Diaspora: Scattering the Seeds of Promise

In my journey more recently, I have felt prompted by God to not just write about the pictures and insights He gives me, but to also put them into picture form. The material for this blog comes from two such incidents with the Lord.

The first was reading James 1, where the word “diaspora” jumped out at me. Its root meaning is to scatter, and the painting is a representation of what I sensed. The second situation was making marmalade from some grapefruit I picked up from a food swap. Three small grapefruit were full of more seeds than I’ve ever seen, in fact, by my reckoning, there were probably around 100. As I have sat with these two messages about seeds, this is where I have landed.

DIASPORA – The Scattering

Many of us have felt scattered in the last couple of years. However, I believe the Lord is within the scattering, and if we are willing to partner with Him, He is using it so His people can take the DNA of His Kingdom out with them to wherever they land. It may be uncomfortable and not what we would really like, but it is time to let go, just like the seed in the seed head. To stay is counterproductive.

We may have thought we were blooming where we were planted, but this was just the beginning. That season has ended, and now a new one begins.

And the seeds we are carrying are abundant in number and extremely fruitful, “bearing one hundred, sixty or thirty times more”, (Mark 4:20). The growth in productiveness will be exponential. The words He gave me were that these were “Seeds of Promise”. Romans 8:24 also came to mind: “But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?” The promise will come because “He who promised is faithful”, (Hebrews 10:23). The seeds are not the end product, but hold promise for what will come (the fruit) and these seeds (His blueprints, ideas, new placements) come with a promise of great fruitfulness, if we are willing to step out into the new.

So, don’t fight the scattering, little seeds, but go out, knowing He is with you and He is for you, and where He takes you, He will provide. He is expanding His people explosively. The stretching can feel painful and scary, but in the stretching there is multiplication. And while you might feel like a little shrivelled seed, and while it might feel like dying, remember two things. First, our Lord Jesus said “Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies it bears no fruit” (John 12:24). Secondly, while we might be able to count the number of seeds in a piece of fruit, no one knows how many fruit are in each one of those seeds. His call to each of us is, “Go forth and multiply!”

A New Government

The last few of years have seen a heightened degree of interest at a global level around many national elections aligned with increasing disillusion with the establishment. Last weekend, here in Australia it was our turn.

Although it may appear that we just changed horses, and many feel quite concerned about the outcome, a couple of days before the election I felt that peace beyond understanding creep over me. Exploring what this meant I sensed God saying that the outcome of the voting was largely inconsequential in comparison to what He is doing.

Musing over this alongside my observations of various groups lobbying for this right and that, or for laws to be changed or repealed, I have questioned my involvement and the importance of our activity in these arenas. My journey through these thoughts has taken a few twists and turns, however and I have landed with a quite different perspective. Rather than trying to change our earthly governments directly, I see the concept of what it means for us, as Christians, to rule and reign with Jesus here on earth as being far more important.

I have long felt that simply changing laws to be more in line with “Christian values” only delays the inevitable as society has continued on its merry, progressive way, leaving behind faith and the fear of the Lord as outdated and irrelevant. The law tries to transform from the outside in, but to my mind, what is far more necessary and effective for the transformation of our society is the transformation of our hearts. Indeed, with transformed hearts, laws mostly become irrelevant. As Paul said, in Romans 8:10, “Love does not do harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fullness of the law.” And hence, my sense that who is governing is irrelevant in many aspects.

The point is, as I have discussed previously, while we operate out of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong or judgement, we can never truly love each other. It will always come back to self interest, to blame and to death and destruction. For all our Christian faith,

if we have not learned to live out of the law of love, we will never be world changers.

Returning to the idea of governance, I felt a really deep revelation over the weekend that I believe is quintessential to the way ahead. It is a totally different way of fighting, but oh so much more profitable, so much more bang for our buck. In this past season/era, we have done so much of our fighting in the natural realm, which is only really like a bandaid on a shark bite at best to what ails our world - so often completely ineffective.

So how do we fight differently?

Many Christians I know can quite easily quote Ephesians 6:12:

“For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

However, in the main, we give every appearance of constantly viewing other people as our enemy, and we behave accordingly. We fight people. We can’t see past the behaviour to the person underneath whom Jesus loves so much He died for them. And He commands us to do likewise.

Love God, love your neighbour as yourself – it is that simple and that hard!

Working out what that love actually looks like probably needs to be on a case-by-case basis, but a good rule of thumb is that our response is patient, is kind, does not does not envy; or parade itself, is not arrogant; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It never fails. (1 Corinthians 13, NKJV)

The real clincher for me, though, was realising how we are to rule and reign in this new era. As I have contemplated this for some months now, and seeing God bringing down old structures and ways, I have wondered what the new might look like. Last weekend, I feel I was handed a key.

It is about our dominion over the spiritual realm. However, there is many a caution here. We cannot and must not even try to do this in our own strength or without walking closely with Holy Spirit in the how and when. Equally, though, there are some very easy and clear indicators of what it looks like.

First, there is a sequence to the level of our authority. The primary and most important area of authority we have is one that every person on the planet has, no matter their spiritual state:

Authority over self.

This is so important because if we haven’t learned to take authority here, our authority in other realms can easily be skewed or twisted and cause more damage than good. The enemy of our souls looks for these areas in our life and uses them to his advantage. Having the right order within our BE-ing is equally important: our spirit needs to take command over our soul and flesh/body. My flesh and soul will demand loudly what they want and need for their appeasement, but this is usually out of sync with the law of love, because they tend to put self ahead of others.

The second area of authority is our homes and relationships, especially in relationships such as with our children. We get to say what operates in those arenas without doubt. The only times that this won’t work is when we haven’t taken authority in our own person over the same issue. For example, I can’t expect to take authority over anger, or shame, or condemnation in my home if I don’t take authority over the way I deal with anger, shame or condemnation in myself.

From there, we move out into our community and beyond as we grow in spiritual stature.

But what does it look like? Simply casting out demons is not the answer (remember the idea of cleaning the house and seven worse spirits coming in?) and besides, it can be very dangerous if we fight above the authority God has given us personally.

There is a very simple measure, though, which is extremely powerful. It starts with the fruit of the spirit. As we manifest the fruit of Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control – these have the power to overcome many other spiritual manifestations.

At times it will require us to lay down our lives, if not physically, definitely emotionally and spiritually. However, as we do, as we cease to respond to negative behaviour and situations in kind, but in the opposite spirit, we first learn to carry the victory of Jesus Christ in ourself, and then on into our communities and beyond. As we respond in Godly ways, we actually start to change the atmosphere around us and rather than increasing the negativity around us, will start to cleanse and bless it for Kingdom of God change.

A great insight into this comes from Roy Godwin (The Grace Outpouring), who has practiced this with amazing results in his local community by simply blessing his community with every good thing. At first, this is very confronting. In our minds, we believe that “bad people” don’t deserve blessing; they deserve punishment. Just like I did or do – I’m not perfect yet! And yet Scripture tells us that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance, (Romans 2:4). Not His wrath. So why do we keep looking to wrath and punishment as the answer? It is not our job to judge or meet out judgement or punishment. Our investment in ourselves is far too comprehensive to do it with any measure of justice, let alone the fact that this type of judgement is not what God has meted out to us.

Changing the spiritual atmosphere in our world may seem like a daunting or even impossible task. However, I am seeing more and more clearly that we are only required to step out into this in the degree Holy Spirit asks us to at the time we are asked. Sometimes it might be as simple and helping or encouraging someone in the street. Sometimes it might be singing or humming worship and praise as we go about our daily activities in the world. Other times it might be something more overt, praying for someone, or some activity. Personally, I use the sound of sirens – ambulance or other – as a prompt to pray and speak out life over whatever is going on, be that an accident, illness or other. The challenge is not how much we do, but to start, to do something. It may be a little awkward or uncomfortable at first, but as we learn to operate under Holy Spirit’s guidance, we find that those promptings yield fruit, which further encourages us to take the next step and the next step.

So here is the challenge: What is the next step the Lord is asking you to take in ruling and reigning for the Kingdom of God? Ask Holy Spirit to show you, and then simply step out. I’d love to hear your experiences!

(And if you have questions about what any of this looks like, please ask!)

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.” (Is 9:6-7 NIVUK)

If you want to investigate more on this theme, you can purchase a copy of “Untruth: Exploring Truth in a Post-Truth World” on my home page.

An invitation: It’s for NOW, so don’t wait!

In a prayer group recently, we were presented with a couple of pictures that immediately spoke to me deeply, linking in with a number of other thoughts. The first of these pictures was a garden doorway.

(C) Richard walker - Used with permission (https://www.flickr.com/photos/richwall100/3878198108)

Straight away, I saw an invitation here from the Lord for us to enter in to a new and very different space. It is an invitation to step out from what is familiar and filled with what is known, out from what is expected and seen as normal, and out from what feels safe, into the UNKNOWN and UNFAMILIAR.

From a season of extended lockdown, (particularly here in Melbourne, Australia), there is an invitation to step out into something we possibly can’t even see. It is not only the “unknown”, it is also the “unseen”. Just as in this picture, we cannot see around the corner, we don’t know what lies outside that door, the only way to find out is to step through the doorway. We have to make a commitment to STEP FORWARD before we can see what we will STEP INTO. Perhaps we can’t even see Jesus in the space we are stepping into – it is filled with so much uncertainty, particularly as we lack long distance vision or understanding, but I hear His voice coming from around that corner, in the distance, calling us, “COME ON!! COME ON!! MY BELOVED, FOLLOW ME into this new space. I have so much for you here, but you have to step out, you have to let go of what is past.”

This leads to the second picture. In this, of the last strand of a rope about to be cut, I immediately saw that God is wanting to cut our ties to the things of the past. It is not necessarily that they were bad, but that they are not for now. The problem now is that they will only slow us down and keep us busy and focussed on that which is not important at this time. It is a season where we need to streamline, to slim down in order to travel fast and far. Just like travelling by air (remember that?!), you can’t take everything with you. You have to trust that anything extra you need will be available at the other end in some form, that you will receive the provision for your needs as you go.

We are entering a new season and a new season needs new ways. Many people have been quoting Is 43:19 in the last couple of years: “I am doing something new; it’s springing up — can’t you see it? I am making a road in the desert, rivers in the wasteland.” The repeated message is, “if it’s new, it’s going to be different, it’s going to be unfamiliar, we won’t know what it looks like until we get there.”

If we go back to verse 18, we have further admonishment: “Stop dwelling on past events and brooding over times gone by”.

Over the past month or so, I had three dreams about people dying. In the first and third dreams, they were people who were significant to me who actually died many years ago. The middle one was a current friend. In all three dreams, I was absolutely distraught by grief and woke up expecting my pillow to be saturated. After the third dream, I was really wanting to understand what God was trying to get my attention about in this – the level of grief seemed extreme to anything I felt on waking.

I sensed that these dreams are about what many in the Body of Christ are experiencing now around what is missing or even gone from our lives. In the dreams, there was almost a desperate desire to bring back that which was gone and there was the associated powerlessness that comes with loss. We are hurting from the loss of what we held dear. But, somewhat brutally, I feel that again, Jesus is calling us forward, almost callously, like He spoke to the rich young ruler in Luke 18, who He invited to give up everything that was valuable to him: “Forget the past, move on, we don’t have time for grief, for what needs to be left in the past, I’ve got so many new and better things for you, but they require you to forget the old ways, to be ready to learn new things.”

In our small, semi-rural community, we have spent the past nine months – the time of gestation! – pondering all this.

What does it look like to be a Kingdom people, to step into something new, to step into what God has for us?

What do we bring with us?

What do we leave behind?

What needs to change?

In the last weeks, in the middle of arguably the world’s harshest, but most certainly longest lockdown, rather than look at all the things we can’t do, we have been doing what we can, as well as asking the question around what we can do in new ways. Meeting together has obviously had it’s challenges in many places around the world. For us, a few weeks back we were told we could meet outside the church with five plus a pastor. So we have.

A couple of days a week, we have stood outside our church with a guitar and our masks, and we have worshipped God and prayed, possibly to the amusement of the mechanics across the street and others walking past. We are not polished, we are far from perfect, we haven’t practiced, but we stand there in confidence and faith that God is with us, and that what we do there is important.

In the middle of this, there have been a number of confirmations that God is not concerned about us getting back to “church as usual” inside our buildings. I actually think He is overjoyed that we are coming out! Perhaps that is one of the “unknowns” Jesus is calling us all to. To be really harsh, we might hear Him call to us:

“Lazarus, come out!”

This makes me think of Martha’s response: “…by this time he stinketh”, and I am reminded of items I have collected that are from the past, whether my own, or from the generations before. When I bring them out of storage, there is usually a bit of a smell about them, a smell of mustiness, of staleness. To be blunt, for many of us, it is time for us to freshen up, to start carrying the fragrance of heaven, rather than the fragrance of everything from the past. Just like yesterday’s dinner smells are no longer as appetising as they were when we sat down to that meal, we need to open up and let the wind of the Spirit freshen and clean out what belongs to the past. We must let go of it.

And just as James admonishes in James 2:17, “…faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead.”, it’s time for us to show that our faith is indeed alive, filled with the abundant life, the overflowing life that Jesus promised us, through our actions. There is such need, such hunger, such poverty in our communities, whether that is physical, emotional or spiritual. Will we continue to be blind to it? As painful as it can be, can we afford to keep it at arm’s length and not allow it to touch our hearts?

As we worshipped and shared in the front yard of our church on Thursday, we had a discussion about what God has for us in this new season and I felt to read again from Acts 2, where Peter stands up and says, “‘The Lord says: “In the Last Days, I will pour out from my Spirit upon everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my slaves, both men and women, will I pour out from my Spirit in those days; and they will prophesy.”

Even as I started to read, the word “POUR” leapt up in my heart. God does not give us His Spirit by drip feed, or on occasion, or when we are particularly being “good-enough”, or “spiritual”. His promise is to “POUR IT OUT”. One of the ladies in our church is starting a painting that is three metres high and is of a waterfall with a person under it. I believe this is what God has for each of us – that just as Jesus POURED OUT His life for us, He continues to POUR OUT His Spirit over and in us. We just have to position ourselves at His feet, like Mary, to receive from Him. It is a place of humility; it is a place of letting go of our personal preferences, our personal desires; it is the place of SURRENDER.

The only question that remains is,

“AM I WILLING?”

“ Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:13 )

No going back: A message for the Church (Part 1)

As I have been watching churches scramble to bring some sense of normalcy and connection into their congregations at this time, when everything seems to have been tipped upside down, I am reminded of a dream I had just over two years ago.

It was quite a graphic and disturbing dream and everything was in full colour. In the dream, I was in something like an observation room overlooking a surgical theatre. All was pristine white, and there was a very large man lying on a gurney or operating table. Even as I looked, I realised he was fat because he was pregnant, and indeed, was in the process of birthing. It disturbed me and I was thinking, “That’s unnatural, but I guess it is to be expected these days”.

As I watched, there were three or four other men around him, all in white coats (like doctors), and as I wondered how he could physically give birth, they started to cut him open. They were behind him, and started cutting up along his spine starting at his buttocks and then, to my further horror, started peeling off his skin. He was screaming out in pain, and as I watched in revulsion the men were saying, it’s ok, he’ll be all right as we have another skin to replace this one with. At this point, there was another man standing in with them, watching, and I understood that they were going to give his skin to the original man. At this point, the dream was disturbing me so much I woke up.

Creative Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wings_Laparoscopic_operating_theatre.jpg

Reflecting and praying into what this dream means, I have sensed is that it is a message about the Church. There are several points that stand out to me.

Over the last few decades, as many branches of the Church have struggled with decline in numbers, various groups have investigated what needs to change to remain relevant or in touch with the general population, to bring people back in or keep them from leaving. To this end,

there have been numerous attempts to “birth” something new.

While not all of this has been negative, in a number of circumstances, all we have really been doing is changing the outward appearance (the “skin”) without actually changing the fact that underneath we are still operating out of “man’s” flesh or the ways of the world. In short, I believe we have often been trying to birth the things of man, rather than things of the spirit. It reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the new wine in old wineskins, except this is trying to put new wineskins on old wine. However, I believe the old ways of doing things will no longer work; they are causing too much pain  - it is time for the Church to come into a new season of the Spirit in every way.

It’s time for NEW wine in NEW wineskins!

I see that this way of operating, looking to ideas of human origin has invaded many branches of the Church, whether traditional, charismatic, Pentecostal or otherwise alternative. Wherever we are tangled up in the difference between what we “should do” and how to “be” the people of God we will continue to struggle. This is both at a personal and corporate level, although in many scenarios, what some leadership carry can infect the congregation adversely as well.

To me, the underlying issue is whether our mode of operation is from the perspective of the knowledge of good and evil (i.e. “this is right, this is wrong”, “do this to be a “good Christian”, to have the “favour of God””) or whether we are truly connecting people with the life source, allowing Holy Spirit to be their Guide and Counsellor, helping people to be connected first to God and then to each other, so that each person’s identity is firmly in relationship with God, rather than looking constantly to church leaders to know how we must behave and whether or not we are on the “right path”.

Over the last few years, it has become very clear that we are moving into a new era. The era of the Church being the primary focus in relation to our faith is quite abruptly over, I believe. With COVID-19 and the lockdowns, we have been catapulted out of the comfortable nest of “church-life” into the air, to living out “Kingdom life”. This is not to say that Church is over, but I certainly believe it is being stripped of all that needs to go. We are being released from all those things that have tied us to the ground and prevented us soaring as we are meant to.

The KINGDOM ERA has begun!

Part of another dream I had a couple of months back also relates in here. In the dream, I was hanging out washing (just doing normal life), and as I did, I became aware of a swirling mist coming down through the trees. (We live in the mountains, with tall forest around us.) Just as I was wondering if it was actually mist or whether it was smoke from someone burning off (either of which was going to disrupt what I was doing!), I smelt the smoke, but also started hearing the crackling of burning green leaves. Things then happened very rapidly, with the crackling getting louder and louder and then the very large (20+m) pittosporum trees across the road from us suddenly bursting into flame. Even as I called 000, emergency services, I got a text on my phone stating, “we are aware of an incident in your area”. Straight after this, I got a call from a firefighter (I could see him in uniform – whoever said dreams had to be practical!), asking what was going on. As I looked back to the trees, I realised that the fire had already gone out. All that was left was blackened branches against the sky, with one central branch still burning.

As I explored the meaning of this dream, which again, I felt was about the Church, I feel the important part for this discussion is about the leaves. As I was looking into the significance of the type of trees burning (which didn’t really turn up much for me), what I was aware of is the fact that they are very prolifically leafy, which has its benefits. However, it reminded me that when trees produce a great deal of leaves, this can inhibit their ability to produce fruit. In fact, leafiness, to an extent, can be inversely proportional to fruitfulness.

The message to the Church as I see it is that much of what we have been doing has been producing leaves not fruit. God, in His gracious mercy, is giving us the opportunity for radical change. In this time of inability to continue with “business as usual”, we have a unique opportunity to really dig deep and reassess what is important for the Church, the Body perhaps especially down to how we are structured. As restrictions pare us back to the bare bones, will we continue to desperately scramble to work out how we can continue with “business as usual”, or are we ready to go on the Holy Spirit ride of our lives for something completely new?

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Is 43:19

As others have observed, the time for “cookie cutter” or “church franchising” is over. It is time to stop looking to what has worked elsewhere and simply adding it to our own model and hoping for the same results.

We have to look to God alone for our unique way forward.

To help us move ahead and find the new that God for us, the questions below are a starting point:

“What is God’s vision for our village/town/region?”

“What has God placed in our area is unique or particular to us in our role to enlarge and release the Kingdom of God where we are?” 

“What is already going on that doesn’t match up with that vision?”

“What are the gifts and abilities God has already placed in our community to bring about this vision, that illuminate our role in this?”

“How can we work with the other communities of God in our area to bring about this vision?”

If nothing changes, nothing changes

Social media gets a bad rap for being shallow and filled with pretention. However, every now and then something pops into my social media feed that impacts me at a much deeper level. Such was the case a few days back when I came across this beautiful painting of the wise men looking over Bethlehem by Jeremy Thomas (check him out HERE) in one of my favourite groups.

As I enjoyed the intricate details he had included, something about their stance resonated with me. There was a sense of weariness and longing:

(C) Jeremy Thomas. Used with permission.

“It’s been such a long journey and we still have a way to go…”

But along with this, there was a sense of anticipation:

“We can just about touch our destination – there is a clear light at the end of the tunnel!”

Thinking about the ramifications and depths of this, the realisation there was a reason these men started out on their trek suddenly hit me. I found myself questionning what was it that propelled these people to go on such a long search? At an obvious level, we are told that they were people who looked at the signs in the sky that pointed them towards the birth of a new and important king. However, why were they looking? What started them on that journey?

They didn’t see an advertisement in a newspaper, on a flyer in their mailbox or online. They didn’t get an invitation to a conference, a guest speaker or even a party. There was no job application or even anointing or appointing (that we know of!) from their local church.

What I sensed about these men was that they were watchers and observers. They were watching for something, waiting for something: for a change, for a new season.

And I would guess the reason they were watching and observing was because they were not satisfied with the way things were; they were not satisfied with the status quo. They wanted, desired and hungered for change; for things in the world they lived in to be different. Something was missing from what they knew of life.

While we don’t know anything more about them than the fact they were from the east, we do know that the land east of Jerusalem is all rugged and mountainous desert. Not much lives there.

They came from a barren place and they knew it.

This was not a journey you would undertake unless you were really, deeply seeking something you couldn’t get staying where you were. It was a dangerous and uncertain journey across territory filled with lawlessness. There were no MacDonald’s to eat at, no service (petrol/gas) stations and probably even the wells were few and far between. Death by bandit, starvation or thirst was pretty certain for those who were not wary or well prepared.

But still, they were desperate and hungry enough to take the journey to find the One who was to be King of the Jews. They knew their spiritual need and sought to satisfy it. They also knew how to interpret the spiritual meaning of signs in the natural world.

In our western world of plenty, of satiation even, I sometimes wonder if we even have the capacity to recognise our poverty. It reminds me of a quote from C.S. Lewis,

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

As I look around me, I see we are still chasing answers from gods made from stone, metal and the words of ideology; gods made by the hands and minds of people; gods without the power to give us any answer, let alone solve our problems or provide for our needs.

These wise men, these magi, they knew they had a lack; they knew something was missing, incomplete. And they were prepared to lay it all on the line, even to death, to find the answer.

Heading into another Christmas - which is all about this Christ-child these men sought - like them, we will only find Him as the answer if we are aware of our lack, if we are aware of our need and prepared to do something about it.

In the middle of a season our world tells us is all about giving (consuming) and family (my comfort and safety) - which all really is just “ad-speak” for “spend obscene amounts of money” - is there space for us to lay it all down, step aside and allow our real needs to speak out? Can we make time to stop and listen to the cry of our hearts, that deep place where we really know that something is missing that only Jesus fills?

Are we prepared to make the sacrifice to take the dangerous journey acknowledging the true wasteland of living without Jesus as King, face the threat of death and destruction (of our society’s ideals/idols) associated with making the shift in our beliefs to what is truly important?

Because we all know:

If nothing changes, nothing changes.

Can you be content with that?

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.” (Hebrews 11:13-16)

"I WANT TO LIFT THE ROOF OFF!"

Sunday morning a couple of weeks back, I was sitting reflecting on how much I was feeling the need to break out, how much my house seemed to be confining me, like the roof was pressing down on me and I just really wanted to be outside. I had been feeling this way for the last couple of weeks and had put it down to the end of a winter being couped up inside. However, as I was thinking, the words “I want to lift the roof off” came into my mind. I sort of pictured a space where you could have a house with a roof that opened out or something and was thinking it was still a little cold and wet for that when it came again stronger:

“I WANT TO LIFT THE ROOF OFF.”

I had the sense that God was speaking to me, that He had more to say, that there was a spiritual aspect to this and so I started to explore this idea. Straight away, I saw two aspects to this.

The first aspect was in relation to those of us who have felt hidden away; for those who have felt that this season of isolation and hiddenness, of doors not opening and things not proceeding will never end; for those who have felt like the “glass ceiling” is holding them back: There is a sense that God is about to LIFT THE ROOF OFF and release each person into so much more than we could ever imagine.

I had a picture of something like one of those clown tricks, where they take a stick and flick it out and it turns in a bunch of flowers. It was like this but that was a really poor imitation of what God is going to do. What I saw was people bursting forth as if out of nowhere and unlike the trick, or an explosion, where once the energy is spent from the spring or device behind it, that is the end, this would not go back in, and it WOULD NOT STOP. The energy in this bursting forth, or explosion will continue to expand exponentially and would be contagious. These people bursting forth in the picture do so with exceedingly great joy and are filled with praise and worship. They carry the Kingdom of God with them and it is CONTAGIOUS, so spreads like a virus (but in a good way!). Like a jack-in-the-box, as the roof is lifted off, there will be a springing forth!

The second aspect of the roof being lifted off is to do with God and our view of Him. What I felt Him say is:

it is time to let Him out of the box or containment that we have had Him in.

Whether it is out of fear of losing control, or fear of the unknown or fear because of past hurts and disappointments, God wants us to let Him out, to allow Him to lift the roof off our expectations and experiences of what it means to be His children, to be His body, to be His bride, His friends; to raise us up to a whole other level, way outside of what we have experienced before.

It is time to stop thinking small and controlled, comfortable and safe and hidden away and time to let the roof be lifted off to be open to His breath of fresh air, the new things He wants to do in us and through us.

For some time I have been feeling so strongly that it is time for us to stop just holding the ground we have, to stop just playing a “defensive” game of “if we just hold on to the final siren, that’s all we need to do and that is all we can expect” to actually being on the offense. That doesn’t mean we get to be offensive (in a bad way) - although we surely will be offensive to some, just as Jesus was – but it means we change our game plan. We go out and be the Kingdom, day by day, hour by hour. We have to be willing to lift the roof off all our self-protection and self-serving, to be willing to be open to the elements and trust God to be our protection.

It is in and from this place that God will show Himself able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.

If you are willing to brave all that it means to have the roof lifted off, join me in this prayer:

Holy Spirit of God, we invite You to come into our homes, into our lives, into our church in Your great power to lift the roof off all that holds us back, all that keeps us boxed in, and all the ways in which we have kept You boxed in. Help us to let go of all our past fears, hurts and disappointments, so we can step with You into all You have for us. Blow afresh over our lives, releasing us into the new level of freedom You desire us to walk in, for the glory of Your Kingdom and You.

When anticipation doesn't deliver the goods you expected

At the beginning of this year, I felt God give me the word “anticipation”. It came with a real sense of excitement and joy bubbling up in my spirit. I was ready to see what would happen. As we have waited for breakthrough in a number of areas of our life, I felt sure this sense of anticipation would deliver the goods in at least some of these.

As we near the end of the year and I reflect on what has been, I realise that sense of anticipation has not decreased. It has not dissipated the way so many other New Year’s hopes and dreams do as the year goes on. It has actually increased! However, we are still waiting for those breakthroughs in our personal life. Nothing seems to have shifted; we seem no closer to an outcome, yet I can say with conviction that hope still has not disappointed me.

I am reminded, though, of what the Jewish nation was going through a little over 2000 years ago. Under harsh Roman rule, they scoured the Scriptures, trying to see if they could further pinpoint when their Saviour, the Messiah, would appear. In all their deliberations and calculations, they were quite certain that it should be soon. They were on the lookout.

But so many of them missed it.

Their anticipation and expectations were not fulfilled. At least, not in the way they were thinking it would happen.

They looked for a king who would come in military might to overthrow the Romans and bring Israel back to the glory days of David and Solomon. They looked for freedom from tyranny and the salvation of their nation from annihilation.

But what they got was a baby, a helpless, crying baby from an impoverished, low class background, with questionable paternity.

They had no concept of how this could possibly lead to their salvation and restoration, how this baby could be a King,

so they missed the signs, missed the joy and missed the celebration.

Anticipation is a term for many contexts, good and, well, not so good. Sometimes it is helpful to us - especially when we are anticipating someone doing something they shouldn’t on the road in front of us! But at others, anticipation can lead us to downright disappointment. I remember as a child, the sense of anticipation in the lead up to Christmas. Would I get that longed for gift? And even when I had no idea of what the gifts might be, there was always the excitement and hope associated with getting any gift. And, yes, sometimes there was disappointment when the longed-for gift didn’t eventuate or wasn’t quite what was wanted, the disappointment of hope deferred.

Heading into Christmas this year, I was aware that the childlike sense of anticipation has dissipated for many of us. Perhaps one too many disappointments has eroded our capacity to engage with hope anymore. And maybe life is just not as simple as it was in the past; a long year may have left us weary and possibly a little more jaded.

Maybe, like me (and the Israelites) you have been waiting for a long time to see a hoped for change or breakthrough. Maybe, like Sarah, Rachael, Hannah and others, you wonder if you missed a turn off, made a mistake, or simply didn’t hear quite right. Perhaps you wonder if you should have or could have done something different to bring about the promise: thoughts we have had a number of times in the last few years.

And yet, as I turn my focus from what I want to what I see, from my longings to what is happening around me, I realise that there is a bigger picture. Just as the arrival of Messiah had way bigger ramifications for the Jewish people - past them to a global perspective; past their time to all ages - my longings and desires must come into line with the bigger plan God has and His timings for it all. It is the place I find myself returning to again and again. It is the place where I find the grace to take the next step in my waiting. It is the place where I learn again to celebrate ALL He is doing. And here, I find - amazingly - I can look with anticipation and GREAT JOY toward all He has for us in the New Year and in the years to come.

Tired of the same old song? Maybe it's time for a NEW SONG!

As we rush towards the half way mark of this year, I have been reflecting back on some of what God has been saying to me over the last six months. 

I began the year in anticipation, which was accompanied by about three months of drought. (You can check out my thoughts on this period on previous blogs here.)

My last blog was written at the time a significant shift occurred with a day of rain. I believe it heralded a shift in the spiritual world as well. Doors are opening that have the possibility to bring great changes in God’s people, the Church and beyond. 

The word I got at that time was disruption – Get ready for disruption! As I look around, I would have to say that this has happened. There has been a number of disruptions in various ways and may be more to come. Some of this has been obviously good, some has been more difficult. All of it means we have to shift and change our ways of doing things to manage. Sometimes we have to let go of other stuff to do what is really important. While it might disrupt the status quo - the ‘normal’, what God is doing in the midst of it has the potential to grow and transform us and our community.

While I won’t go into all the details here, a number of things are happening and growing around me in ways I haven’t seen before, particularly in the unity and collaboration of Christians across denominations and backgrounds to do Kingdom work. In the middle of all this, God is speaking ever deeper to my heart about His heart. Here are three things that stand out.
The first is that He has been talking to me about REST. Not rest in the sense of an absence of activity, but rest in the sense of a lack of worry and anxiety. He has shown me that rest is closely related to TRUST. Anything we worry, have anxiety, or a lack of REST about is a place where we need an upgrade in our TRUST in God. 

When we are going through change, it is easy to get worried about so much. For me, it is the sense of “will I cope” or “what if this is bigger than my ability/strength/capabilities?” “What if it is all too much for me?” Learning not to run ahead of the Holy Spirit is part of dealing with this. Remembering that He will provide all our needs in the places He takes us also helps.

The second focus is about our role as the Bride of Christ. Ephesians 5 talks of the preparation of the Church as the Bride of Jesus through cleansing and purification. The question is whether we are willing to be prepared? Are we willing to lay down our old life, the ‘life’ the world promises for life with Him? (You can listen to more on these topics in a message I gave at my local church recently titled “Peace and Safety: Living in uncertain times”).

The third was a word I felt God give me at a retreat a couple of weeks back about it being time for us, His people, to sing a new song. It wasn’t necessarily about music or words, but about our attitude, heart and foundations. The sense is that God is calling us to become a people of worship; that our worship of Him is to become the foundation of our lives, the base line for all we do and how we live. No matter the circumstances of our lives or around us, we are to start with worship and to live through worship with all our being. 

10 Points extra if you can correctly name this song!

Psalm 137:4 comes to mind. When the Israelites were in exile in Babylon and their captors wanted them to sing their response was

“How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”

When we are going through tough times, times of brokenness, pain or loss, it can be a very foreign place to sing God’s praises. It is counterintuitive.

Sometimes we would rather get mad at Him!

I was recently reminded though, that we are created to worship. Whether it is God or something else, we are always worshipping.

What is it that claims your time and attention?

What are you devoted to? What do you focus on? What is more important – your comfort and safety or God’s will? The answers to these questions give a good indication of what is most important to you, and hence, what you tend to worship. Challenging, isn’t it!

When we have lived out of our circumstances, maybe complaining or wanting to fight the injustices we see, or in offence or fear, whether personal or toward others, we have shifted our focus from Creator to created. However, I sense that Father God is calling us back to Himself, calling our focus back to Him, off ourselves, our needs, our feelings and back onto Who He is in a big way. He is not content with a little bit of us or our time, but wants ALL of us, ALL the time. It’s not about faking it until we make it, but about being real with Him, listening to Him, waiting on Him.

Do you feel that new song rising up in you? Let it rise, let it come out in a new and deeper way of worshipping God, body, mind and spirit. Open yourself up, be completely vulnerable with Him – let Him in to all those places you want to hide, bringing His healing and His cleansing, His purification and worship will fill each of those places anew. And as we each do this, those around us will also be drawn to worship God. As He is given all the glory due to Him, more will be drawn to worship Him. Imagine if we became known as “The People of The Song”, and as we sing His praise more and more people want to join in, bringing glory to God in an ever increasing spiral upwards.

Psalm 96 (NIV) is a great starting place:

Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise His name;
proclaim His salvation day after day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His marvellous deeds among all peoples.

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendour and majesty are before Him;
strength and glory are in His sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
bring an offering and come into His courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendour of His holiness;
tremble before Him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
He will judge the peoples with equity.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for He comes,
He comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in His faithfulness.
 

Get ready for disruption!

Yesterday I went to meet some friends in the central part of the city. I thought I would catch the train as I enjoy being out among people as well as being able to sit and think my own thoughts or read a book on the hour long journey. On the way to the station, it started to rain. Getting there early, I sat in the car for a few minutes waiting for the rain to abate and eventually made the trek through the pouring rain to the platform, only to find the train was cancelled. Being a Saturday, the next one was going to get me in way too late, so I decided I was better off driving.

On my way, I reflected on my disappointment with not being on the train and the extra pressure of driving on the freeway in heavy rain, not to mention the traffic jams, gridlock and detours at the other end. Asking God about what was going on, the first word that popped into my head was "disruption". Yep, that was true. My day wasn't wrecked and even my overall plans hadn't changed. They had just been disrupted. What disrupted them was that rain!

If you have been following my previous posts, you would know that we have been longing for rain. It has been about 10 weeks since we have had any significant rain, so I could not possibly be upset or annoyed about the rain. However, it did disrupt me. Besides the train being cancelled, I was wearing sandals and my feet got wet! (Everyone say "ohhh")

However, as is His way, this wasn’t the only time this week God has flagged disruption with me. On Thursday we had our 'lives' disrupted when our new neighbour was taking down a tree and managed to drop our telephone line in the process - no internet!! Quelle horreur! Amazingly, Telstra came out and fixed it within a couple of hours and I got a lovely bottle of red from the neighbour for our trouble. But, oh, the potential for disruption!

The third disruption happened today, with a farewell to our much loved senior pastor and his wife as they (and we) move into a new season. This one has the even more potential for real disruption. Replacing a pastor is not usually a quick and easy process and there is the problem of keeping up momentum in the meantime. And what if we don't like the new person? What if they want to change stuff we like? What if they make us uncomfortable?

Coming back to the rain, what strikes me is that sometimes the things we really want to see happen, that we know are from God impact us in unforeseen ways and disrupt our lives. However, I do believe that when God disrupts us, there is always blessing and provision in the midst of it, (way better than phone data and red wine!)

It reminds me of when my daughter was born. I was ready to be a mum. I wanted to be a mum. I was so happy when she was born (she was getting way too big and uncomfortable inside!) and I finally got to meet her. It was so amazing to go through that experience of a new being growing inside you and of becoming a family. 

However, boy did it disrupt my life!

I remember having a conversation with myself one morning at 3am as I was awake feeding her, having my very own little pity party about disrupted sleep. "You wanted this - and this is what it means to have a child. No, your life will never be the same, but it is a good thing."

So, yesterday, when my day was disrupted by the rain in the middle of it all, I felt God was saying, 

Get ready for disruption!

Many of us are longing for change. We are longing for God to step in and bring about those shifts, whether in our personal lives or in our communities and beyond. As we look around the world, we are longing for the transformation that only God can bring: New Life!

And what I feel God is saying to us is: 

"You want change? You want transformation? You want Me to birth something new? Well, get ready for disruption. I am going to do something, and it is going to be big, but I warn you, it is going to disrupt you. Are you ready for that? Anything other than Me that you have held on to as central, as so important, vital even, in your life, are you prepared to have disruption there? Because when I come, I disrupt the status quo, I disrupt the comfortable, I disrupt the satisfied, I disrupt the self-important and self-focussed. There is something bigger at hand, and I am not going to let anything come before it. I'm not going to let anything disrupt my disruption!"

If you don't believe me, just look at what happened when Jesus came the first time - even as a tiny baby, He caused huge disruption. By the time He was a fully grown man. He caused so much disruption to people that they wanted to kill Him, which is exactly what they did, and He even disrupted that, by rising from the dead!

So how will you respond to God's disruptions to your plans, your comfort? Will you complain? Will you throw yourself a little pity party? Will you run and hide? Or will you ask Him to show you the way forward, and embrace the new path, be ready to pour yourself out for whatever God is doing to bring about that change?

Get ready! Disruption is coming!!

Hungry?

In a dry and dusty season, my soul starts to feel as parched as the land. Looking around my garden, I am noticing more and more plants starting to wither and die. Down the road, the once bright green fronds of the tree ferns are weighed down with a suffocating coat of grey dust. After really good rain in December - the first month of our summer - we had a little rain early in January, followed by virtually no rain in February and March is shaping up the same. As I posted earlier, the promise of rain a week ahead slowly dissipates into the actuality of an all too brief shower, or less, a vague sprinkling.

The cooler weather brings some relief and balmy dry days should be a joy, until the impact of these, day after day, start to show up. And because we are now having to buy water trucked in to fill our tanks, we are a little choosy about where we use it. 

And meantime, the weather continues to reflect our own waiting time: waiting for the change in our season, too.

Over the last week or so, God has been nudging me again though.

"What do you want to show me, Father?"

I am reminded of a picture God gave me a couple of years back. It was a little confronting, seeing Jesus at my feet, attaching sandals. They were like those of a Roman soldier, with laces tying up around my calves. He was making sure they sat comfortable and flat, but were firm. My reflection at the time was that they needed to be on firmly to give support and protection for a long journey, to give strength and longevity to my stride.

Looking back, I know that there have been many times I have wanted to give up, wanted to let go of the dream. "Perhaps I heard you wrongly, perhaps I am just a daydreamer. Perhaps we should be going in another direction." Each time I have felt myself nearing that breaking point, as I have sought His face and heart again, I have come away strengthened, encouraged and refreshed, at least enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I realise that I have needed the spiritual footwear that Jesus gave me.

Even more recently, another picture has come to mind. 

As we enter our third month without sufficient rain, I have been reflecting on the promises of the beginning of the year: 2018 will be a year of great moves of the Spirit; the word I felt God give me, "ANTICIPATION"; of a new season of abundance. However, it feels as though we are getting the exact opposite. The ministries I am involved in are very quiet, longed for breakthroughs don't seem to be coming, and meanwhile our society seems to be going down a ever darkening spiritual path.

What is going on God?

In the last couple of weeks, I have had two other pictures that, even as I have shared them, have found me bubbling with anticipation and hope again.

The first was to do with the quietness I was sensing in the Spirit, like nothing was happening. I was reminded of stories from people who experienced the tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand. Suddenly everything went still and quiet as the water disappeared way out to sea. This is exactly what I am sensing - what appears to be a quiet withdrawal by God. But it is what comes after that brings the sense of anticipation - the water comes back in force, in power, overwhelming everything in its path. However, in this case, rather than being a force of destruction and death, God's tsunami brings cleansing and new life. 

In among this, is a sense of God almost holding His breath, waiting for the right moment to bring in the winds of change. It reminds me of Bert in Mary Poppins: "Winds in the east, mist coming in, Like somethin' is brewin' and bout to begin..." It's like the hushed stillness before a storm.

The other picture is more of a challenge. It started with a series of thoughts about being hungry. The first was about not being so hungry you will accept anything to answer the hunger for more. This was specifically about being so hungry for a move of God that we accept what is good rather than what is God. 

The second part of this was about our hunger for God.

The challenge that came to mind was that even while I am in this place of waiting for the answer to the promise (just like Abraham, really),

how hungry am I for God?

Do I look for other things to fill that space? Do I look for ways in which I can make the promise come about?

The picture I got here was of a person travelling through the wilderness or desert. We might start out with all the things we think we need to make our journey comfortable, pleasant and even survivable. Like when I go camping - I like to take all my comfort supplies: extra blankets, hairdryer, tasty snacks, all the clothes I think I might possibly need, plenty of books...

However, if we start to run out of sustenance and water, the other things start to lose their appeal. When we are struggling to keep going, the excess baggage starts getting left behind. We start to understand what is really important to us.

I sense here that God may allow us to go through periods of difficulty, where things don't seem to be going the way we would like, when we get to the point where we are so weary that we really start to question and examine what is really important to us. I think that it is in this place where

we discover what we have given higher precedence than God.

Is it our way of life? Is it our job or career? Is it even the needs of our family? Our kids? Our spouse? Our ministry?

I am wondering right now, whether sometimes God makes us wait until all those things lose their place of preeminence, and in our hunger for God, get put back in their right order. When we get so desperate for a touch of God, for a move of God, when we realise that all the other things are meaningless and unimportant without Him, and we lay them down, we move into a place where we stop trying to manipulate Him.

I found this Spiderlily randomly growing in my garden - as I looked at it, I noticed gold glitter on its petals. In the midst of drought, God's glory continues to shine out in His creation!

What He really wants is not our conditions, bribes and manipulations: "if you give me this, do this for me, I will serve you", or even the more subtle desires of the proof we want of His love for us, when we desire certain blessings, no matter how faith-filled and 'for-His-glory" they may seem.

In this place of hunger, all our motives lie bare and exposed for the self-seeking that they are.

In this place, where we find that none of them really mean anything without Him, then maybe we are really ready to serve, really ready to lay down our whole lives, every aspect, to pick up our cross and follow Him.

And maybe then we are ready to go on that next step, where He really does get ALL the glory and we are lost in His Shadow, and there we are found whole, holy and wholly in Him. 

What's Your Next Season?

There are only two certainties in life: Death and Taxes.

So goes the quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Not wanting to upstage him at all, though, I would like to add a third certainty: Change. Change is just as inevitable. The way we respond to change, however, is as unique as each of us.

My husband and I are going through one of those changes in life right now. As we move toward becoming "empty-nesters", the next generation of our family is arriving. Our niece had her first baby last October (so now I have graduated from being an ordinary, run-of-the-mill aunt to being a great-aunt!), and we became grandparents in January, with a second grandchild on the way in August. It is a new season in our lives, and one we are happy to see.

But what happens when we approach changes we are not so sure about? What happens when we are comfortable where we are, and we don't want things to change? How do we deal with changes we just don't want?

Sitting out on our deck recently, I noticed that a few leaves on the trees were starting to exchange their vibrant summer green for their autumn glory. It got me thinking: how do the leaves know it is getting time to change? The weather didn't seem any cooler or wetter. And what makes some leaves change earlier and others wait?

As I reflected on this, I realised that it was a good picture of how we humans can respond to the changing seasons of life.

Some people are ahead of the game. They can see change is coming, and they get ready straight away, embracing it with gusto. While others are still settling in after the previous shift, they are already looking ahead, already preparing for and getting excited about what is coming.

For others, they wait a little longer, wait until they are sure the change is coming. Like the leaves realising the temperature is dropping, the days are significantly shorter, we can wait until the previous season is definitely over before we are ready for the next. Sometimes we see the trend, also. We see the increasing numbers of others ready for change, and we join them, moving with them, not wanting to be left behind.

Then there are those who just want things to stay the way they are. We can be like those leaves that just hang on and hang on, all through winter, stubbornly refusing to let go of the tree even though they are well and truly past their prime, brown and dried up, but refusing to drop. We can be just as stubborn, holding on to the past when that season has well and truly finished and we should be well in to the next.

Jesus talked a bit about recognising seasons in some of His final messages, (see Luke 21, for example). In the middle of describing some of the signs of the times, He reminds us not to be afraid, (v.9), but to be alert, ready for what is next (v.34-6). The bridal party in Matthew 25 is another great example of our need to be prepared for what is imminent, to be looking ahead.

Dealing with change has been a real struggle for me at times. Either living in denial of my need to change, or having unrealistic beliefs about my ability to change things back to how they were kept me stuck at a number of points in my life, even contributing to depression at one point.

Over the journey of transformation that God has led me on, I have realised that burying my head or running away is counter productive. I have learnt that it is much less painful and far quicker to embrace change, to push past the struggle; to meet the difficulty head on in those times where change is not my choice. I have learnt that although change can be uncomfortable, if I allow myself to move and even be changed with it, the benefits generally far outweigh any discomfort.

Although we can get very comfortable in the season we are in, and wish we could stay there forever, just like the leaf on the branch, refusing to fall, we end up out of place and alone. The weather has changed around us, and we find it is no longer as comfortable as it once was. One way or another, we will get shifted on by what it coming next. It is up to us whether we jump or get pushed. 

What changes are on the horizon for you? Are you  ready to allow your true colours to come through as you launch off your branch into the next season?

It's about to explode!

Spring is on its way!

Yes, dull, dreary, drizzly days may suggest otherwise, but the inevitable pull of life force tells another story. 

You can virtually feel the buzz of the energy of burgeoning life pulsating the air. Like a racehorse waiting at the gate, itching to burst forth, Spring is coming! 

Blossoms bursting forth on magnolias, rhododendrons, camellias and daffodils call out the news. Spring is coming!

Oh yes, the trees still hold their bare, dead limbs towards the heavens, pleading for sunshine, pleading for warmth, but their fingertips are showing signs of life as the first tips of green appear.

Spring is coming!

Approaching the end of a season of winter, it is easy to feel that this season will never end, that change and renewal are not possible, that it is all too hard. The idea that it is always darkest before the dawn doesn't seem to hold hope, but despair. Will this never end?

But I feel promise in the air. A change is coming, a big change.  A promise of fruitfulness, of newness, and not just a little bit, not just a regular amount. I hear the clarion call - get ready! Are you ready for all that this Spring will bring? For the inevitable harvest that comes from an abundance of nourishment and refreshing rain from heaven? 

The One who loves us is calling to us: come join Me, come join the fun! An abundance of new life is about to burst forth. Come revel in it with Me!

See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland. (Isa 43:19)