Awaken like the flowers and trees in Spring. Be restored. Grow, bloom, transform into who you, whose you are, learn to grasp the power within you and the authority you have to use it. -Shalon Day HEART SNAP: PSALM 80:19-(NIV) Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
Spring is my favorite season of all. I absolutely love going out to my patio and seeing all of my beautiful flowers peeking up from the ground. Anticipating all of the sweet fragrances, beautiful colors and magnificent blooms that will show in a few days, weeks and months as God is gently waking them up from their winter slumber. Spring reminds me of how amazing God is as He gently awakens all of the trees, flowers, birds, insects, "life" He created. I am reminded that God shows me his magnificence and restores my heart, mind and spirit each and every day as I study, read, pray and seek Him. These are days, especially in the Spring, when I love to just sit in the sun, feel God's love radiating down on me, smelling the sweet aroma of His love, imagining that He is looking down on me with the same thoughts in His mind of me! How do you recognize when God is gently awakening you and your spirit or heart? How do you respond to these moments? Do you welcome them like a baby happy to see Momma or Daddy? Are you a grumpy, grumbling half-awake teenager, irritated that you didn't get to sleep longer? What is your vision of what Spring looks like from your perspective vs. God's perspective? HEART SNAP: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NIV)-Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here! Just as a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, we become a beautiful new creation after accepting Christ as our Savior. Just as a seed or a bulb that has no visual appeal by itself, when planted, watered and given time, blooms. Christ turns us from dead, unappealing seeds, gives us a solid root system and the ability to produce beautiful blooms or fruit that we are then able to spread to those around us. Imagine God seeing you as a flower in His magnificent garden. What flower are you and why? How is God cultivating you to bloom in your life? Are you allowing your heart, mind and spirit to be soft, fertilized ground? Are you resisting as dry, parched, cracked ground? HEART SNAP: 1 John 5:4-5 (NIV)-for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Have you even seen a blade of grass growing up in the middle of a concrete pad and wonder how in the world that little blade made its way through gravel and 2, 3 or more inches of concrete to peek out and receive sunshine to grow? I do! As I am spraying weed killer or pulling it, Yes, obviously in vain, because in just a couple of weeks, another one peeks up again. Did you know that you have that much power? YOU DO! Because of Christ, you have overcome the world. You have the same power living inside to overcome the ground, gravel and concrete you may feel is hiding you from the sun. Use that power given to you from God to stand in the SON and refuse to be "Killed by the weed killer (the world)." How do you feel when you read, see or hear God telling you that you have overcome the world? How can you continue being a victorious blade of grass that has overcome concrete and stand proudly in the "Son?" How can you show others how to be an overcome of this world/life, the messy middle between two perfect gardens? Dig deeper in your study. I encourage you to look at the following verses (HEART SNAPS) to grow your heart, mind and soul! Mark 16:17-18 John 1:12 John 15:5 Romans 8:15 Ephesians 2:10 Ephesians 4:14-16 Colossians 1:10 1 Corinthians 6:19 1 Peter 2:2 2 Peter 3:18 1 John 4:14 I would also like to encourage you to write Ephesians 1:4-5 on a pretty piece of paper, sticky note or index card. In place of "us," write your name and put it wherever you can see it and read it everyday. May your day be blessed and I pray you allow God to cultivate your heart in ways you have never experienced before! Blessings, Shalon
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What a difference living our lives in the fullness of God and His Love of us makes in our spirits, heart, mind and actions/reactions. Unless we recognize, grasp and apply that fullness, it is just there. Let's not be empty, seeking what would never fill us. Let's come into the heart of our Abba Father and grow in that overflowing place that never leaves us wanting.-Shalon Day HEART SNAP: Zephaniah 3:17 (MSG) Your God is present among you, a strong warrior there to save you. Happy to have you back, he'll calm you with his love & delight you with His songs. This verse speaks to me in so many different ways and provides me with such peace, comfort and amazement, to be honest. I looked at this verse in so many different versions and each one speaks loudly.
The CSB version states, "He will 'quiet' or renew me with his love. NIV tells me God 'takes great delight in me, in his love he will no longer rebuke me, but will rejoice over me with singing.' Can you close your eyes and see God rejoicing over you with singing? What an awesome vision. I don't know about you but knowing that God loves me, little ol' me, so much that He rejoices with song over me makes my heart so incredibly full. This gives me such a different perspective on myself, my worth and my entire identity in this life. What does it mean to you that God, with His love, will calm you? What do you imagine God's voice singing to you and over you sounds like? How can you apply this verse and its message/promise into your everyday life? How can you describe this amazing truth with someone else. HEART SNAP: Jeremiah 31:3 (MSG): God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love." As a Mom, I tell both of my children that I love them. I have always told Cadrian, "I love you to the moon & back times infinity," or "I love you 3,000." (Yes, from a Marvel movie) and if I am just wanting to drop her a quick text, I will type, 143. With Steele, I have always told him, "I love you to infinity and beyond." What could be more than infinity??? As I think about how much I love my children, I think about how much more God loves His children. My human mind and Momma heart cannot fathom the overflowing, abundant love He has. I would give up my own life for my children without hesitation. However I would not be able to give either of them up to save someone else. But, God did just that! He gave HIs only Son to be the price paid for US and our sin. Society has become so flippant using the word "love." How often is it used to describe anything and everything? We say we love food, TV shows, clothes, shoes, vehicles,, all things worldly. When did "love," the feeling, the emotion, the ACTION become so meaningless? I often wonder and talk to God about how it must break His heart that His love is so overlooked, dismissed, ignored or seen as something as common as our favorite food. Can you imagine? Different versions of Jeremiah 31:3 God's love is described as faithful, everlasting, unfailing. I encourage you to read different versions/translations because the bigger picture of God's love is made so much more clear. What comes to mind when you think of God's love being all of these characteristics? How do you describe His love to others who are not believers? What is your definition of love? How can you live your life in the fullness of God's love? HEART SNAP: 1 JOHN 3:1 (NIV) See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. In my life, I have been called spoiled more than enough. I have been told that I am "high maintenance." I have experienced being the target of other people's judgements, either because of who they "believe" I am or more accurately the persona they want OTHERS to see me being. What so many have never taken the time to consider is what makes THEM feel this way about me? I have usually responded to these judgements, situations or statements with a laugh and saying "I am not spoiled, just loved. A LOT!" I am the same way with those whom I love. I try to lavish them with it. If that is ensuring needs are met, even if it is a little "extra." I strive to ensure that those whom I love know without a shadow of a doubt, not by "things," but with attention affection, listening, time, so many ways that cost not a dime. God LAVISHES (to bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities on-Oxford Languages) GREAT (of an extent, amount or intensity considerably above the normal or average-Oxford Languages) love on us that He calls us HIs children. Does it really matter what others who have not yet experienced or know of His love say or feel about us? They cannot understand why we live so fully loved because they do not know Christ to be able to experience this great love lavished upon them. YET! What comes to mind when you hear the words, lavish and great? How can you bring the fullness of God's love of you to others? Are there times in life that you are slow or hesitant to believe and receive the full love of God? Why? What does it mean to you to be chosen, called, adopted as a child of God? What does that REALLY mean? What does it mean in your heart, mind, soul and everyday life? HEART SNAP: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (MSG) May the Master pour on the so it fills your lives & splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength & purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers. Have you ever had a glass or cup filled to the very tip top and had to walk to the table or counter without spilling it? We have all done that, I am sure. Have you ever paid attention to the way that cup/glass is carried? What I mean is, are your eyes focused on the cup, trying hard to NOT spill it? Or are your eyes focused on where you are and your steps? My experience is that when I am focused on the cup, it splashes out everywhere. If I am focused on my destination, not the cup, the liquid either does not spill or splash at all or very little. If you have a full cup in your hand, do you need to refill it? Nope, no need. Right? Your heart, mind and spirit are a "cup" God wants to fill up. How can He do that if we never empty that love onto others? Are we so focused on our destination that we never splash HIS love and goodness onto people around us? Are we focused on getting that cup full and allowing it to splash all over ourselves and the people around us who need? Do you empty your cup? How often? How do you imagine God pouring out His love into and over you? How do you receive it? Are you a cup with a lid, keeping all of it inside? Are you a cup without a lid allowing God's love to overflow? My challenge for you, after reading this, is to rewrite Jeremiah 31:3 from whichever version you choose. Insert your name in place of the word "them." Write this on sticky notes, note cards or anything you can put where you will see it. Read it out loud whenever you see it. |
AuthorDaughter, Sister, Wife, Momma, Friend, Warrior Princess, Sold out follower of Christ. There is more to me than meets the eye. A beautifully broken, messy, loving, imperfect woman praying to inspire others to find the JOY in this Joy-ney we call life! Archives
July 2022
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