Dove's Eyes

I sit down with my coffee in hand and there is a stillness that wraps me. This is the part of the morning that I love. I slip into the place my family calls “my nest”. It is that place where bibles, devotionals, composition books some full and some waiting to be filled, pencils, highlighters and pens reside. I love being surrounded by paper and books! In my nest I sit, I pray, I listen and read. This morning I sat in the silence trying to drink it up along with the hot black stuff that I cradled in my hands. Then I heard her, just outside my bedroom window, singing her song, cooing to me as I listened. A dove had landed on the window sill. Her song of gentleness was so soothing. I had asked the Lord to still me this morning as I walked to my nest, anticipating what He would say. Still me, He did. I didn’t move for almost ten minutes as she continued to be His instrument to serenade my soul to a place where it was ready to listen. I wondered how many times He has tried this before and I have rushed on and never noticed? After she flew away, I thought about the truth that I had tucked in my heart about doves. I turned to the Song of Solomon. (This is the place that if either one of my children are reading they have gasped and said, “No, mom you’re not going to talk about sex!" No, I’m not...maybe some other time though!) In chapter one verse fifteen, of this book that is a beautiful love story of two very real people and an amazing metaphor of my love relationship with the Lover of my soul, the Beloved is speaking and he says to her, “How beautiful you are, my darling, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves” As with so many comparisons in the book, like, “your hair is like a flock of goats” this statement about eyes being like doves seems strange to us women walking around in 2012! The fact is, dove have no peripheral vision. The only thing they see is what is right in front of them. I lived in West Texas for almost four years where dove are plentiful. Many times I would see a dove as I was driving down a street and think that it was not going to get out of the way. It would wait until I was right upon it before it would move. Whatever is front of them is what captures their vision and they can’t see anything else. I know He was reminding me how easy it is for me to allow other people and other situations to consume my vision. I am so easily distracted! Oh how I pray for dove’s eyes, so that my Beloved is the only One who captures my vision.

Be Thou My Vision….

Kim
(Song of Solomon 1:15, 4:1, Hebrews 12:2)

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all

Love Is In The Air

Valentines are everywhere! I have been working in a florist shop for this biggest of all seasons for flowers. It has been fun to be surrounded by red roses, pink roses, carnations, tulips, chocolates and gifts wrapped in red and white paper. I have helped husbands and boyfriends as they struggle to send just the right thing to the one they love. The best part is when I ask, “and how would you like your card to read, sir?” Most are very sweet; some are direct and to the point and some I must admit are a little steamy! The steamy ones usually are over the phone, if they were face to face, I would be the reddest thing in the room!! The cards have the usual “Happy Valentines Day” or a beautifully written “Love” at the top. There is one that says, “Be Mine”; I like that one the best. Somehow the words, Be Mine communicate much more to me; they say “I want you”, “we are together”, “we belong with each other”.

God’s valentines are all around us and run through His word like a brightly colored scarlet thread. He is always expressing His love to us. One of those red ribbon verses is Isaiah 43:1; I drop my name within its rich content. I have the verse written on a 3x5 card and like a little girl preparing valentines; I took my red sharpie and put red hearts all around it. This valentine, these words of belonging, sit propped on my kitchen window sill. It is His valentine to me. I read it every morning….and can’t help but smile! It reads;

“But now, Kimberly, the Lord who created you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name; you are MINE.”

His valentine….
His love…..
His redemption…

I am relishing in the reality of relationship. Even with all my faults and prone to wander ways, He looks at me and says, “Mine”!

How deep…how wide…how great…is the love of God?

Overwhelmed,
Kim

Ephesians 3:17-19 NLT

“And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how big, and how deep His love really is.”

Rock Climbing

Have you ever been asked to go someplace or to do something that you thought utterly impossible or didn’t make sense? Or maybe you find yourself in a place that isn’t comfortable and you’re searching for a way out. I’ve been there!

One summer we took our kids and our then future son-in-law to Yellowstone and the area that surrounds it. We love going there and find much to do as we like to watch nature, hike and white water raft. My family likes to rock climb so we searched for some kind of rock face that they could climb. We stopped at the ranger station and a kind ranger directed us to a place that we could climb that was off the beaten path. He was careful to tell us that a grizzly bear had been in the area and that we would need to make a lot of noise going up, that was to keep bears away…I guess? We found the place, it was one of those places that has a sign-in and sign-out sheet at the entry point of the trail, just in case you sign in and don’t sign out they will come looking for you or what remains of you! Off we went on a narrow trail that snaked up the side of the mountain. The trail was only wide enough for one, so we looked like a parade going up the mountain. Every once in a while someone would recognize that we were being too quiet as we navigated the trail. They had obviously had a thought of a grizzly bear; they would break out in a song like This Is The Day and clap their hands loudly. We would all laugh hilariously and sing along. When we arrived at the face, the kids noticed that the face was loose and they would have to climb without ropes or tying in. They would take three steps up and then slide down a bit, regroup and go again. Jim didn’t think I should try it, which made me laugh because I don’t think that thought ever entered into my mind! So off they all went three lunges forward and then slide down. I was standing on a narrow ledge with a drop off of about twenty feet below me, a raging river at the bottom of the ravine and a mountain face on the other side that my family was creeping upward on. It then hit me, I was alone and what about the bears!!! Great, Jim really wasn’t thinking about me having a hard time climbing, he was using me as bear bait!! I sang, clapped my hands, watched my family and prayed for them as they struggled to navigate the rock face. All of a sudden my family froze, a mountain goat had scampered out on this face that literally had very little angle to it. I know he had to be thinking what are these things clinging to my mountain?! That goat must have been stunned, because he stood there long enough for me to get my camera out and take a picture, then he scampered away effortlessly. I was delighted and couldn’t believe how wonderful it was. My family continued to struggle to get their footing and made it to the top. I realized that they were able to see things from the top that I was never going to see from the semi-safe ledge below. Although the climb was difficult, as proof by the torn clothing, dirt covered, scraped and bleeding family that returned to me…it was all worth it!

High places are not easy places to get to usually. They require determination and wisdom to navigate. Sometimes there are scrapes, bruises and blood accompanying the climb. The high places in our lives are the places that the Lord desires to take us. And although difficult, it is usually in the climb that we know Him more intimately as He teaches us things that would not otherwise be learned. My high places are not your high places. The difficult things that have come in and out of my life probably don’t look the same as yours, but we all have them. His promise to us is to be with us, to guide us, and to equip us for the climb. Even when my climbing looks like taking three steps forward and sliding backwards or just hanging on, digging my fingernails into the dirt to cling and keep my footing. He knows the way I take! Never thought I would pray, make me like a goat…give me hind’s feet!

Ever climbing,
Kim

Habakkuk 3:19 The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.

Job 23:10 He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Inquiring Minds Want To Know?????

I'm always on the hunt for a good book or study or teaching that is out there. I try every January to make a book list for the coming year, most years I never read the whole list! I thought I would share a few books that I have read lately, a couple of them I read a while back and have re-read them. Also a couple of teachings and devotionals. Would love to hear from you what are a few of the books, studies, devotionals, that you would recommend.

Books:
The Red Sea Rules by Robert J. Morgan
They Found the Secret by V. Raymond Edman
One.Life Jesus Calls, We Follow by Scot McKnight
Grace For the Good Girl by Emily Freeman
Invitation To Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton

Teachings:
Jonah by Priscilla Shirer (I didn't do the workbook, just watched the teaching DVD's)
Wrecked Not Ruined by Beth Moore (this is a teaching done on Life Today with James and Betty Robinson and is a 5 part teaching done in November and December) lifetoday.org

Devotionals:
Jesus Calling by Sarah Young
A Lamp Unto My Feet by Elisabeth Elliot

Ok, if you have a minute would you leave me a comment and let me know what you are reading or a teaching series that you think is really good, or a devotional that you reach for that really speaks to you. Can't wait to hear your responses!!! Thanks for taking the time.

Blessings,
Kim

shhhh

Has God ever asked you to be quiet?

What an exercise it is for me to be quiet! Those closest to me aren’t used to it; in fact, Jim says it makes him nervous when I’m quiet and not verbally processing everything! All through elementary school, it was not unusual for my report card to have a note from the teacher that read, “Kimberly is a good student, gets along well with her peers, but is too talkative.” I actually had one teacher that put me and my desk behind a cardboard tri-fold. I’m not sure that worked?! As I got older and went to junior high and high school, I had some insightful teachers along the way that steered me into speech, drama and debate. Even in those early years, the Lord was forming me. As He became my Savior and Lord, the adventure began. He would ask me to cooperate with Him by walking into new places, loving the adventure, and talking! (Teaching) A teacher always wants to share what the Lord is teaching her. But sometimes the lesson is just for her and Him. He puts a cardboard tri-fold around her, not because she is in trouble, but because He wants to teach her and have her undivided attention. There flows a sweet intimacy that isn’t up for discussion. I have stepped into this “blog world” and have been grateful for the opportunity to let some of the lessons spill from my heart to written word. They are the expulsion of some of the words that He is writing on my heart and allowing me to share. It has been a joy to converse with those of you who have been emailing me. (Keep it up, I love hearing from you!) Honestly this lesson in vulnerability leaves me feeling naked most days when I hit the “post” button. But there are those things that I think are in every woman’s heart; things that are just between her and the Lover of her soul. These are things that Mary treasured and pondered in her heart, the places we are asked to walk alone. For over six months I have had words, His words in my ears saying things like; “Be still, stop striving and know that I am God” Ps. 46:10 and “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, will be quietness and confidence forever” Isaiah 32:17. Being still and being quiet, not things that I’m very good at but things that I’m learning. For years I thought about the declaring of truth more than the living of truth…about the doing more than the being.

I am constantly learning that one of the things that the Father is doing is preparing us for what is coming next whether that is a trial, a new season of life or the next assignment. The following is an excerpt from Streams in the Desert that has spoke to me over and over. “There are times and places where God will form a mysterious wall around us, and cut away all props, and all the ordinary ways of doing things, and shut us up to something divine, which is utterly new and unexpected, something that old circumstances do not fit into, where we do not know just what will happen, where God is cutting the cloth of our lives on a new pattern, where He makes us look to Himself.” I like the expected, I like sameness, and I like props! To be honest they bring me comfort! I gently hear Him say, “Not this time my child”.

Forever learning…
Stilled by His love and grace,
Kim
kimday1964@gmail.com or
jimlouisday@yahoo.com

Mistaken Identity

I have two really great sisters-in-law. They both make me laugh and it has been so much fun being able to spend more time with them in the past six months of life. I have pet names for both of them, although they don’t know it. I call one Ornery and one Feisty! Trust me when I say this is a true analysis of both of their lives.

This Christmas a part of my extended family from my Dad’s side gathered. It was wonderful to see aunts and uncles that I don’t get to visit with often. At this gathering I was able to catch up with one of my cousins that I haven’t seen in years. I met one of his children for the first time and observed what an amazing daddy and husband he is. He also is extremely shy, so to have a conversation with him took some doing. I saw him multiple times sitting quietly with his children playing a game in one corner of the living room. To an extreme introvert, a house brimming with children and loudness can be painful. There was another observation that I made, he seemed to be a little shyer around one sister-in-law, “Feisty”. After everyone left, “Feisty” and I helped clean up and were talking. I asked her about my cousin’s shyness, to which she responded; “Well, I probably know why he is a little skittish around me!” She had that smirk on her face and I pressed her to tell her secret. Our family also does a yearly fishing trip, it was on one such trip Feisty saw my brother, her husband bending over his tackle box. She looked around and saw no one, so she thought she would seize the opportunity to add a little spark to their marriage. She walked up behind him, put her hands on both buns, and gave them a little love squeeze! He stood up and swung around in a hurry…you guessed it…it wasn’t my brother; it was my extremely shy cousin!! All she could get out, as the color drained from her face and returned in multiple shades of red was, “sorry!” He stood there dumbfounded and said nothing! No wonder he acted like a long tailed cat in a room full of rockers!!! I laughed until I cried and have been giggling and chiding my sister-in-law about it now for a month.

Mistaken identity…..how often we make assumptions, only to find out what we convinced ourselves to be true, isn’t true at all! As a woman seeking to follow Christ, this identity thing is big. The question is always, what am I going to believe? Do I believe; what I think, what the world says, what the enemy of my soul whispers or what other’s opinions are? Let’s be honest, this is an issue where the rubber meets the road, and will be the determining factor as to how I will live. Left alone to my own thoughts and influenced by the things listed above, I think of myself as; unaccepted, rejected, insecure, inadequate, not the right size, not good enough, doesn’t have what it takes, and all of that is Mistaken Identity! The struggle is always to shut the door on lies and embrace truth. To know my identity, to embrace and renew my mind to who God says I am.

Literally, FOOD FOR THOUGHT;
I am God’s child John 1:12
I have been justified Romans 5:1
I have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, sealed Ephesians 1:1-14
I am complete in Christ Colossians 2:10
I am adequate in Christ 2 Corinthians 3:5-6
I am free of condemnation Romans 8:1-2
I can not be separated from the love of God Romans 8:35-39
I have not been given the spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
I am God’s workmanship Ephesians 2:10
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me Philippians 4:13

Choosing, (and not always with boldness, sometimes with a voice that is more like a mouse squeaking rather than a victorious overcomer!) to shut the door to lies and embrace truth.

Amazing Grace…how sweet the sound!
Love,
Kim

Living Water

Living Water, that was what He told her he could give. Jesus met a woman that day who was dry and thirsty. Her life was cracked and showed all the signs of drought.

This land of Oklahoma has been in a drought for a long time along, with Texas and other states. As a result, there have been devastating fires, crop failure and loss. Some time this summer as I was taking a walk out in the pasture, I noticed a crack, a place where the earth had opened up because of lack of water. As I stood there and looked at it, I thought to myself, what a picture it was. Often our lives get to the place of drought. Because of that, fires happen, things die and cracks appear.

The fires are circumstances that are trying to get us to recognize Jesus the Living Water, the Source of all we need. The things that die are the very precepts that He has spoken to us as they cease to be the guiding truth, perception and filter for our lives. As a result parts of us die also and we lose the empowering grasp of the Holy Spirit. He has not moved but we grow harder, like that earth, and joy, peace, gentleness…life…seems to drain from our splitting open. As cracks become evident in our lives and allow all sorts of enemy attacks, worldly thinking, self absorption and deceptions to enter in.

I have tasted this water and know it’s satisfaction. But, I also know the arid winds of drought on my soul. It is in those moments that I too, like the woman Jesus met, have reached for something else to quench my thirst.

Standing in a Thai prison one hot afternoon I saw the truth of John 4 come alive. There was a woman in our English class, who was the only non-Thai woman in the prison. Because she spoke English she came to be our helper. She was there because she had shot and killed her husband. Upon arriving each week at the prison, we would be escorted to our room full of women and our one non-Thai woman. Someone would come by with two bottles of cold water for me and my friend. One day as we arrived to the class, we immediately noticed that our English speaking woman didn’t look well. Her eyes seemed sunken, her skin was washed out, and her whole countenance seemed altered. When I asked her what was wrong, she explained that she had never drank the water from the prison and that daily someone would bring her water from the prison store. Because of prison regulations, the water could absolutely not be purchased anywhere else. The store had been out of water for four days and our friend had not had anything to drink. She asked for a drink of the water the guards had brought me. I was about to give her some, when the other prisoners began to say no, that she or I would get into trouble for doing so. I thought for a moment and then asked, “Does this water belong to me?” They all nodded. Then I asked, “since this water belongs to me, then I can give it to anyone I want, can’t I?” They nodded again. I was not prepared for what happened next, as she grabbed the bottle of water and drank with total abandon, as if none of us were there with her. Water was rolling down her chin and splashing all over her prison uniform. When she quenched her thirst a little bit, she slowed down and looked around the room. She seemed embarrassed by her display as she realized that she had water all over her. But the moment she came in contact with the water, all else faded and her only desire was for what could satisfy her thirst. We had the opportunity that day, because of the example that had been lived out before us, to share the story of a woman at a well that met Jesus for the first time and how He quenched her thirst. Our English speaking friend did come to know Jesus in that Thai prison.

One of my prayers for this New Year is to learn to drink with total abandon. To be so filled with desire for Him that ALL else fades. I’m asking the Father to keep me mindful to recognize the signs of drought in my life and to sink my roots deeply into streams of Living Water.

Face tipped towards heaven and mouth opened,
Kim

John 4:7-29, Jeremiah 17:5-8, Isaiah 58:11