O How He LOVES Us! 1-23-26

Waking up this morning I am aware of the chill in the air, that I need to get up, and...remember what Pastor Chris said yesterday about God waiting for me to open my eyes so He can talk to me! <3 This has been an amazing week at Prayer Dock with the team from I Must Manifest here. The perspective shifts that have happened in me are stunning. I want to go forward from here with those things alive and actively lived out every day, not set aside in a few days for something else!

The day I first met Matthew, Alejandro, Juan and Pastor Rolando, when I hugged them after prayer time, Pastor Rolando said “I can feel your gentleness”. I don’t know what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it. :-) Later in the day, “it occurred to me” that was actually an answer to a long-standing prayer as I had been going over 1 Peter 3 and praying for a “quiet and gentle spirit that is not easily wrought up” for years. When He hugged Nicole, he said “Good morning woman of God” and I thought, “Yeah she is!” fully agreeing with that statement! I’ve spent the last 4 months praying with this woman 6 days a week – I have no doubt this is a fact. The next day, he said the same to me. For a split second, I was tempted to negate that statement in my head! I could easily accept that statement for Pastor Nicole, but for me? God validated that phrase in my heart. The truth of me being a woman of God is not contingent on my performance, emotions or mental assent. It is true because of God saying it, calling me to it and purchasing that position for me! The next thought that hit my brain is, the honor and respect inherent in agreement with that title also applies to my husband Steve! My husband is a man of God! Oh! God! I need to treat him better! I need to – I WANT to - treat him with the respect and honor due him as a son of God, as a man of God!

As these perspective shifts continued this week, Pastor Rolando invited me to Manifest in Bridgeport this weekend and I declined, explaining that I’m trying to gain proper priority perspectives with my husband – and Nicole backed that up. In my mind, this gathering is the “exciting and flashy” thing I want to do when I’ve already committed – and written on the calendar! - “Steve wants to do something this day” as he “reserved” Saturday time with me - without other plans being made. I WANT that!

When I stayed longer at prayer dock on Tuesday, I called Pastor John Gilmartin to introduce him to Pastor Rolando and they took videos inside Grace Fellowship Church and interviewed him, highlighting the history of the building, the prayers for revival that happened there, and the awe he felt being there. I was married there, but I never really thought about the craftsmanship, the spiritual dedication and intentionality of the people who built that church and the truth in Hebrews that “their prayers (in 1900) were not for themselves, but for the generations that would come after them”!

Waking up this morning, and reflecting on yesterday, I became aware that I spent most of the day in a state of “do it myself”, obsessing over the distractions, words and need from the early morning dominating the internal dialog for so much of the day when I COULD have released it and enjoyed a lot more of the first 40 something degree day in a week with Steve!

Earlier in the week and the week before, I had been listening to the live version of Jesus Culture with Kim Walker Smith singing “O How He Loves Me”. This song reminded me or hit a deeper level of this that I had been aware of before is so true! One line in particular has been a challenge for me this week: “... all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by mercy…” and I let that sink in. The afflictions that had been commanding my attention and keeping me emotionally activated and distracted are completely eclipsed “by the love in His eyes”…IF I turn toward Him! I want to stay there! With that in mind, this was my thought when I read a question from a friend of mine on a fb post: “Of all the spiritual gifts or Godly things we could obtain in our Christian walk what is the thing you think would be greatest thing to acquire?” I thought about it. And answered: “The consistent practice of truly ‘being still and KNOWING He is God’, and readily ‘turning away from every weight and the sin that so easily distracts and fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith’. If we truly understood how much He loves us, nothing else would matter! (nothing else does matter in truth! But our feelings generally don't line up with that truth.) I want to be so aware of His continual presence and love for me that NOTHING moves me to take my eyes from His!” Lord, from Your heart to mine! I want to remember “You are jealous for me! Love’s like a hurricane I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of Your love and mercy!” Help me cultivate this truth in my life! Knowing “O How You love me!”