Living Out of Victory

“You’ve brought me to the end of myself/ And this has been the longest road”

“I’m waking up/I’m waking up”

These two lines (both from one of my favorite current albums by Steffany Gretzinger) perfectly describe the transition I’m in: this beautiful moment where I get to move forward into all that He has planned, moving past dreaming and waiting into true fulfillment. If the object of my life is to know God and be known by Him—or in other words to glorify God by enjoying Him forever (thanks John Piper) then I am in the sweet spot of that beautiful journey. Coming into a still, sweet time where He allows me to operate fully in all of my gifts, whether they be leading worship, interceding, healing people emotionally and physically or just allowing His love to shine out of me. When I really tune in to all that He is doing in me in this season, I am just buzzing with His life awakening in me. He wants to do so much in me and through my team—aahhh!!!

At this moment, listening to Irish rain fall outside my window, I can’t imagine what fulfillment and seeing all His beautiful dreams for me come to bear looks like. I only know that I am on the edge, the precipice as it were, and the joy I feel is piercing. He sees and knows me so well—we’ve spent a wilderness season together—and I get to partner with Him in whatever is to come next. I know that He will never leave me—His faithfulness to me while I had nothing to offer but the belief He could pull me through assure me that life is coming, will always be to come for it is what He offers and brings forth and is full of, always and in all things.

And maybe your life looks really dry, without any light—I ask you to take a moment and look at what you fill yourself with. It is easy in a depressed season to continue to dwell in that depression, to even wallow in it and ask others to join you there—but He has the opposite to offer to you, if you will only choose to look to His strength. He is the God of the impossible, the One who turns it around to grace more and more frequently than we could ever give Him credit for!

The way it has shown up in my life is this: in the frequent yielding of my heart and mind to Him, He has taken a place that usually produces a certain kind of fruit in a person and produced the exact opposite in me. I learned my freedom and liberty in being a woman in one of the most oppressed places for women in the world. I learned deep hope during a season where I couldn’t land a job to save my life. He is constantly teaching me that I live from a different kingdom, one not governed by the rules and laws that affect this world.

I live out of such a different place.

And there is safety here even in the midst of the greatest storms that nations and personal relationships and everything the world has to offer. There is peace when all around is chaos. There is joy—rooted deep in Him and who He is (such stability!) that laughs when danger draws near or anything rears its head saying its more worthy of being feared—you know who the King of Kings is (you’re deep, intimate friends with Him) and so nothing holds you back from running deep into His arms. The fear of the Lord fills you to overflow, causing all the wreckage of life to spill out and be seen as it is: just a bit of torment that the Lord knows, takes care of, is already dealing with. We get caught in our own minds, the darkness of seeing it all from our perspective, but then you invite the Lord in and it’s like He lifts the lid off the house of your heart where the enemy was trying to harbor dark thoughts and plans and you see them for what they are—simply dark dreams of the enemy which drift away when put into the light of the Father’s hands.

Nothing can stand against Him.

And that’s where we stand. With Him. Rise up again, Victorious One. You are hidden in Christ. The story is already written deep within You, for you were claimed by His blood when you became one of His own—He wins. And since we are His co-heirs, it’s our victory also, and we get the spoils.

Live free out of this place.

He’s so in love with you!

P.S. I took a walk with a sweet lady today--when she prayed she saw a picture of me in galoshes (pretty ones!) tending a garden--you only need galoshes when the ground is really wet!--and the garden was bearing much fruit...excited to see where He takes me!