Surrender

Today we spoke openly about Surrender.

Each and every one of us surrenders to something; or rather someOne.

1. We either surrender to our-self; doing what we choose and consider alright within our own moral (or immoral) boundaries.

2.  We surrender to the Lord; doing what He wants us to do, and living by His standard of morality.

Oftentimes, I find it particularly easy to surrender to my Lord in certain areas of my life which can lead to me (or others) thinking I have it all together while still clinging to other areas of my life where I want to maintain my delusional modicum of control.

Surrendering only portions of myself or my life to the Lord is not surrender, but rather a pick-and-choose buffet.  Taking what I want and leaving the rest.  It is choosing what is 'comfortable' and 'easy' and leaving the other social norms to be dealt with at a later time, or simply to be swept under the rug to hopefully never surface again.  But that is just hiding sin, not submitting to the one that can break the chains that hold me down.

Galatians 5:19-21 says, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like..."

I don't know about you, but it's pretty easy to see that adultery and murder are wrong, but 'outbursts of wrath', 'selfish ambitions', 'jealousy' and 'envy' are things that I have struggled with at least once in my past, and more-likely something that I would rather allow to harbor and stew inside of me instead of laying them down before the throne of Jesus.  Laying down those seemingly petty issues is actually an act of sacrifice that leads to freedom.  We are in essence giving God the permission to do what He may in any given situation instead of taking the judge and jury all upon ourselves and enacting limited and pitiful judgement.

I listened today as a man told of how alcoholism was his father's vice, and something that he refused to surrender to the Lord.  The consequences of his lack of surrender was a horrible and slow death where he slowly bled out of every orifice of his body until he finally perished.

Can you imagine giving up your life in that fashion where you actually chose that death?  No, he didn't want to die that way, but choosing to NOT surrender his alcoholism to the Lord was a long therm choice to die a slow and painful death.

If that is what a man's choice to continue in alcoholism can do in the flesh, in the body; then what more can that same lack of surrender do in the spirit?

Jealousies listed above in Galatians 5 can also lead to a slow and painful death.  Maybe not like the one I just mentioned, but still just as painful where the soul of the person clinging to their jealous ways becomes embittered and twisted until that is all they can see.  Where relationships are ripped apart, and even their love of the Lord can be thrown away.  All leading to a lonely and painful life where everyone else is to blame except yourself.

How many other ways can we trap ourselves by choosing what we want instead of what the Lord has for us?

Are you hemorrhaging physically or spiritually?

Who are you when you are alone?

Do your reactions to circumstances reflect the Lord, or show what is really hiding inside your heart?

The other option is to Surrender to the Lord.

This is not always an easy step, but it does get easier the more we do it, and it is the step that leads us to true lasting freedom and fulfillment.

Galatians 5 goes on to say, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..."

These things may not be easy to obtain, but once you (and I) surrender to the Lord and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit these things not only become obtainable, but flow through us with a full measure of grace and joy.

My husband had a dream the other night that I feel describes this freedom in surrender.

'A man appeared in his dream and wanted to do him harm, so he began to wrestle with this stranger.  The wrestling was long and difficult and seemed to never want to end.  The longer the two men wrestled together the stranger began oozing slime out of his very being.  That slime was thick, sticky and slippery, like a toxic sludge.  The strangers slime began to surround both men as they wrestled.  My husband wanted to give up, but felt it was important to keep going and finish the struggle that had begun even though he was now covered in this strangers trappings.  As time went on my husband won the wrestling match and the stranger was SAVED!'

Who or what are you wrestling against today?

Is it dirty and messy?

Does there seem to be no end in sight?

Don't give up!  Keep fighting and wrestling to win the fight that has begun.  Surrender All and Call on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ...solicit Him to fight your battles for you and with you so that salvation from the battle, victory from the war can be won.

His plan is perfect and we can fully trust Him.

Prophetic Paintings

Those of you that know me know that I have been involved in the Prophetic Prayer ministry at our church for about 8-years now. 

It is an amazing ministry that truly pours the love of Christ out on those that come to receive. 

We leave the session changed.  Touched by God. 

It is basically a time set aside where ministers quiet themselves to hear from the Lord on behalf of someone that has come to receive from the Lord. 

There is no 'funny business', and the entire ministry is based on 1 Corinthians 13 (the Love chapter in the Bible).  Immediately after that chapter in 1 Corinthians 14:3 the Bible says that he who prophecies speaks edification, exhortation and comfort to men.  And that is EXACTLY what this ministry is about, and what the world around us needs.

Actually, did you know that the gift that the Bible says we should all have is the gift of prophecy!  Whoa!  Talk about a calling.  We are called to be the hands, feet and mouthpieces of the Lord to the hurting world around us. 

After growing and stretching in the prophetic prayer ministry for the past eight-ish years I feel like the Lord is stretching me even more.  Much farther beyond my typical knowledge, understanding or even comfort.

You see, the Lord called us to move.  My family; I mean.  We up and moved from the only town I've ever known (born and raise there) and the only house my husband, kids and I have ever lived in.  Through this move of ours (even though we didn't move far), God is doing BIG things.  Those things I eluded to in my previous post. 

One of those things is Prophetic Pour Painting. 

Now, I've never been an artist.  I can draw on an elementary level.  You could guess what I drew, but its not going to knock your socks off.  I've NEVER been able to paint.  God is calling me, my whole family actually, into a more fluid relationship with Him that causes us to pause, lean on Him and allows Him to flow through us to 'hopefully' touch the souls around us. 

My oldest daughter is actually starting to do Pour Painting with me.  She is not currently looking to do it prophetically, but rather just make something beautiful to sell.  She is 10.  Who knows what God has in store for her future?

What is Prophetic Pour Painting? 

I'm so glad you asked. 

It is a time that I set aside to sit with the Lord.  I put on some worship music, gather my supplies and head outdoors to wait for His inspiration.  He may start by giving me the colors I will use, or the name of the painting.  He will also tell me which essential oil I will add to the paint as an anointing.  Then I will mix the paints, add the oil and do the 'pour' all while praying, anointing and worshiping the Lord.  The finished product is up to Him.

After that, we let them dry and wait for the person the Lord has made the painting for.  That's it. 

I am not a healer.  These paintings are not healers.  BUT we are tools that the Lord will use to set people free, bring salvation and healing, or whatever it is that God is doing in a person's life.  These pieces of art will speak to the soul and hopefully inspire a rending in the heavenlies on behalf of that person and anyone else that looks upon His works of art.

If a person requests a prophetic painting I can do that too, but they must know that the outcome of the painting is out of my hands.  I might have one idea in my head, but it is inevitable to look completely different on canvas. 

Here are a few Prophetic Paintings that are recently completed:

'Chain Breaker' with Frankincense essential oil

Chain Breaker has black and grey that represent sin.  Red for the blood of Christ, and the yellow is the light of God bursting through to break the bonds of sin.

'Healing Rain with Fire' with Release in the Red and Yellow 'fire' paint.

'Glory' with Peace & Calm essential oil in the green paint.  

And here are a few painting that my kids and I did just for fun:

My oldest daughter made this for her brother.

 We were hoping the blues and greens would come through and the oranges and reds would just vein through is some areas, but as you see the reds really came through the most and the blues are the highlights.

My son made this for his sister.

 Her favorite colors are pink, purple, green and chocolate brown.  The green didn't come in as much in this picture, but in real life you can see it threading through the pinks and purples.

My youngest daughter made this for her Nani. (shh.  Don't tell; its a gift.)

I made this for my youngest daughter.  Her favorite colors are pink and purple. 

The pictures simply do not do these justice.  There are so many variant colors running through that are not visible through my photo lens.  Well, maybe that is because I am using my cheap phone camera?

Big Things

Howdy Friends,

I have been absent on this blog site for about 2-years now. 

2-years! 

I have been really busy being a mom, home-schooling my kids, tutoring at our home-school co-op.  Moving, getting closer to the Lord, and writing a book.  Yes, you read that correctly. 

I am finally writing a book.  It's my story about Guillain-Barre' Syndrome and being a survivor.  What God did during that traumatic and life altering time.  So stay tuned for that exciting news in the future.

Also, God has been doing some really BIG things around here.  Of coarse, whenever God starts moving the enemy of our souls begins throwing up road blocks too.  So I have decided to go ahead and start this blog back up to give God the G-L-O-R-Y in all of these situations.

This is just a fun, watch God work, kind of blog now.  There may be insights to glean, or just stories to read.  If you are so included to follow then feel free to sign up to receive my posts. 

Also, if you do a search you can find some of my old posts about nutrition, what to eat, what to avoid, recipes and more.  Essential oils, Guillain-Barre' and my kids all pop up in former post too, so feel free to browse. 

See you soon!
Natalie