Keep on walking

Our walk of faith so often feels like a treacherous journey through mud and mire, thorns and thistles, sinking sand and stony ground.

Obstacles abound. We wonder where a safe passage can be found.

Weeds wind their pernicious way around our hearts.

Pebbles press into our shoes and we become impatient pilgrims.

Problems multiply and challenges come. Each one seemingly bigger than before.

Are we ready for them? 

Are we armed and dangerous?

Not always.

Although we have the soft breath of Holy Spirit whispering wisdom and the wild wind of His power sweeping through us, we tend to forget He is ever-present.

And we need to seek God's will as we walk with awareness through our days.

Read and absorb His word. Believe and declare its truth and rest in His promises.

Be on our guard against the snares of the enemy. Have our shield of faith in place and wield the sword of the Spirit.

Be vigilant. Be prepared. Be ready to turn to God in an instant in dependence and prayer.

I've been caught out lately as I allowed negativity and discouragement to eat away inside my soul.

Watched weariness bringing out the worst in me.

Allowed irritability to replace tranquillity. 

Gave a foothold to fatigue instead of resting in God's peace.

Made comparisons that stole my joy, rather than being satisfied with what I had and who I am in Christ.

Became critical and cautious instead of being open and giving.

My weaknesses are many and the openings all too easy to breach unless I keep my guard up.

But there is a way to stay at rest, to enjoy where we are on the way to where we're going.

And it starts with seeing things God's way, seeing ourselves as we truly are and seeing His solution to it all.

It's an uncomfortable thing to gain self-awareness through our faults and failings, but it will also be the beginning of the overcoming of them.

Staying trapped, staying the same, staying bound is not an option for a blood-bought child of God.

We are supposed to grow into the best of ourselves as we continue to lay down and yield the worst of ourselves.

Your walk may be taking you through smooth, sunny pastures or into the eye of a storm.

No matter where you're situated right now....God is there. He walks with you and holds you close. 

"When we sin and mess up our lives, we find that God doesn't go off and leave us - he enters into our trouble and saves us" ~ Eugene H. Peterson in 'A Long Obedience in the Same Direction'

You never walk alone. 

You can never fall into a pit so deep that His arm cannot reach down to pull you out of it.

There is always hope for healing, for change, for transformation and restoration.

Cling to the cross. Hold hard to God's hand, follow after His heart, and lean into His embrace.

He already knows your every weakness and pain. Every aspect of sin and shame is laid bare before Him.

Let Him minister to you and bring you through; allow grace to permeate and saturate your days.

In surrender you will find sanctuary. And the deep soul rest, peace and ease you need to keep on walking on.

Whispers on the wind

Some sounds rise loud and clear and our senses are alert, heightened to every nuance, change of pitch and tone. 

New parents seek shades of meaning in every utterance their infant makes. 

My son and his wife are at the stage of learning and interpreting every vocal expression of their month-old baby son. 

They listen hard. With intention and purpose. Ready to act on whatever messages they receive. 

Ready to provide their newborn with all the care, comfort, love and protection he needs.

A little later on, they will delight in every coo, sigh, chuckle, gurgle and giggle he makes before recognisable words are shaped and formed. 

Most will seem indecipherable to those who are not 'in the know'. But these two will become experts in analysing each intonation, finding them infinitely precious and meaningful to them alone until others can understand and interpret them too.

We all long for connection. Desire to communicate. To express ourselves. Be heard. Understood. 

And when it happens ~ links form, tangled threads let loose that bind one person to another in harmony.

If we have such a strong in-built desire to be heard, listened to and taken seriously, then think how important it is for God to make Himself known to us in a similar fashion.

It begs the question:Are we listening? Paying keen attention? Or have we largely switched off to Him? 

When 2013 began, I was greatly blessed in reading 'Jesus Calling' by Sarah Young and found that God started to speak to me too.

I decided to record those words that God whispered to my heart as 'Prayer Whispers'.

At first, it felt like I had a clear line, no fogginess or indistinct blurring.

So I scribbled the thoughts down in a prayer journal.

Some got shared here.

Most felt private for me or maybe I just lacked courage to declare them as 'words from above' ~ after all, who am I? I'm nobody special. Just a woman seeking to follow God's heart and leading for her life. 

Over time, they lessened (or I got bad at hearing them) and became infrequent.

But all the more precious for their rarity.

Just before the new year began, I heard quite distinctly. Though I wavered, challenged, questioned...Is this really You, God?

He made it clear. I had a new 'word' for 2014 and it was ~ 'Listen'.

Every whisper on the wind might be the sound of His voice. 

Every person I communicate with might need me to listen more intently to their words or to the hidden message in their heart. Read gestures, posture, expressions, sighs.

Every stir in the air around might be God speaking to me through creation.

Perhaps this is not only a natural follow on to last year's injunction to 'Come', but a way of ensuring I'm in the best position possible to catch it all.

So what happens next? How do I assist the listening process?

By joining the #oneword365 challenge, making my intentions public (no backing out now), plus writing my first post about listening and why it's so important to me on poetryjoy.com followed by this one and more to come as the months unfold.

Aiming to read 'Listening to your life' Daily Meditations by Frederick Beuchner.

I am also taking part in the 2014 Mindful Writing Challenge because I need all the help I can get to deliberately notice and pay attention to my life.

And to close with here is today's #smallstone offering of mindfulness:

"Commencing black and blue

dissolving into rainbow-shadowed hue

a central core of white-hot heat and light

burning radiantly, glowing bright

standing sentinel, upright and strong

until the slightest breeze comes along

then bending, dancing, sway and quiver

like a frightened child all a-shiver"




Life, objects around, voices, words, every sound, appear changed, transformed and new when viewed with eyes opening in surprise beyond their everyday guise.

*******

My hope and prayer is that you will discover the joy of listening too, so you don't miss the words God is trying to get across to you. 

"God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer" ~ Mother Teresa

And do share what you are learning. I would love to know about your journey. We can support and encourage one another here.

Do you have a 'word' for 2014? 

Has God spoken to you lately in ways you just couldn't miss? 

Please feel free to share in the comments below.

May this be a blessed and happy new year of hearing and receiving God's best for your life!

Linking here with Lyli, Emily and Jennifer

Shades of purple

Life is rarely all (or even 50)shades of grey. We have a rich palette of experiences that colour our world with light, delicate hues or vivid shades that stain deep.

Purple is one of my favourite colours and it happens to be the one used to symbolise Fibromyalgia too.

For those with Fibromyalgia their world is pierced dark with unrelenting pain.

As an M.E/CFS sufferer I also have accompanying Fibromyalgia, (you can click here to find out what it is) which is sadly an all too common addition to our already depleting and debilitating symptoms.

It is Fibromyalgia Awareness Day in the UK on May 12th and this poem is written to honour the occasion.

Shades of Purple

Ringed black and blue

visible wounding

heavy bruised stain

seeping into skin

with tender throb of pain.

But you wound internal

pulsating deep

Fibro' fingers

prodding, poking, pain

that always lingers.

Morning stiff

to greet the dawn

making body stumble

movement slow

with risk of tumble.

Purple prose

swallowed down

as limbs grind painful

muscles sore, gait unsteady,

awkward, shameful.

Echoes of dark

bleeding out of day

escorting in the night

with sleep-elusive sigh

as body seizes tight.

Purple-coloured robes

draping royal and holy
  mantle of love

covering aches and pains

with grace from above.

Shades of purple

tinged with layers of faith,

bringing strength and healing

as God's heavenly light

shines with Hope revealing.
©JoyLenton2013

No matter how sick we may be there is always hope for improvement and healing.

Until that happens, we support and encourage one another as best we can.

A Prayer

Father, we struggle at times to endure
 hardship and pain that has no cure.

We long so much for it all to end,
  for relief to come, as we stoop and bend.

Grant us grace and strength to persevere,
continuing to know that You are so near
a simple heart's cry is already heard
even if we do not utter a word.
In the darkest nights we fail to rest
and have many days when we're far from our best.
Weakness and weariness play their part 
in bringing discouragement to make us lose heart.
Lift and encourage us when we feel sad 
during those moments when pain's really bad.
For you are the One who we turn to in need
and You help to heal and make all pain recede.
Thank you.
Amen.

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May God bless and give you His peace until we meet again.