Tag: comfort

in His Presence

Karla Lees

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 and delight you with His songs. Zephaniah 3:17 MSG

I have a confession to make.

This verse is one of my favorite verses in the Old Testament.  In the passage of Zephaniah 3, God is reminding His people that He is with them, and restoration is coming.

Because of who He is.

Present with us.
Mighty to save us.
Ready for battle.

But He doesn’t just remind us of His physical presence in this verse, for He is not a two dimensional God.  He is whole, and how He describes Himself is alive and ever for His Beloved.

God reassures us of His devotion for us, His people, through Zephaniah’s writings.

●Thrilled we have returned to Him
●Calming our worries and anxieties with His love
●Delighting us with His songs

God not only protects those who come under the shadow of His wing, He loves up on us!  He keeps us calm! And to top it off, God HIMSELF sings to us for OUR delight!

If you have forgotten how wonderful our God is, in all the many ways He chooses to be there for us, invite Him to remind you as you return to the safety of His embrace.  Let Him love up on you when you are with Him, in His Presence.

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God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Karla Lees

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!

We can have rest because Jesus was born.

Shocking, isn’t it?

That the birth of a child can turn your whole world upside down?

If you are a parent, as we chatted about yesterday, you know it’s true.

But if that baby is God Himself, tucked into human form, supernaturally growing in a virgin’s womb, announced by a choir of angels to some of the lowest of the community, born in a stable?

You know miracles are going to happen. They are in His very DNA.

So like God, we can rest after creation.

Jesus came as part of God’s plan to restore, make right what was broken in the garden.

To remind us God hadn’t & hasn’t forgotten about us.

Jesus always was part of His story for reaching His people.

And because God is with us?

We can be merry for the Good News has come.

We can also rest, knowing we are not alone, and God has done all the work to make the way Home for us.

If this is a hard Christmas for you, missing your loved ones, or Christmas’ past, take comfort and joy.

The One we have been waiting for has come. He will always come to those He loves, Beloved.

Rest in that truth today!
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all of You is more than enough

Karla Lees

Yesterday was an interesting day.

No matter what I did, the timing seemed to be just slightly off. I am sure you can relate.

But I had a strong sense that everything was happening according to His timing, despite how I was feeling.

Even when I had to head to the ER with my eldest right after I finished work.

I had an unusual assurance that all would be well, despite the circumstances.

The last time we were in the ER? We look back on it now as a comedy reel. While performing a procedure on my child, one of the nurses accidentally set off her “I am being assaulted” alerts, and two huge security guards withdrawn guns swarmed into the room while loud alerts were sounding.

All while I was sitting across the hall facing the surgical room, with no visibility.

I almost had a panic attack from the adrenaline that surged with that sudden incident.

And do you know not one staff came to reassure me my child, under anaesthetic in that room, was okay?

I overheard a nurse tell another staff what had happened on the other side of the hall a few moments later, after the security men left the room, and I know it was His timing to help me calm down and breathe again.

The rest of the night, the communication was limited or non existent. Eight people treated my daughter in total, and only one was partly helpful to help us learn what was going on and what to do moving forward. In fact, we had to head back the next day to get the paperwork necessary for my child to miss school, as the doctor immediately left after the procedure without completing it, despite our obvious requests beforehand.

God knew that day I needed a physical reminder He was with me, and put it on the heart of one of my heart sisters to show up and sit with me as we waited to be discharged. He knew I needed a person in my corner so I could step into the strength He had for me in that night’s battle.

So the first thing that came to mind this time was to raise up as much prayer from my family to shift the atmosphere before we left the house.

And God showed Himself mightily as we did. We had a lovely doctor who has chosen an alternate treatment to what we were expecting, and who wants to check in with us in 48 hours to ensure it is working.

God knows what we need in each moment we face, Beloved.

All He is is more than enough for anything we could ever face.

I am learning to trust Him beyond what I dreamed possible when I first became a Christian.

It is hard to put your child on the altar when He asks it of us, when fear is rising and your mind tries to take you into all the possible nightmares that could happen in an emergency.

I have found He has been more than enough in every emergency I have faced. Losing my baby when I miscarried. Comforting a sudden widower over the loss of his wife, my husband’s sister. When the sounds flatline despite your prayers. Not knowing where next week’s grocery money was going to come from. The times my baby could hardly breathe. When I hadn’t slept for 5 nights, 6 days straight when in hospital for unknown reasons, and thought I was going to lose my mind. Hearing the word cancer spoken over family members. Holding my best friends when their marriages came crashing to rock bottom in times of crisis.

In each of these situations, God revealed Himself so powerfully I stand in awe at His timing, His provision and His Presence.

Like the Israelites in the desert, He meets all my needs.

My covering will not wear thin or fail to protect me, for He Himself cloaks and shields me.

My provision will come. For just as manna fell from heaven, so does He open His storehouses for His children.

My brokenness will be made whole, for God is in the constant restoration mindset.

He continues to make the ashes of our hurt and shards of our breaks into something more beautiful than we can see in during the transition process, because of His great love for us.

What I need to live the life He has for me, He ensures I have when I put my trust in Him.

He is the God of the constant now. He was with me in the past. He promises to be with me in the future, and on into heaven.

But He is fully here, right now, beside me, within me, guiding and reassuring me as each moment brings a new need to light.

Whether the need needs to be uprooted from deep inside to reach the new freedom He desires for me….

Whether the need lies in His comfort as the need reveals itself to be linked to loss….

Whether the need is for a physical touch, a calming of the mind, filling up my love tank, refueling my body with food, the Word or rest….

I know without doubt He is for me.

And He is more than enough in every moment I have faced, am facing and will face yet to come.

Ask Him for a deeper revelation of His love and care for you.  Pray for dreams, visions, confirmation, and watch His love in action reveal itself to you in your need.

All of You is more than enough for all of me, for every thirst and every need. You satisfy me with Your love, and all I have in You, is more than enough.

Chris Tomlin

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comfort in community

Karla Lees

Hi chicks! (that’s what I call my girlfriends in Christ) If you are a bro, welcome.

I know some of you are single, separated, divorced or in a hard place in your marriages.  I know it can and does hurt. I know sometimes you feel you can’t ask people to pray for your spouse, for reconciliation and/or healing.  For you to become whole when you feel ripped apart.

Please do.

Being single does not mean God has abandoned you.  It does not mean His plans for you are always to be without a partner to love beside you on this earth.  He may draw you so deep into Him that you will sense Him as your partner through it all.

You are beloved just as you are, whether you are single, married, divorced, separated, a mom or not. God adores you, and will not leave you or fail to give you hope in your heart’s cry.

Please know its okay to be hurting and say so. We need to be able to be real with one another in the safety of supportive relationship.

I will caution you. Not everyone else believes as you do. Because we are all so different, we may need to share where you are at by starting with “This is where my heart is at. I am inviting you to pray for me as I have requested. I am not asking for answers, but comfort in community.”

Coz we don’t need to speak the answers to support one another, sisters & brothers. 

We need to leave the answers in His hands to be spoken in His timing to our hearts.

Sometimes we just need to know we have been heard, accepted for where we are at, and loved in that moment.

We all need to know we are not alone, and loved as we are. We were meant to find comfort in community.

I pray we will all learn to be better keepers of one another’s deepest longings when they are shared, and continue to point one another to God as we love up on each other right where we are at.

If you are in a state of singleness, and hurting over it, please hear you are not alone.

My suggested best to-do list when you are single, not by choice?

1. Spend more time with God than ever before in prayer, worship and His Word. Press in to Him for your needs, all of them. Ask Him to bring the right people into your life to be part of….

2.  Put together your support group: of sisters (brothers if you are a guy) in Christ, health professionals if you need them, and people who can give you wise counsel. 

3. Allow yourself to be real, but not wallow in your lowest points. 

4. Practice being positive. Speak His Promises out loud over your life.

5. Believe He has good plans for you and they will come to pass, even if you can’t see beyond the pain of today.

6. Remember you are never alone. Stop isolating yourself. Make sure you to be in contact with someone in your support group every day.

Keep pursuing health for yourself in the midst of your hard season. How you make it through can impact you for the better if you seek Him, surround yourself with support and always remember you are not alone.

I also invite you to pop by Whole Magazine to be encouraged as you read:
http://www.wholemagazine.org/posts/5-steps-to-getting-over-your-ex

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when it’s hard to believe for the best

Karla Lees

Yesterday was a day filled with highs and lows, from which I am still both in shock and filled with praise as i process it all.

It is hard seeing your child reeling with hurt. One of mine is struggling to show honor in a placement where she has been discouraged and put down by the leadership for the past several weeks, simply because they are negative people.

The other child heard he may need surgery to fix a disc and nerve problem.

It has been hard to come alongside them and not take over, as the momma within rages at the circumstances.

Instead, I have stood and praised Him despite how I am feeling.

My children are not my babies anymore. They are both young adults who have had curve balls hurled their way, and are still standing up to praise Him in the midst.

If I have done nothing else right in the hard times of my life, seeing my kids raise Him in praise no matter the season blesses my heart for my part modeling how to do so.

But more importantly, it blesses His heart for their part in bringing Him the sacrifice of praise.

Last night, my country took a radical turn politically.  One that i sense will leave scars across every province. People who had served their constituents well were voted out because the nation decided to teach its former leader a lesson.

Experience can help guide us in the hard times, but faith in who you believe in needs to be our bedrock during the storms.

There is no one politician upon whose shoulders Canada can rest for safe haven in the coming storms.

There is only One pair of arms who can wrap around us and help us to stand, safe and secure in His embrace from what may come.

That became evident in a conversation with a coworker who had been reeling from an unexpected demand to prove himself again to a new team addition in another organization he works for, when he already has done so to the team as a whole for over a year.  His commitment to his word and the Word has been an inspiration to those who know Him, and inspired me to dig deeper into all He has for me. He cried out to God, spoke in response as He led, and God is stirring up the leadership to come out swinging in his defence.  As he waits, not yet knowing how this will all play out.

Yet He knows His security is not found in the support of human leaders, although he is blessed with their favor, but the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In the last 48 hours I have stepped up to the plate three times as God has called me to, and used my gifting in ways I wasn’t quite ready for.  I suspect that was so He could show me just how solid and dependable He could be for me as I solely put my Hope and trust in Him to strengthen and empower me for the tasks I stepped into.

He blew me away with His grace, and the knowledge He was with me. He showed up in power, and lives were blessed through the encounters with Him as a result.

Because I emptied myself of me all the more, He had more room to move through and in me to use me as a blessing where He had placed me.   It wasn’t easy to let go of my struggle to be in control, but it was so sweet to rest in Him and allow Him to lead.

In a hard place?

Wounded from an unexpected arrow in the battle?

Weary from the race?

Fearful of what lies ahead?

Find comfort in knowing you are never alone, Beloved.

Draw strength from His embrace.

Proclaim His praise even when things look dim and grey.

Rest in Him, as He keeps you by His side, and helps you to stand.

May He fill your heart to overflowing with His love, as you fix your eyes upon Him above the waves, and take hold of the Rock of Ages. He promises He will come to us, His Beloved, the ones He died to save from sin. He will not abandon us in the battle.  He will come to our rescue, and show Himself strong as our defence.

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My comfort, Your promise

Karla Lees

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I am hurting today.

My body is yearning for relief,
my soul is crying for release.

And the first Word I read today as I open Your Word?

This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life.
Psalm 119:50 ESV

I choose to believe You answered my heart cry in those Words, for as soon as I read them, I felt peace wash over me.

The peace which passes understanding.

The Promise which endures.

For all Your promises come to pass God, for You cannot lie.

What You speak, comes to life.

It’s who You are, not just what You say.

Hope reentered my weariness, and assumed readiness for my day ahead.

I am holding the peace & joy You have so lovingly & kindly refueled within me again today.

Knowing if I rest in You, Your rest will be in me.

No matter what.

If like me, you are in desperate need for Him, draw close….

Come as you are.
Find rest for your soul.
Be filled to overflow.
In His Presence, become whole.
Continue to follow Him all your days.

home is where your family is found

Karla Lees

I have a confession to make.

I love being in family.

I love family in all its quirks, black sheep, & uniqueness through the ups & downs of living life in close quarters.

I have found over the years that when I have been the loneliest, I have not been keeping in close touch with family.

God sets the lonely in families.
Psalm 68:6

Or my translation:
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And much as I love my earthly family, and the family I have made through friendship & church, I have discovered those aren’t the most important family connections for me to avoid loneliness. You can still feel lonely in a crowd of people who love you. Which I know first hand.

Because I have a tendency to feel like the black sheep, and want to hide when I don’t feel like I fit.  I am not gifted like many of my family members, and have felt on the outside looking in for more time than I care to admit….which is one of the number one contributors to my feeling lonely.

When loneliness swirls about me like a fog, I need to press in and draw close to my heavenly family, for:

My Father reminds me who I am to Him… chosen.

Jesus anchors me in the family…. beloved.

Holy Spirit guides me along the journey… pursued.

Together they want me, mold me, cleanse me, shape me, heal me, laugh with me, cry with me, comfort me and make me the best me I can be when i spend time in their Presence.

I am not a black sheep in God’s family…for all His sheep have been made white through the blood of the Lamb.

I can be myself, as God designed, when I am in His Presence.

I have found that sharing my words through writing, worshipping in song & silence, and spending time sinking into the Word, I draw closer to my Family, and somehow I also feel closer to my earthly family.

When we know we are loved, we are better able to offer love to those around us, especially the ones who know us the best – warts, quirks & all!

I want to thank you, reader, for sharing this, my 501st post to my blog!

To celebrate, please let me know if one of the below would interest you to read about by Feb 13th, and as a thanks offering back to you all, I will post about the most requested one on Feb 14th!

1. The Father’s Love

2. Psalm 139

3. The Prodigal Son

4. Psalm 23

Blessings,

Karla 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

when justice fails

Karla Lees

When a man is convicted for 18 months for killing a dog, and another isn’t charged with killing a fellow human being, justice isn’t served.

God hurts along with those crying out for justice in Ferguson.

Ultimately, God will mete out holy justice at His court when Jesus returns….

but until then, we hurt.
We cry out.
We wail.
We are overwhelmed with pain.

God created all people equal in His sight.

Man has continued to elevate himself above others in a temporary bid for power since Cain.  Positioning himself to rule, man wants what man wants, no matter the cost, unless he serves Another.

Service places the needs of another before your own.

Self service seeks to sit on the throne of your life.

Service acknowledges the sacrifice of Jesus…who came not only to show the Kingdom, but took the punishment we deserved on our behalf, so heavenly justice would be served.

Heaven needs to collide with Earth for His justice to be served.

This in part depends on humanity.

And therein lies the problem.

The part of God’s plan we sometimes grapple with, if we are being honest, is how evil continues to get away with its crimes. When murderers, rapists, swindlers, war criminals walk free.

But here is the even more sobering truth we need to all keep in mind.

They don’t walk free past this life.

God will hold them accountable.
He sees ALL done by ALL humanity.
He knows it all.

And He will judge every person ever.

Personally, I am overwhelmingly grateful that I have Jesus as my covering when I will approach that throne at the end of days.

Because I know what I am capable of without Him. I get glimpses in my day to day sin as I battle to serve and not self serve.

Ferguson is hurting over an apparent lack of justice.

God is crying over it too, and has been for a very long time.

All people were made in His image.

ALL:
Every race, every colour, every build, every language, male and female, every single one He has & ever will create are made in His image.

When we don’t walk out this truth with one another, this both breaks His heart and riles His anger.

He hurts with the hurting.
He will judge the crimes.

Holiness meets Heart in God.

If you are another race that has been persecuted and tormented because of your skin colour, He is with you.  Just as He was with Israel while they were under Egyptian rule. With those in SS, war and labour camps. With those displaced from their homes. Those who are treated terribly at work because of their looks, their birth, or their faith. With those who have had a loved one abruptly stolen from their embrace.

God reigns.
He knows.
He longs to speak truth to all people, so we would all treat one another as He hoped we would, but knew we would not without Jesus.

Thank You God, You are with those who mourn.

We can have hope that You will restore, You are with us, You love us, you will comfort all those who turn to You.

May Your people rise up by falling to their knees and lift up those amongst us who are cut to the quick, hurting beyond words.

May we be the hand of love You extend over & over to us in our need.

The God we see in the Word is the same God reaching out for us.

Your will will be done,
Your Kingdom will come.
Your justice will be served.
You will reign.
Forever and ever,
Amen.

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presence

Karla Lees

Presence.

What do we really mean when we use the word “presence”?

Presence
noun

The Google Dictionary:

1) the state or fact of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or thing. (“her presence still comforts me”)

synonyms: existence, being there

2) a person or thing that exists or is present in a place but is not seen.

synonyms: ghost, spirit, specter, phantom,apparition, supernatural being

3) a group of people, especially soldiers or police, stationed in a particular place.

Dictionary Reference.com:

1. the state or fact of being present, as with others or in a place.

2.
attendance or company:
Your presence is requested.

Presence:
Where God is, eternally, visible in heaven & sensed on earth.

Who God is, His being, God with us, God within us, God present, supernatural being, almighty God, Spirit, everywhere present.

Invited by His people to reveal more of Himself to us, to come and be present with us in a deeper life altering way, especially when we are gathered seeking Him.

I know I need His Presence more and more as I get to know just how wrecked and broken I am within.

His Presence restores what sin batters.

His Presence binds up what remains in tatters.

His Presence brings hope & comfort to inner shatter.

His Presence is where we find what truly matters.

You don’t need to be in a large group of fellow believers, a trained minister, or doing anything in particular apart from seeking Him to sense His Presence.

He just requires us to tune in and seek His frequency.

Did you know that everything has a frequency?

I believe that as Jesus walked the earth, the atmosphere around Him literally changed because of the Holy frequency He was emitting.

And those around Him were not only attracted to Him, but changed in the encounter. Eternity meet humanity and radically changed the present forever.

God invites us to tune in.
Seek His Presence.
Be present in His company.

In fact, He delights in us, and longs to spend more time with us. He wants to be our soft place to land, our cover when the battle rages, our shelter in the storm:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble…

Psalm 46:1

Like the father waiting day after day for his beloved son to return home, God is always present in His wait.

He is all in.

His heart is to reassure us with His love, restore us as only our designer can, equip us for daily living out our faith, and enjoy spending time together.

His Presence
in our present
fully present.

What a present, indeed!

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enough

Karla Lees

There comes a time when each of us have had enough.

It might be your stress level. Your health. Your inability to sleep. A negative influence. Someone not taking your no as the final answer. A boundary was crossed. Hurtful words hurled your way.

When you’ve had enough, we hit the end of ourselves.

Leaving us with two choices:
Usually an emotional reaction, such as anger, frustration, exhaustion, hurt feelings, depression or regret. These can also show physically, with tense muscles, headaches, upset stomachs, lack of appetite, overeating, insomnia, or illness.

Coming to the end of ourselves usually occurs because you and i fail to see the bigger picture going on beyond ourselves.

The second option when you reach the end of yourself is to take that emotional reaction and plug into God for your need:

Exhausted?
Come rest. Psalm 23

Angry?
Lay it down. Ephesians 4:26

Stressed?
Stop worrying. Matthew 6:25-34

Sick?
Ask for healing. Matthew 4:23

Regret?
Seek forgiveness. 1 John 1:9

Hurt?
Forgive. Matthew 18:21-22

Lonely?
He is with you. Psalm 68:6

In need of comfort? Broken hearted?
He is close. Psalm 34:18
He heals your heart. Psalm 147:3
He loves you. Jeremiah 31:3

In bondage?
He sets the prisoners free.
Isaiah 61:1-3

Need hope?
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 12:15

When we hit the end of us, when we turn to God, we find that His more than enough is more than able to help us move forward.

May you draw close to this God who is so beyond what we can sense in the natural world, tap into His supernatural love and equipping, and find yourself as you do.

Don’t let one circumstance or situation blind you from God waiting to be there for you. Let Him help you stand, and face it together.

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