LizChatter

It was this Wednesday that I had stayed home from the office. I was doing some household things, vacuuming, dusting, and such while listening to the Modern Day Hymns playlist on Spotify, when suddenly the Spirit of God gripped my heart and spoke. I sat down under the weight of it. If you have ever felt this you know of what I experienced. Looking back, it's as if the weightier the message - the weightier the Presence.  This was a powerful experience and a powerful Word in my life. An hour or so passed before I felt release from the weight and the urging of the LORD to share what He'd given me. I'll share what I heard from the Lord, and I'll also share the convictions I came away from that experience with.  Here is what I heard from the Lord:  "Be mindful when voices place a question on following my direction. Some will miss the fullness of my Plan for consulting the flesh over what I have spoken. Honor your Leaders and know them. Not all are visionary, not ...

These three little words are HUGE .   "T rust without borders" is such a challenging statement, at least for me.  It seems from the earliest memories in my experiences of interaction with 99.99% of humanity I've believed that borders are super necessary  and  trust is dangerous.  Trying to trace that issue backward, it seems that there are a number of things  that this could be attributed to: 1. Early childhood molestation by a family friend. 2. Controlling, angry authority figures.  3. Blah, blah, blah Like, everyone has a story. Right? Our stories include loss, betrayal, fear, and pain. The specifics may change but the trespasses are much the same.  Our stories are similar, so perhaps our need to increase in areas of trust is also similar. Or is this just is a major area of growth needed in my life? No, I think not.  I believe this easily applies to you as well.  There are three things...

What if the measure of success is not actually found in the usual suspects: "likes", "hearts", relationship status, "shares", followers, comments on your posts/blog/vlog, position, statistical outcomes, human interest, fame, wealth... What if God views obedience, simple (yet not always truly simple) obedience as real success? I believe someone needs to know this! No matter the messiness of current circumstances, keep with obedience; this is the undisputed champion of ways to bless God's heart. Thanks for stopping by. Love, Liz

  We all have opportunity to grow through trying times in life.   I've found the best way to stay optimistic while going through a difficult time is to view the situation as temporary - and it is temporary as long as we are cooperating with God. In fact, we stay static, stuck or stagnate in situations were we (perhaps due to shortsightedness) have become uncooperative with what God is doing.    Have a "season" mindset. Realize there is a purpose in the test, trial, and temptation. Much is accomplished in your cooperating with God!

My glasses broke! My  rose-colored glasses are broken!!  Could I borrow yours?  You don’t have rose-colored glasses, you say?  Oh, well then - good for you. I jest! I had no literal pair of rose-colored glasses.              __________________________________________________________ Have you ever gotten news that was just really, really super good? Well, recently I got a piece of news that was super good. The sense of relief I felt at hearing the news was nothing short of an answer to more than 12 months of quiet prayer and earnestly seeking the Lord. Not everyone shared my sense of relief. In fact, some stated publically that they were saddened by the news. It was another opportunity for me to see how our personal history/personal experiences influence perspective; good, bad and neutral experiences directly influence our perspective; whatever the circumstance may be. The information was posi...

"I'm so tired of this!"  or  "I can't believe I said that!"  or  "What did I do to deserve this?"  or  "God do you see what's happening here?" Have you ever said things like this? I certainly have. Usually in response to dissatisfaction on how something ended up. There are times we end up unsatisfied, angry, or embarrassed at the outcome of a decision. Sometimes a decision even results in injury inflicted upon someone we love and are responsible to care for like children or a spouse. Have you experienced this as the doer? I'm not surprised if you answered "yes". It's happened in my life; yes, this happens for those in Christ. If you're anything like me, you've experienced this with outcomes ranging from insignificant to catastrophic. Depending on where you are in your journey with Christ, you may believe that it's luck, chance, or you may have a 'que sera sera' attitude and stick your head i...

You may know the story of ‘The Women with an Issue of Blood’. Out of this story, found in Luke 8, Mark 5 and Matthew 9 have come powerful sermons on healing, faith, touching the hem of His garment, etc. This week a visiting speaker made reference to her and my mind was drawn back into this interesting story. After looking at this story again a few things came to mind: #1 – this woman was a survivor. I mean, hemorrhaging for 12 years … wow. #2 – in addition to staying alive she had to cope with being pitied and being served (receiving charity from neighbors & friends) #3 - she had to deal with being studied by the physicians of her day. No doubt, there were lots o f questions and tests of sorts; none of which provided relief. The reference in Mark 5 reads “… endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse” I’m sure that after so many years she simply adjusted physically, mentally and spiritually to he...

I wanted to share a tidbit from a conversation I had with a friend this evening. The Holy Spirit was present and our hearts were being changed by His power. "It's not easy for the carnal minded to follow Jesus... because he tells us to deny ourselves and not only to deny ourselves but also to take up our cross. Hmmm. Even for the best among us - its hard to do. Denying yourself, getting victory over your thing (thoughts, behaviors, attitudes, conversations) takes spiritual focus and soul determination. Sometimes it feels like we need to approach this like a soldier approaches warfare training. So what about your thing. Maybe it's obvious, like huge. People can smell it, see it or hear it very easily. Maybe your thing isn't as obvious as the person you sit next to. In truth, we each have a thing. Lets evaluate ourselves. Where are we as individuals with denying ourselves, with taking up our cross? How readily do we choose Him over self?"