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Sunday Psalm: HalleYOUjah

Karla LeesLeave a comment

As I’m reminded of all the wonders
made by Your command,
I arise from my seat
to quickly take a stand
I close my eyes
and raise my open hands
then Your praise shot forth
as I began to understand,

It’s all about You
it always has
and it always will
be all about You
Father, Son & Spirit
we shout HalleYOUjah
for all the world
to hear the truth
It’s all about You!

When I saw the words
as Your love shone forth
when You opened my eyes,
I dropped to my knees
with a grateful heart
from the surprise
I lift my hands
asking You to shine through me
so all world can see

It’s all about You
it always has
and it always will
be all about You
Father, Son & Spirit
we shout HalleYOUjah
for all the world
to know the truth
It’s all about You!

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#singanewpsalm

refiner’s fire

Karla Lees3 Comments

It takes great courage to allow the fire to refine you when someone else is guilty of lighting the match.

-Susie Larson

How it hurts being set on fire.
Not just the betrayal of knowing you were someone’s target, but the pain, anger, heartache and hurt it can also ignite within us.

Yet that fire could help shape you for the better.

“C’mon…really?” you might be asking yourself right now. You don’t know my situation or what they have done to me.

That may be true.

But I have been abandoned, dumped, molested, date raped. I’ve miscarried, been separated, let go, ignored, been broke, and had hateful words hurled at me from the ones I love.

All of that only matters now because I allowed God to refine me through the painful fires of broken relationship.

Susie Larson goes on to remind us that nothing is wasted in God’s hands. Absolutely nothing.

I can attest to that, for God met me in each of the above situations head on, and as the dross was skimmed away in the fire of refining, hope was reignited each and every time. I am now stronger from the refining.

Hurt doesn’t have to shape you away from His Kingdom. 

The Master Potter awaits to repair the major cracks, smooth the rough edges away, freshen our glaze as He enters the refining fire along side us.

God never leaves us alone in our painful, hurting places of brokenness.

I have been blessed to have seen where He had been in a few of the traumatic events of my life. God gave me a picture of where He was within them, and it broke my heart for the better.

In each and every painful moment, God was there. Crying for my pain, interceding for my restoration, speaking love and hope over me.

It wrecks me each time I remember those images.

Unlike traditional pottery, the temperatures of His kiln are beyond our ability to withstand apart from the Presence of the Potter.

Just like Rack, Shack & Benny (Veggie tales renaming of Meshach, Shadrach & Abednego) the fire may appear to take our lives. Just as He did for them, God doesn’t leave His people alone in the fire. He enters in with us. (Daniel 3).

If you are in the middle of a period of refining, and feeling its shaping in all its uncomfortable awkwardness, do not fear.

God is with you.
God is reshaping you for the better.
God knows the plan He has for you, and it will come to pass.
He will make you all the stronger through it if you depend on Him during the refining.

For when we lay ourselves down and submit to His refining, more of His glory can be released through us. When the impurities leave, He has more room to shine within us.

If you are feeling the burn of refinement today, draw close to Him. His arms are about you, and He is holding you tight. Lean into Him, and allow Him to repair, restore and reignite you for His glory.  For The makes beautiful things out of the broken shards of our lives.

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Sunday Psalm: Worthy

Karla LeesLeave a comment

I crawl
humbly towards Your throne
on my knees
before You
Mighty God,
Maker of the Heavens & Earth,
my head bowed low
as I approach.

Overwhelmed
by Your beautiful Holiness,
Majesty & Mighty.
All glory, honor,
praise & adoration
belongs to You!

No sooner have i entered
Your Presence
then You rush towards me
to lift me with gentle
nail scarred hands,
bringing me to my feet
as You wrap Your strong arms around me
reminding me with a whisper
& a glance
that I am Yours
and You are mine.
No more fear, stain or shame
are allowed to keep me
from standing before You,
Your bride
presenting herself
to her Groom,
the Lover of her soul.

Only the One who is worthy
can make me worthy
to come into His Presence.
Only the blood of the Lamb
can cover & coat me
in His worthiness.

You are worthy of all I have to give
and beyond, God.
I stand tall
as You envelope me
with Your Presence
as Your Spirit breathes within,
and Your Son announces me
as His Beloved before all.

This is where I belong,
and I wholeheartedly
accept the hand of the One
who wants to lead our dance
into eternity.

#SundayPsalm

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dirty to clean

Karla LeesLeave a comment

We don’t contaminate Christ with our brokenness, He makes us clean through His glorious presence!  Sheila Walsh

I confessed yesterday that I love the story of Cinderella, which i find to be a great allegory of the Kingdom.

I believe love is the central theme, around which brokenness, humility, ashes & grief swirled in an attempt of the enemy’s to snuff out the light shining in Ella.

Her position of beloved daughter was crushed by her cruel stepmother & harsh stepsisters.

Not content with making her their servant, they ridiculed her and made life even harder for her…naming her Cinderella, to remind her of her new position in the household, no longer daughter, but servant.

But the lessons Ella learned as a child at the feet of her loving father (and in the new Disney movie, her loving mother) lingered and refused to be completely snuffed out. Her kind nature and gentle manner were daily choices she made in response to the harsh circumstances she found herself in.

And when she couldn’t take anymore, grace stepped in and gifted her with revealing who she really was, despite her horrible living conditions.

A princess on the inside.

Worthy of the best, to wear the dress, to not only meet royalty but destined to become royal.

Fear rose up and caused her to flee, but her Beloved moved heaven and earth to find her, for she was His counterpart, and He would have no other.

He not only restored her dignity, but elevated her with His love. Her background did not matter except to highlight her true character.

She was meant to be His.

And so are you.

You too may feel like Cinderella, like you are too dirty from what is going on to approach your Prince. You nay be beaten down by harsh words, stuck in a job you’d rather not be working at, be on your own struggling, have difficult family to deal with, or feel dirty from the weight of bad choices or sin.

God doesn’t care where you have been. He is more than enough to set you free, clean you up, heal you inside and out, and make you His. His goodness is not muddied by our sin, just the opposite. His goodness chases the sin and grime away, until the real us is all He can see.

I have said it before, but i need to hear the reminder again myself:

I am a Princess in His eyes.

As Jesus is the Prince of Peace, the Son of the Most High God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, then the Bride He is pursuing? He reminds her that her shoe, the design He has for her, will fit in His hands and with His love accompanying her, always.

When we become His, we all are changed in His site to the beautiful ball gowned princess. He clothes us in white, and sets us beside Him at His banquet feast, at the marriage celebration He is throwing to celebrate we are His!

Once we agree to be His, our past only serves to contrast where we are headed to with Him. It is to remind us how far we have come, and how much we need to stay in relationship with our Prince.

Our Prince is not slumming when He chooses His bride.

He made us so exquisitely, just so, each one of us. Together we make up His heart on the outside.
The Bride He has always longed for, hidden across time until he awakens us through His love.

The Prince not only rescued Cinderella from her old life, he completely set her free from it, into a new identity, her true identity.

He broke the chains that bound her, and released her into the freedom He had in store for her once he found her.

Jesus offers the same loving hand to us.

Like the Prince in Cinderella, He does not plan on stopping His pursuit of His bride, ever. Until she is complete, and 100% whole.

It is His love that brought her to life again. His love which freed her. His love wanting to cherish her. His love He desired to spend the rest of His life sharing with her.

It’s His life that will bring you to life again. His love which will free you. His love wanting to cherish you. His love He desires to spend the rest of His life sharing with you.

This love passionately & permanently moved heaven & earth to find you. His love will always triumph!

If He says the shoe fits, it does 🙂

And since He lives for eternity, what a happy ever after we have in store for us!

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Sunday Psalm: Your Love, O Lord

Karla LeesLeave a comment

Your love oh Lord
reaches to the heavens,
Your faithfulness
to the skies.

–Third Day

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Your love God
is breathtaking.
Out of Your love
the world was created,
to serve as ground
for the love-images
You planned to live there.

With exquisite artistry
each of us was lovingly
hand crafted
in Your image,
flesh upon bone
encompassing the spirit spark
within us all.

Not content with just making us,
You desired relationship with us.
To walk with us,
commune with us,
allowing us
to glimpse Your heart
as You well knew ours
from the start.

When we turned away,
the Love You have for us
swelled to greater heights
as You tried to woo us back
with Your words,
breaking us out of the
prisons of our own makings.

When we failed to respond
to Your words of love,
You sprang into action,
revealing Your heart,
for us from the start,
and Word became flesh
as Your heart walked amongst us.

And because that amazing fact
still wasn’t enough,
You lavishly poured Your heart
and Your very life
on the cross
in one time altering moment
of history & eternity colliding
to show Your love
for us all,
for me.

Your love Lord,
reached out across
heaven & earth
and moved
right into my heart.

I will never stop singing
of this Love that came down
& rescued me.
This Love which never fails,
never gives up,
and never runs out,
ever.

#TheUltimateGiftofLove
#SundayPsalm

wide open spaces

Karla LeesLeave a comment

Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

2 Corinthians 6:11-13 MSG

It is time to step out of our confines, and hop over the fences we have hidden ourselves behind.

Wide open spaces in His Presence await.

That sentence sent a shiver down my spine, not because its scary, but holy and awesome and amazing all rolled into one.

The freedom to be ourselves out wherever He leads us is a gift many of us are missing out on.

We can’t see how the money will come in to support this wild new adventure, so we don’t make room to let the seed grow, even in our dreams.

We can’t come out from behind our fences because we are trying to do it in our own strength & abilities, and its a supernatural freedom we need to move beyond.

We feel stuck between two camps, the safe where we may be bored but we know what to expect, while part of us is longing for the unexpected adventure that could await us if we took the leap.

And just like you, I am in the same place.

Longing for the freedom to run wild & free beside Jesus, and feel stuck in the quagmire of the day to day.

Today I realized something.

Although I have a to do list (just as we all do) that doesn’t mean I can’t make space & time to go running with Jesus into the freedom He beckons me towards.

Because in this case, freedom is a spiritual thing.

We can escape our inner fences and move into the wonder He has waiting for us, even if we still have the same job, sick kids, bills to pay and mountains of laundry.

We are designed for forever living. Our spirits are eternal.

I don’t know about you, but that truth is wonderously wild and sobering.

We don’t have to wait until heaven to begin to soar.

Today, take a moment and ask God to reveal where you have a fence holding you back from the gift of freedom He has for you.

Ask Him to break you out, destroy the fence and set you free.

Take hold of His hand, and head on out into those first steps into the unknown now ahead, knowing He has your hand tight in His grasp.

God with us means we don’t have to be afraid.

He’s got you.

The wild open spaces are beckoning you to come…you don’t even need to leave home to get there!

Step through the door into the wonder that awaits you.

Live wide!

#pressingin
#echoesofNarnia
#hopeinHisPresence
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cracks in the ground

Karla LeesLeave a comment

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The hard placeswithin
cry out for a thaw,
for an outpouring:
of Your
living water,
a fresh breeze of Your Presence,
the radiance of Your face
and burn of Your love
to melt away the
crust formed over
my heart.

Underneath
the seeds
You have planted
are impatient
to erupt,
to emerge
from under the barrier
they have been straining against,
in their effort
to obey the call
of their Creator.

As the thaw continues,
cracks emerge,
fine lined at first,
but space for new growth
begins to look possible.

Seeking more rain,
more Son,
more wind,
the season of my heart
continues towards spring.

The cracks widen
and the first of the seeds
emerges
in its beautiful greenery,
stretching up to
greet a new day
of possibility.

The bud begins to show
as the garden of my hear
continues to grow.

Despite the cold swirling
all around
this new life
is springing up
from the former hard ground.

You make everything new,
and make beautiful things
out of us.

#hopeinHisPresence

rehoping

Karla LeesLeave a comment

I am not sure if I just made up the word “rehoping” or not, but it fits with how I have been feeling lately, so I am running with it!

A question was posted today on Twitter on how we find our hope?

Here is my response….

Spending time in His Presence restores my hope, 
refills my love cup, 
refuels my faith & 
realigns my perspective. 
@HopenHisPresenz

Only God can restore my hope for my hope is built on Him, the eternal One. Not on anything else, for all else fades into the past, save God.

Only God can refill my love cup within. My heart needs His love daily in order to keep my hope afloat. When I sense His love, I feel hopeful, and my trust in God wanting the best for me deepens. Because when you are in love and feeling loved, our sense of anything is possible and wonder grows along side!

As a result, spending time with God refuels my faith.

Because only He is able to see the big picture, as God is not caught up in living through time the same way we are. He is timeless, forever. His perspective is thus unique, perfect and the one I need to make sure I am in tune with. Spending time with God realigns my perspective.

When my hope is low, God uses these four aspects to buoy my hope again: time with Him, sensing His love, seeing His perspective, trusting who He is.
Depending on how close I keep myself to Him depends on how much hope I can maintain.

Spend time with God if your hope is in need of an infusion from on high.

After we hang out? God never fails to leave me more peaceful, focused and hopeful.

Is it time for an increase of rehoping in your life again too?

Find your #hopeinHisPresence!

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get back

Karla Lees2 Comments

A chorus of a famous Beatles song just flashed through my head a moment ago as I lay down on my sofa to ease my back.

Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.

Most of us would give almost anything to get back to a part of our past we would rather not have experienced.

But God’s plan is even greater.

He wants us to get back to Eden.
He wants to restore us all to His design, so He sent Jesus to clear the way for us.

Wherever you have headed, HP’s is waiting to bring us back.

Back to communion with Him.
Back to where we were meant to be, wrapped in His Presence in an embrace that can carry us through this hard life, all the way into the Eden of eternity that awaits us.

I dunno about you, but I am tired of looking back at my past.

I am choosing instead to Ru. hard after God, and get back to Eden.

The best part of Eden is not the garden, or even creation…but the One who walked with Adam & Eve in it, who waits to walk along us today.

As the song lyric said, get back to where you once belonged.
We were designed for Eden.

Its time to make our way Home.

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finding spiritual whitespace

Karla LeesLeave a comment

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There are times when you pick up a book, and you really have no idea what you are getting into.

This is one such book.

After the introduction, I will confess I was teary eyed with relief.

I am not alone in how I feel.

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By the end of chapter 6, I was not the same.

I was more at rest after underlining, rereading and journalling that I have been for years, possibly ever.

You see, God is both the giver and designer of how we are to rest.

With Him…

and

In Him…

With Him, and He with me.
I am never alone.
He is always with me,
despite what feelings or circumstances may dictate.

In Him, and He in me.
His presence is in this temple.
He lives in me,
As I choose to hide myself away in Him.
My refuge, my comfort, my shield.

Within.

He lives in me, and I within Him…..

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We reunited on a deeper level after a few chapters of accepting His love for me,revealing a new truth to me as we went.

Every single thing I have ever lived through
matters to Him.

For I am His, and He is mine.
Beloved.

I can hardly wait to learn what freedom and understanding He has for me in the next few chapters!!!