The Earth On Me
There are some days when the earth is just too heavy on me. The dust I was created from cakes onto my flesh and forces my soul to carry a weight that is far too heavy for me. There are places in my heart that were created for experiences and challenges I have yet to see…places God has yet to reveal. Sometimes I can feel them extending themselves to me. I can see them reaching out towards me, so close I can nearly touch them.And then all at once, without warning the carrot dangling in front of me seems to be jerked back from my face and the earth, the clay, the fierce crackling of hard dirt slings in my flesh. Earth splatters itself all over me and my own heart – only days or moments before so soft and tender before the view of a loving and affectionate Father – my soul is cemented to unbelief.Unanswered prayers faced with unrelenting opposition to the dreams you are striving for, the life you so desire….Earth.No after no - wait after wait...and the mountain seems steeper and steeper, higher and higher....Earth.The long obedience in the same direction, requiring you do most of what you don’t love in order to have a hope of doing what you do love….Earth.The cavern of space between what you know has been promised by God and what seems will never come to pass….Earth.Being misunderstood and misrepresented….Earth.The dailyness of dailyness…Earth.Sickness and physical limitations….Earth.Begging for approval and acceptance with little revelation of either…Earth.Your very own flesh filled sin of unbelief, mistrust, exceedingly critical, overly edgy, increasingly obsessed with your selfish desires and petty longings….and for me the worst….cynical...Earth.Oh that God would shake the earth from our hearts! That He would fill our lungs with a song so loud the quake of earth would shake us to our core to BELIEVE in a mighty and able God. That the shaking would release the bondage of earth so profoundly from our beings that we would be clung to the ROCK that is immovable and unshakable.Find a way to shake off the earth and fill your lungs with the fresh air of God. Don’t be satisfied with stale air. Open the windows of your heart and let the rush of wind blow the earth off you! Get around spirit filled friends, family that speaks Truth over you and into you, go for a drive and scream your lungs out to God {HE can handle it}, grab some time with nature {go on a walk, feed the ducks, ride a horse, sit by a tree and watch the clouds – seriously!} take a vision trip, read a book with deeper Truth than you can understand and force your mind to stretch and think and perceive greater revelation, serve someone {get away from your “earthly flesh” and open your eyes to the unrelenting needs of the poor, the sick and the broken – perspective has a funny way of finding our hearts and “earthquaking” our realities when we touch and feel the crack of life in others} let the tears fall {sometimes we need to stop being so guarded and just open the flood gates and bawl our eyes out}, praise, pray, read the Word and believe with ALL YOUR BEING…….swing the gate to your heart open and let the leaves blow around, let the earth crust off, let the Spring of Hope come in. Give the Spirit the space to move and bring to the earth of you the will of Heaven.Yesterday I filled my heart with family and, as a family, went on a drive to places that provoke us to believe in the God-sized dreams in our hearts. Simple, yet exceedingly profound and incredibly liberating….it shook the earth off.“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.” Acts 16:25-26“Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples. Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth; Say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him….And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.” Isaiah 62:10-12“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth {on the earth of me} as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10
