I Know

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVVlMQved8k&list=RDcVVlMQved8k&start_radio=1&t=3

You Know Me ~ Steffany Frizzell

You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. ~ Psalm 139:1 NIV

This morning, Brad told me that his grandma had 6 months left, and when she passes, his mom wants to fly us to Florida for the funeral. Immediately, I began to plan: Will we bring the kids, who will watch them, etc. I even reached out to one of our closest friends and asked if they’d consider watching the girls, if we decided to bring them. And then I went to work.

The day progressed, as normal. Toward the end of the day, I received a text from my friend about watching our girls. She said they’d do whatever they could because, “you guys will always be family.” Her text totally wrecked me. I thought I was OK…but I wasn’t. I managed to hold it together till I got off work. But when I got in my car, God whispered, I know, and I just cried!

I know.

I’ve been told that I’m quick to show compassion to others, but slow to give it to the family.

I know.

I realized it’s because I can’t control others. I can’t do much to help them fix the situation. But at home, I can do something. I can plan and make it work, because I know how. I, Heather Potts, I know. I know!

I know. I know you. I know you’ve tried to control things, too many things. But I also know you need to let go and trust that I KNOW. I know the plans that I have for you.

God said it was time for me to trust Him and that He knows how to make things work out for my good. If you’ve felt like me, like you had to know how it would all work out or needed something to control because your life has felt out of control, maybe it’s time for you, too, to let go, and trust that He knows. Not just the situation and outcome, but He knows you: the one He knit together in your mother’s womb; the one whose thoughts He’s tested and heart He’s searched; the one He’s inscribed in the palms of His hands.

He’s asking us to let go and trust that He knows.

©Heather Potts 2018

Yucky Goo

And I will give them one heart [a new heart], and put a new spirit within them. I will take from them the heart of stone, and will give them a heart of flesh [that is responsive to My touch] ~ Ezekiel 11:19 AMP

Last year, God said He was going to remove all the impurities from my heart in order to make room for what He wanted to do in my life. I began to pray over myself, that I’d live my life through the filter of the Holy Spirit. I especially asked that God would remove from my heart anything that was not of Him and fill me with His life.

This past August, the need for that prayer became evident as Savannah struggled through the change of having to start school. Though Savannah was excited, the change scared her and she clung to any form of control she could muster, including refusing to get dressed…every single day. We tried everything we could think of, but the most effective was prayer: praying with and for her, and praying over our parenting. One particularly rough morning, Holy Spirit told me to pray my prayer for her on the way to school. I did. After a few weeks, Savannah participated in the prayer, asking God to remove the “yucky goo” from her heart (the things that don’t belong), and replace it with the Fruit of the Spirit.

God’s still working on my heart, reminding me to surrender and cast aside the impurities—things that don’t belong. I wish it was a one-time-and-done event. Unfortunately, I’ve allowed circumstances and people’s careless words to shift my focus, which fills my heart with yucky goo things. But God continues to lavish His love upon me, calling me, again, to surrender those things to Him, so that He can replace them with His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control—the Fruit of the Spirit.

Maybe, like me, you’ve allowed people or circumstances to shift your focus, filling your heart with yucky goo, when what you really need is His love, joy, or peace. But He’s a faithful God and He’s waiting for us to confess and surrender those things to Him. His desire is to replace the yucky goo with a new heart, one that’s filled with His Fruit. The choice is ours. Which will you choose?

©Heather Potts 2017

Posture to Receive

 [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith… Just consider and meditate on Him… ~ Hebrews 12:2-3 AMP

Sick babies.

Sick and/or worn down parents.

Little to no sleep.

Exhaustion has given way to…anxiety…and worry that tonight will be like the previous two: awakened every hour…

And at 10:33 tonight I find myself asking my Father, “Why?” And He stirs worship—a need for worship—in my heart. As the music sweeps over me, I hear the lyrics, “Would you come and tear down the boxes that I have tried to put You in / Let love come teach me who You are again /…/ Come and do whatever You want to,” (In Over My Head, Jenn Johnson). As the music crescendos into the climax, I can feel Holy Spirit rush into the room and crash over me.

Control. All my life, I’ve liked control. But God told me to let go. During a recent fast, God showed me I have been holding on to too many things too tightly. And He said it was cutting off my life’s supply. He showed me that a clenched hand can neither give nor receive life. He reminded me of when I would choke on water while swimming as a child. When choking, you’re instructed to raise your hands above your head, which opens up your airways to receive oxygen, to receive life. The same is true in spiritual matters. When we lift our hands in surrender, turning over control to Jesus, we have finally put ourselves in a posture to receive from our Father.

Let Go. In his book, Circle Maker, Mark Batterson said, “If you seek answers, you won’t find them, but if you seek God, the answers will find you…You need to let go and let God…by resisting the temptation to manufacture your own answers to your own prayers,” (65). Trust and surrender go hand in hand. If I never let go, I can never expect to be amazed by all the ways God wants to answer my prayers.

If, like me, you’ve found yourself holding on to things you need to let go of, simply lift your hands in surrender to Him. Breathe His life in deeply, fill your lungs fully, and exhale slowly. Now rest and receive from Him.

©Heather Potts 2017