God is still sovereign. Our "ultimate challenge is to keep fixing our eyes on" Him!
When our own understanding is weak we can come "under the mighty hand of God" rather than coming under the messy circumstances. (I Peter 5:6)
Under His Mighty Hand...dmc

But as For Me

"But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation, My God will hear me." Micah 7:7
There are times when we have to make a decision based upon what we personally believe about God or what we have personally heard from God. What others may say... friend, companion, relatives, those who seem especially close... may really sound more like the words of an enemy (Micah 7:5-6) because they are more focused on the problem rather than His Presence. (148)
It's critically important for me to check out my focus...if it's more on the problem than on His Presence... I'm in trouble! If I take counsel from others who are more focused on the problem than His Presence... we're all in trouble!
"But as for me," I must "wait for God" no matter what others say. Great problem solvers have a way of seeing through the problem in the light of His Presence! It REALLY IS the FOCUS we gain in His Presence that makes all the difference!
Focused on His Presence...dmc

Tight to the Light

"Stay in the Light of My Presence, receiving forgiveness, cleansing and healing... My illumination decimates the darkness. Come close to Me and let My Light envelop you, driving out darkness and permeating you with Peace." (147)
Certainly this is true when we are dealing with issues of sin in our lives...quickly confessing the sins of "self-pity, denial, self-righteousness, blaming, hatred" and a myriad of other transgressions.
However, I am especially grateful that the Light of His Presence can also drive out the dark emotions of the soul. Depression, anxiety, fear, uncertainty and the other emotional side-effects of just being human can submit, subside and dissipate in the Light of His Presence! Living in a fallen world requires some "Light" insurance!
Staying Close to His Light Today...dmc

The Aware Difference

"It is through awareness of My Presence that Peace displaces negative feelings. Practice the discipline of walking consciously with me through each day." (146)
This is the discipline that will make all the difference...intentional awareness of God's Presence!
No matter what is happening, being more aware of His presence will enable us to override the negatives of insecurity, fear, pride or whatever tends to sabotage and defeat us.
Seeking to be Aware & Disciplined...dmc

Shedding Blinders

"Do not blindly follow your habitual route, or you will miss what I have prepared for you." (145)
Today, I want to shed my blinders of the familiar and habitual patterns and tap deeper into God's perspective that is "higher" than my ways or thoughts about this day! (Isaiah 55:8-9)
What does God see that I have missed?
Carefully Aware...dmc

A Philanthropic God

"I am a God of abundance. I will never run out of resources...gain glimpses of My overflowing vastness." (144)
To comprehend and access a "God of abundance" stretches most of us because we live in a world limited by self-focused supply-and-demand and poisoned with entitlement and greed. But God operates far differently!
To "gain glimpses" of the "God of abundance" in God's people, we will find those who operate out of the vastness of an eternal perspective rather than an overly practical materialistic perspective. Those who are in sync with such a philanthropic God tend to inspire us to become a more generous, kind and charitable soul.
God seems impractically generous...an abundance of beauty where no one sees, an abundance of detail to the tiniest of creatures, an abundance of love to the least strategic of people, an abundance of compassion to the least influential, an abundance of mercy to the least deserving, an abundance of potential to the least confident, an abundance of favor to the most overlooked... We have such an abundant, philanthropic God!
Awed & Inspired by Glimpses of His Generous Heart...dmc

Hazy Horizons

"Instead of scanning the horizon of your life...concentrate on the task before you... Let everything else fade into the background. This will unclutter your mind..." (143)
Have you noticed how an anxious mind is a cluttered mind, a distracted mind, a detached mind?
As a result, I must challenge myself often to keep the focus limited to what God has placed on my present plate, rather than scanning the horizon for additional concerns to stress and depress me. I love to be fully prepared and thoroughly organized, to the point that my confidence starts to build on my efficiency rather than His sufficiency!
So, when the future appears to be rather hazy and undefined, I am learning to praise Him for He holds my uncertain hazy horizon...
In His Capable Sovereign Hands...dmc

Drawing Near

This may be one of the most comforting Truths of scripture..."Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." James 4:8
I just love the quick and attentive responsiveness of God. Even when I don't fully sense His presence, I will acknowledge Him, turning my focus toward Him and away from the enemy.
"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7) God seems to bless those who "resist the devil." He blesses them with His presence!
When we do NOT resist the devil, we hinder the presence of God.
Resisting, Not Hindering...dmc

Camouflaged in Challenge

"Your weakness is designed to open you up to My Power. Therefore, do not fear your limitations or measure the day's demands against your strength...When I allow difficulties to come into your life, I equip you fully to hand them." (141)
To me weaknesses and difficulties are kind of like miniature doorways. Doorways I must crawl through, to get on the other side into a spacious place of sunlight.
Some doorways, however, are more like long, dark, enclosed thresholds, silent and suffocating. As I slowly inch my way along, in the midst of the crawl, I am surprised to discover hidden tools that equip, assist and sustain me. Tools I would have missed, if I had not been on my knees! These tools are not easily uncovered because they are camouflaged in challenge. With each tool, I discover more power, more strength! While this is not my favorite journey, I do like the sunlight...
Beyond the Theshold ...dmc

Grow or Go

"When things seem all wrong, look for growth opportunities. Especially, look for areas where you need to let go, leaving your cares in My hands...Be on the lookout for what I am doing in your life." (140)
I like these two options: Grow or Let Go!! That simplifies things quickly.
When I'm "in the midst of the crucible," I can view it as an opportunity to grow or as an opportunity to let something go! Either way I can come out way ahead of where I was at the start!
On the Lookout...dmc

Plug the Drain

The "drainout" condition means "needy people have drained" out nearly every ounce of life we have to offer. Most of us can identify with that! (139)
Joe and I have to walk a careful line, discerning our ability to pace the amount of life we take in and give out daily. One of our strategies is to be sure that when we are together we are investing life INTO each other. We cannot be draining one another and expect to have anything left to give others. We monitor our conversations, entertainment, environments rather closely to protect each other from wasting energy and life on worthless discussions and mindsets. Life can get mighty scrappy and we don't need to scrap with each other! It's a great comfort to look forward to being energized with life when we are together. Praying every night as we drift off to sleep is especially healing for us...it plugs the drain!
Protecting what works...dmc

Unsnagged!

"The very act of thanking Me releases your mind from its negative focus." (138)
I really believe that a negative focus is one of the enemy's ways of immobilizing us. Keeping our minds "snagged on a difficulty" can paralyze our potential and keep us from fulfilling God's purposes in our lives.
I have battled with worrisome thinking and my best antidote is to turn that same thought into a prayer of thanksgiving for how God will provide, protect and bless...even before I know all the details or outcome. It's how I am learning to walk-out my faith, embrace God-confidence and build strong(er) trust-muscles!
Untangling the snag of worry...dmc

In the Doorway

"View problems as opportunities to relay more fully on Me...your needs become doorways to deep dependence on Me, and increasing intimacy between us." (137)
The devo for today is profoundly impacting. Our secret door to "increasing intimacy" with God lies not in what WE can DO for Him...but in what HE can DO WITH us when we are overwhelmed with problems and feeling most needy! Who would have guessed that these "afflictions" (2 Cor. 1:3-11) are protecting us from the "idolatry of self-reliance." Idolatry will keep us out of heaven...intimacy will make us feel at home in heaven!
Stepping into the Doorway...dmc

Messy Mother's Day!!

What a good word for Mother's Day....
"Release your mistakes" and failures. (136) Whenever I mess up, it really messes with me. Learning to release those things and to disentangle the mental-emotional brain web that tends to capture and paralyze me is a tricky task. Just as I am breaking free it seems like some sadistic spider-man flings his oppressive web my direction and I must mentally wrestle free, again.
To release, rather than wrestle, is key to my freedom. Releasing lets me drop the mental-emotional brain web rather than trying to win a wearisome wrestling match with the inevitable fact that I cannot defend my flawed humanity. Mistakes and failures will be inevitable. Releasing my "morass of mistakes" to Jesus allows His "infinite creativity (to) weave both (my) good and bad into a lovely design." (Romans 8:28)
Living above the inevitable...dmc

The Nasty "Norm"

"In this world you will have trouble..." (John 16:33)
Now, this is NOT good news. This is NOT how I like to start my day... anticipating TROUBLE! Certainly this theme will NOT put someone on the motivational speakers list... "Trouble is the "norm" for the day...today and every day!"
However, that's the nasty truth... we all must wrestle with TROUBLE! No matter how it comes, or why it comes... it will most certainly come into each of our lives.
So, what's the inspirational take-away? Overcoming perseverance! Jesus reassures us that in the midst of trouble we can have peace and be courageous. Why? Because He has "overcome (conquered) the world."
It takes some "severe" to help us "persevere!" But, we don't have to do it alone. Jesus, the Persevering Overcomer, will take our hand... one trouble after another... until we join the world of Overcomers!
In a World of Trouble...dmc

Re-Engineered Events

"You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." Genesis 50:20
There is no question that God can trump the enemy. The issue is... I must ALLOW God to trump the enemy! I've discovered that my own thought life can sabotage whatever good God is engineering in my life. Even if the people, situations and perceptions that come against me may have some degree of evil intent, God can take what is "meant for evil" and re-engineer "it for (my) good." Exactly HOW He does that is beyond me... but I choose to gratefully embrace His re-engineering process, even before I experience it or understand it.
I pray daily for active re-engineering of situations and events in my kids and grandkids lives, too. Praising God that our lives have been...
Re-engineered many times over...dmc

Fixed Viewpoint

"Fix your eyes NOT on what is seen (your circumstances), but on what is unseen (My Presence)." (2 Cor. 4:18) Our devo today challenges us to "not search for security in the world you inhabit... instead...focus you attention on My Presence with you." (133)
This reminded me of how various perception puzzles can play tricks on our minds, making us see something far different from what is really there! We think that our perception is the final authority of truth, but our visual perception can be distorted and cannot always be trusted. Listening to two different individuals relaying the same incident illustrates how perception can be very different and maybe very distorted.
If I embrace my perception as the final word, I may miss God's Word on the matter. God's grander perception and purposes often lay outside my finite fixed viewpoint! How I perceive things has a direct correlation on how I react to things.
Readjusting my limited perception...dmc

Totally Trustworthy

To be worthy of one's trust... total trust... is highly rare and absolutely awesome! God is that THAT worthy! God is worthy of praise, worthy of honor, worthy of glory and worthy of our total worship. That is why we can come into His presence with total thanksgiving... there's just SO much to be thankful for! Totally Trustworthy & Totally Thankful...
Now, that's the kind of God I need...dmc

Splendor in the Storm

"Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness." (Ps. 29:2) This verse from today's devo is found at the start of a very stormy psalm. The rest of Psalm 29 sounds like a thunderstorm is brewing with vast waters (v 3), shattering cedars (v 5), flashing flames of fire (lightening, v 7), a shaken wilderness (v 8) and the woodlands being stripped bare (v 9) with a great flood (v 10).
With a storm of that magnitude stirring, I would be looking for a place of protection, a place to escape or hide. In the midst of all this, David, the composer of this psalm, is stirred by God's splendid holiness. His focus reflects an amazing point of view. He closes this stormy psalm by saying, "The Lord gives His people strength; the Lord blesses His people with peace." (v 11)
Ah, yes...the place of protection, in stormy times, is God-given strength and blessed peace..right in the midst of the storm.
Listening for His Voice in the Storm...dmc

Pleased & Pleasing

"If pleasing people is your goal, you will be enslaved to them. People can be harsh taskmasters when you give them this power over you." (130)
Pleasing people is not a pleasing way to live. It's far too taxing and unpleasant! What a refreshing alternative...to experience His pleasure and to live to please someone who loves us enough to forgive us and to help carry our load. The Messiah will dwell in our hearts through faith...enabling us to be rooted and firmly established in the fullness of God's love. (See Eph. 3:17-19)
It is such a pleasing thing to know God is pleased!
Rooted and firmly established...dmc

A "Jesus" Sunny Day

"Whisper My Name...this tiny act of trust brings Me to the forefront of your consciousness, where I belong... This is abundant life!"
It is amazing how Jesus' name can rebuke our mental storms. The climate of our cloudy minds can be radically modified by the sunlight of His presence. In His Name, I'm forecasting....
It's going to be a Sunny Day...dmc

On His Path

"On the path of My choosing...you simply have no time for worry." (128)
Worry can sabotage a perfectly good day. I have a little sign over my desk at home... "Too Blessed to be Stressed!" It's a good reminder that God desires to "guide my feet into the way of peace!" Luke 1:79
There's no reason to stress when He is guiding me along the "Way of Peace."
On the path He chose...dmc