Category: Inner Peace

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Your Heart: The Anointed and Flourishing Resting Place

~A vivid snippet from the revised version of my book, Romantic Rendezvous for The Soul. May you come to understand and experience the rich and faithful love of Jesus as He dwells in His new glorious temple…your recreated heart. He will never leave you, He will never forsake you. He lives in you. (Colossians 1:27)

Enjoy this worship song as you read: Chambers by Catherine Mullins (I don’t own any rights to the music)

My beloved one, both handsome and winsome, you are pleasing beyond words. Our resting place is anointed and flourishing, like a green forest meadow bathed in light. Rafters of cedar branches are over our heads and balconies of pleasant-smelling pines. —Song of Solomon 1:16–17 TPT

He stood and extended his hand for me to take.

I felt like the woman caught in the act of adultery. Mercy washed over me in silky light, like the waves from his robe. He didn’t condemn me. There were no accusations. There was no stone in his hand. (John 8:11)

In fact, his hand seemed like an extension of his heart—promising to heal me even before I vowed to commit myself to him in the way he desired.

There was no cost for his healing. He freely offered to make me whole, with no hidden stipulations. Such grace empowered me and I felt my bones were stronger somehow. I felt like spring grass soaking in solar light from the sunshine of his presence within me. (Hebrews 13:9, 2 Corinthians 5:19)

The seeds within me pulsated with life. (Galatians 3:16, Luke 8:11)

I took his hand and he pulled me up to my feet. All the other guests in the room rose as well. Their presence was tangibly felt. They carried a weighty air about them that was holy and priestly. When they saw he meant to escort me away, they returned to their dancing.

Many things crossed my mind as Jesus and I crossed the dance floor into a more private corridor with a balcony view, namely I wondered why none of the saints pursued Jesus?

A banner hung from the room’s entryway. In Aramaic it read:

Strengthen me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am weak with love. (Song of Songs 2:5)

The small elegant room featured a three-dimensional mural floor of a blooming vineyard blushing under a hazy sunset. The painting was so lifelike, even the dust kicked up in the air was illuminated like grated gold by the imaginary sunrays. The emerald leaves were silhouetted in basking glory and turned into a yellowish jade. Rows and rows of vines lacing around each other made me catch my breath.

Rosy marbled walls formed an arch in the center of the room before giving way to a chandelier that resembled a flourishing desert rose. Diamond-shaped light bulbs hung from the chandelier and sent shafts of prism light pirouetting across the walls. In the corner of the room was a large bed, hidden behind transparent curtains.

“It is lovely in here,” I breathed, admiring the splendor.

A lamp stand table made of polished gold held woven baskets with embroider cloths set beside them. Inside the baskets were marble bowls heaped with fresh fruit. The fragrance of ripe strawberries, dates, pomegranates, figs, and honey-painted cakes teased my nose. I saw blocks of cheese and nuts beside the fruit.

“Eat some,” Jesus offered, finally releasing my hand, “You haven’t eaten anything all night.”

…

I took a plump strawberry and popped it in my mouth. A refreshing, tart flavor with just the right amount of sugar burst in my mouth. I hummed in delight, imaging that only Eden carried such delectable fruits.

I took up another, and then another before trying a fig and a date. They were equally good but distinguishingly unique. I plopped several blocks of different colored cheese in my mouth until my cheeks swelled like a chipmunk’s. I had difficulty chewing but managed more easily after the first few bites. The rich flavors blended together like cream and salt. Afterward, I went for the nuts in handfuls. When I finished with those I took up a half slice of a pomegranate and plucked some seeds coated in red wine gel. I cupped my hand to my lips and let the seeds fall in before chewing. The tart taste reminded me of the best sherbet punch.

We ate for several more minutes before my appetite was satiated. Afterward, I felt the stickiness of dried fruit juices and honey on my hands. I rubbed my fingers together wondering how I would wash them.

“Is there a bathroom?” I asked.

“I have a jar of water and hyssop out here,” Jesus said, extending his hand toward the balcony.

We walked on the elevated porch, the sky canopied over us. I noticed a hard, blue clay pitcher in the corner. Beside it was a pink potted hyssop bush aflame with brilliant flowers, the color of nectarine skin.

I cupped my hands and Jesus poured some water between them before taking some flowers from the bush. He set them in my hands and I rubbed them together feverishly. He rinsed my hands again and I lightly dried my wet hands with an embroidered cloth beside the baskets. When I finished, I brought my hands to my nose and inhaled deeply the fragrant scent of hyssop plant. I took up the jar and poured water over Jesus’ hands. Afterward, I plucked up a few flowers before putting them in his hands. He repeated what I had done, and I fell silent.

I leaned my torso across the balcony and rested my head in one of my hands. Despite the snow that crested the mountains, I was warm. I looked out and admired the scenery before me. Everything seemed so expansive that I felt a little bit swallowed up in the grandeur of it all. I let my eyes linger over the glowing city, savoring the physical beauty of it like I savored the food I had eaten. Beauty fed my soul like nutritious food nourished my body. Jesus leaned his elbows on the railing of the balcony and also looked upon the terrain before us.

“How come nobody has come in here yet to seek you out?” I asked, finally voicing the question I had tucked away inside when he had whisked me away to the private room.

“What do you mean?” Jesus asked, unassuming.

I shrugged and then my eyebrows fell until they hovered over my eyes.

“Well, I’m just confused as to why we haven’t been crowded yet? I mean, didn’t you deal with that constantly after you began your ministry on earth?”

“I did.”

“So why, if these people know who you are, do they not love you?”

“They do.”

“But they aren’t trying to be near you?” I countered, slightly nonplussed.

“Because they know that I’m near them.”

“Even though you’re in here with me?”

“Yes. They understand that I live within them. That my promise is true. I will never leave them nor forsake them. They don’t need me to appear to them in this way in order for them to be content with me or with themselves. They converse with me all the time.” (ex: John 20:27)

My eyes fell to my cinnamon brown hands. An almost undetectable sense of failure came over me.

“They understand what I don’t fully comprehend,” I said lowly.

Just as quickly as the sense of failure had come, an inner quickening rose within me like a heater being turned on in the dead of winter. It came like a skilled soldier, swiftly combating the negativity that wanted to seize territory. I felt as if a seed had sprouted under the soil of my consciousness. Suddenly an assurance came up, and with it a loving caress that chased away all notions of shame.

I didn’t feel the need to compare myself to the couples on the dancefloor anymore. The precipitous change in my emotions puzzled and pleased me at the same time. I touched my stomach and easily discerned the presence of my Holy Friend (John 14:17).

I heard a soft chuckle from Jesus and refocused my attention on him.

“He’s amazing, isn’t he?” I asked, knowing the answer.

“He’s the Father’s gift to you and to all those sealed for me. You need not fear anything, beloved, not even death. Because of my Father’s Spirit, you will always be with us. He has sealed you forever and he isn’t going anywhere.” (Ephesians 1:!3)

“I think I know that now,” I said. Emotion caught in my throat. My mind traveled to precious instances in my past where the Holy Spirit had comforted and rescued me. There were many nights when I had cried myself to sleep on my bed and felt a warm arm around my heart.

“I love his faithfulness,” I whispered, and again touched my stomach, this time as if I were trying to embrace a friend.

“He will help you comprehend what the others understand. It’s his joy and delight to do so. He has much patience with you. There is peace in his mind toward you. You need never be frustrated with yourself, because it’s the opposite of how he feels about you.” (John 14:26, Hebrews 8:2)

I nodded and the breeze kicked up. The wind carried the fresh fragrance of spikenard, which diffused the air like a perfume bath. The dust of powdery snow lifted and swirled around in the breeze. A few frozen droplets touched my cheeks and I shivered. Some flakes of snow rested and then melted in my hair once the air stilled. I felt as if I had been touched by starlight.

“He would like to take you someplace as well,” Jesus said.

I reflected for a few seconds and then uttered, “Yes. I’m happy to go anywhere he wants me to.”

“Okay.”

Jesus turned toward me. I stood still as he placed his fingers on my temples. Instinctively, I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, anticipation building in me…

(To read the next snippet, click here)

~I hope you enjoyed this preview of my revised version of Romantic Rendezvous for The Soul (Tasting the Bridegroom Love of Jesus). To purchase a copy of the 1st version, click here. As an author, the sincerest way anyone can thank me is through writing a review of my book(s) on amazon. If you’ve been blessed by my work, I would love to hear from you! Your review reaches out to other women and invites them into this ministry of words…and more importantly, into the tender love of Jesus inside the pages.

“Ashley Thompson’s Romantic Rendezvous for the Soul is simply wonderful. Deliciously descriptive, it nourishes the soul with fresh revelation of God’s love for humanity. This collection of short stories may challenge your thinking about what true intimacy looks like, while making your heart yearn to daily experience the Perfect Love described within its pages. Romantic Rendezvous invites you into a world created by Love Himself, where there’s no mistaking that His love for every individual is not only unconditional and never-failing, but also deeply personal and precious to Him. Get ready to experience the purpose, pleasure, and power of real love!” -Danielle Sanders, Worshiper, Songwriter, Licensed Minister, Former Highschool teacher

~For my book on returning to the liberating and strengthening grace of our heavenly Father, Visions of Celestial Love, click here.

“Ashley McClelland presents us with a true cornucopia of modern psalms, personal testimonies, and short stories. She has set out to reveal and unravel some of the most complex heart issues mankind faces in our quest of understanding what true intimacy with God really looks like. Prepare to have your soul massaged and worked on as you read Visions of Celestial Love.” — Jeremy Minard, Servant King Apparel

Blessings to you as you learn how to journey through this life walking closely with the truest Lover of your heart!

xoxo

Ashley

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The Result of Comfort is Rest

But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you. -John 14:26 AMP

Have you ever struggled to sleep because you lacked peace inside your heart?

I understand.

Because I’m there right now…

It’s late at night and I’m awake when I should be asleep.

I’m up because my day has had a draining undertow of anxiety strung like spinning thread inside the veins that flow blood throughout my body. I’ve felt so rushed in daily choirs, and I haven’t stopped to tend to the real needs of my heart.

I’m up late because my two young daughters are finally asleep and I find it hard to focus on my soul and healing subjects when they are awake.

I’m up late because there are no demands in this moment and the neglected pain, inward desire and questions that I have for God are surfacing to the top of my conscious mind like the swelling of a wave.

I’m up.

I’m awake.

And unmet desire raps at the door of my soul again.

I now clearly hear the steady beating that has been happening all day, but now instead of deafening my ears to it, I choose to listen.

“What do you want?” I ask my soul, already knowing the answer.

When the great longing of my soul is seen, like an emaciated person reeling with hunger, I freeze. Feelings of powerlessness overwhelm me because I know I cannot fill the aching, (seemingly abysmal) void.

The cold reality of my human incapability and poverty makes me want to swing the door shut again on my hungry desire and pretend I never saw it. But I know such carelessness wouldn’t be innocuous. My mind battles what to do.

I would just as soon ignore it, except I know it will persist.

I would just squish it, except I know it to be immortal and incapable of death.

I think to squelch it again, under the dulling drug of busyness, but I know it will only make my heart sick and heart ailment is a disease I find I can’t bear. Besides this, the chronic state of an ailing heart usually leads to an addiction of some form (in my case…the chocolate pantry).

The need of The Comforter rises from within me like a child’s whimpering cry to the peak of my throat. I can almost taste the unshed tears at the back of my tongue.

“Holy Spirit,” I whisper, “Help me. I cannot help myself. Father God, I’m so hungry. I’m hungry for your promises. I’m thirsty for things I know are coming but they have not manifested in my life yet. I’m hungry to see my dreams become reality and trusting You in the waiting is hard. I know your Word says that by faith and patience we inherit the promises…but the waiting is such a battle of faith somedays. I’m hungry to see your goodness and your kingdom come in the lives of several friends and family members. I know You have a much more wonderful reality for them than what they are living in. I know You have so much more for me…”

As I talk to God and give Him myself and all the loved ones who are weighing on my heart, I feel calmer. My tight chest finally begins to relax as I “expose” my natural weakness to the most loving, capable Father.

My daughter Elena is asleep beside me in a small netted rocker with metal polls for legs. She breathes softly under a knitted blanket made with cool blue and green tones with white in between.

I think of her own soul and her need for comfort when she is tired and ready to sleep.

When Elena (her name means radiant light) is weary, she doesn’t whisper, she cries with a fury and fever that won’t be denied. She doesn’t hide her pain or her need, like I so often do. She doesn’t fear her desires won’t be met or that she’ll be scorned because of them.

No, she finds me with her eyes and her whole face screws up, her nose crinkles like discarded Christmas wrapping paper, her face flushes with rogue hues and she wails for attention until she is comforted. She trusts me to soothe her when she is exhausted or hungry or emotionally hurt. Because she trusts me, she makes her emotions known with candid, innocent clarity.

I can still see her, trying to crawl over a plush pillow and brush past an arresting assortment of colorful plastic toys around her. I laugh because I know the couch pillow, which is fairly small, might as well have been a hill to her small ten month frame and limited mobil agility. She crawled with frustrating effort around the toy obstacles that were bought for her pleasure and enjoyment.

I saw her and took pity on her. The moment she recognized I would pick her up, her wails quieted and she looked up at me with anticipated calm.

Once inside my arms, she nuzzled her nose into my right breast and covered the tender skin with a curled, chubby hand.

She mumbled and cooed softly as I cradled her while she nursed and within a few short minutes, she fell asleep.

Her soul had cried for help, and I came.

Not only had I comforted her by holding her, but I nourished her through the milk my body created…just for her.

Now, I find myself, crying as well. Only my Helper is Someone I cannot see and sometimes cannot feel, yet He has assured me He is always there.

I confess, it’s not always easy to rest in His arms. It’s not always been easy for me to receive the heavenly and healing comfort that is always available to me. Because sometimes, it’s hard for me to trust a spiritual Father when my body wants my five senses appeased with tangible proof.

Even when I intellectually know He is Truth, even when I acknowledge with my mind that He cannot lie and his word is more sure than the sun’s rising every morning…sometimes faith still seems like an obstacle. Sometimes faith seems like an obstruction (like the toys that surrounded Elena), rather than what it actually is, a great gift from my loving heavenly Father.

And I’m tempting to feel condemned for that. But I won’t allow myself to be. He has told me far too many times that He doesn’t condemn me (John 3:16-17).

How I sometimes wish I were like Elena, and when I cry, Jesus would appear in the flesh and scoop me up in his warm, safe, loving and powerful arms.

I confess this to Him, probably for the thousandth time, and like a good Friend, He listens patiently and compassionately as if it were the first time.

As I pour out the internal floodgates of turmoil that had been mercilessly churning and pricking inside me all day, I relax even more, My breaths deepen and become longer and steadier in the atmosphere of his celestial and curative grace.

I find my desires being pacified, like a baby suckling on their mother’s milk until their belly is full, in the presence of his comforting love.

It takes me a moment to realize, my hear rate has dramatically slowed down.

All the tormenting doubt is silent now.

I’ve been in his arms and I didn’t even realize it!

And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” -Exodus 33: 14

“The result of comfort is rest.” I felt the Holy Spirit say inside me.

I gazed at my daughter again, sound asleep, with no sign of distress on her placid, caramel colored visage.

Her rhymnthetic breathing is as sound and smooth as still crystal lake water. I watch the slow rise and fall of her small chest.

She is at peace.

She is resting because she had fallen asleep in the most secure place on earth to her, my arms.

She had drifted into subconsciousness under the shadow of my wings. The last thing she saw was the light of my face. My smile flamed like a life-giving image past her pupils and dove into her heart giving deep comforting, assurance to her soul. Her eyes fluttered closed, remembering my maternal smile and the love that inevitably poured through my eyes. Just like the sun stains my eyes when I stare at it too long so much so that even under my eyelids I can see embellishments of its sparkling orange and gold light invading the darkness, so my image branded Elena’s mind as she slept.

And through studying her, I realize, this is what the Holy Spirit has done for us. We can always have this sort of blessed assurance in our hearts. The light of God’s face is always shinning down on us in love. He is our Father, we are his beloved, precious children. Let Him hold you today and still your every fear. There is nothing He wants more, than to comfort you when you’re hurting :

Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, LORD. -Psalm 89: 15

Whoever rests in the shadow of the Most High God will be kept safe by the Mighty One. -Psalm 91:1 NIRV

Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O LORD. -Psalm 4:6

For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them. -Psalm 44:3

May God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, Selah. -Psalm 67:1

Restore us, O God, and cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved. -Psalm 80:3

I pray the “intangible” arms of God are palpably felt by you today. I pray you experience the sort of divine comfort that always gives rest. May his loving countenance shine through and still every raging storm in your soul, giving you the answers you need. There is no safer, securer or more peaceful place on earth than in communion with God the Father.

~If you would like to experience emotionally life-giving and mind clearing sessions with God about your future goals in the safe presence of another, I do prayerful life-coaching with my clients. I would love to walk alongside Jesus in providing you with the Comfort, inspiration, wisdom and guidance you desire. Click here to fill out a questionnaire and receive a FREE life-coaching consultation call! The first few clients will receive a limited discounted price!

“Healing is impossible in loneliness; it is the opposite of loneliness. Conviviality is healing. To be healed we must come with all the other creatures to the feast of Creation.”
(pg.99, “The Body and the Earth”) ― Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

“People use drugs, legal and illegal, because their lives are intolerably painful or dull. They hate their work and find no rest in their leisure. They are estranged from their families and their neighbors. It should tell us something that in healthy societies drug use is celebrative, convivial, and occasional, whereas among us it is lonely, shameful, and addictive. We need drugs, apparently, because we have lost each other.” ― Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

~For a beautiful song on the light of God’s face by Misty Edwards, click here. I do not own any rights to this music. This was one of the 1st worship songs I listened to as a new believer.

~For more devotions like this, check out my book, Visions of Celestial Love (a journey back to healing grace) on amazon!

God bless you. He loves you with all of his heart!

“Visions of Celestial Love is a book of inspiring quotes and beautiful prose about God’s unconditional love for mankind. The insights of this book help us to understand that it was the Father’s great love for us that made a way for us to have life together with His Son, Jesus Christ. Through it we get a glimpse into the true meaning of Christ’s sacrifice of love expressed through His death, burial and resurrection as God’s magnificent gift of grace to us. His blood made it possible for all those who put their faith in Him to have fellowship with His Father again. 

I am confident that at the completion of this book, you will also seek after God with your whole heart and want to be in His presence forever.” —Alice Paige

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God’s Heavenly Gentleness

~The head photo of my daughter Elena was taken by Ruthy Esquivel Photography.

One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple. -Psalm 27:4

Father, I love your gentleness.
The sweetness of your Presence is the healing balm to my heart.
You are the perfect embrace and shelter for my heart.
Your kindness is better than life.
I taste You like the softest of fruits that melts into whip cream in my mouth.
You are sugar within my soul.
You are waves like air lapping at my feet, traveling like fragrant whimsical ripples from incense smoke around my ankles.
You are softness.
You are gentle love.
You are romance in the best way.
You are honey in the sun.
You are like a cool, refreshing tropical breeze to the sweating, weary brow.
You are my Romancer.
My Bridegroom.
 My Daddy.
My best Friend.
My Master, and my Maker.
 My deepest conversations have been with You.
You sing me to sleep with the music of your breaths and your stilling whispers.
Your tangible arms are more pristine than peach and cream alabaster pillars.
Your heart is like a fire that blazes and burns; like a warm campfire I long to linger near.
I sit by your beating, consuming heart in a rocking chair and you sing over me—swaying me softly back and forth in your pleasure.
I am most at home in You.
You are my home.
And I love the way You love me.
Your love changes me.
Your love transforms me…and I’m not the same.
I’ll never be the same…so long as your love is before my eyes.

~For more poetry like this, check out my book, Visions of Celestial Love!

“Ashley McClelland presents us with a true cornucopia of modern psalms, personal testimonies, and short stories. She has set out to reveal and unravel some of the most complex heart issues mankind faces in our quest of understanding what true intimacy with God really looks like. Prepare to have your soul massaged and worked on as you read Visions of Celestial Love.” — Jeremy Minard, U.S Navy, Minister, Founder of Servant King Apparel

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Drifting Leaves, Drifting Thoughts

Right now, I just want a pumpkin spice latte (with real pumpkin puree), an electric blanket and my authoring buddy…my laptop. I’m thankful I have at least one of those.

It’s an early crisp morning in October. My favorite season has come. Autumn. As the weather cools my soul becomes warm in the glow of this solstice. It’s as if my heart catches on to the last rays of sunshine like a candle being lit by a match. I long to unearth the scents that make up my being as a candle does when it is flamed. The perfume of Christ in me mingles with my own recreated heart like clove and cinnamon in a coffee shop. I am perfumed with joy and peace.

Like the deciduous leaves that radiate ruby red, tangy orange and honey yellow, I realize that even in death, there is life. Fall has amazed me with its paradoxical differences: death, life, richness, reserve, copiousness, and hibernation.

For farmers, this is the season of reaping everything they’ve sown. It’s a season of abundance, like the day before the Sabbath for them…they gather double what they need (Leviticus 25). I always imagine the husbandry wiping their perspiring foreheads with broad smiles on their bronzed faces. All the labor and work they put in has paid off. Now is their time of holy jubilee. Profuseness that produces rest. I look at Fall this way too.

Except for the trees, Fall is the time to release the leaves that absorbed sunshine for them. Fall is the season to shed their beautiful garments in one last glimmering bang. As their cloaks transform into sunny hued tones, they drift away from their once secure branches. Fall is the season for storing, preserving and releasing all unnecessary weights. It’s a transitional time.

I love the way the leaves rustle and then float away in the frigid breeze. Wafts of something celestial awakens my heart even as I crunch my boots on the quilted patterned earth.

This Fall brings me the soft reminder that because of Jesus’s death, I have new life. Because He emptied Himself of His divinity and became a man (Philippians 2:7), I have been graced with the Holy Spirit (Heaven’s presence in me). The trees begin to look like gnarled crosses to my hazel eyes. The leaves on the ground become a showmanship of all the false and flashy garments of works-righteousness that I used to wear. I learn to let go of self-effort and embrace the rugged cross. My heart sees the cross as the beginning place of birth. One life was exchanged for another. And I’ve heard from Messianic Jews that Jesus was known to be crucified in Autumn…not in winter (how factual this is, I’m not sure).

May this Fall bring you the sweet potency of Christ’s eternal love and sacrifice for you. May this Fall bring an abundance of life in your heart (John 10:10) even as you die to the lies of religion that shielded your nakedness and shame. God’s love will cloak you in new light and new birth. There is nothing like releasing our burdens to Him, only to have Him give us weightless life and freedom. May your soul be wrapped in the garments of heaven’s pure joy and the sugary water of hope. Like trees trust in their leaves to photosynthesis…. I pray you trust in the true sunshine of Christ to produce the food of peace in your mind and heart.

~If you were blessed by this blog, you will probably enjoy my book Visions of Celestial Love. You can find more about it on my Books page, or on amazon. God bless you!

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And Then He Kissed Me and Told Me That He Loved Me

It had been a full week, packed with blessings, and I needed a break. The blessings of Daddy God were overtaking me and following me everywhere I went, yet in the midst of the bustling of everyday life I longed for a restful therapeutic evening alone with Him.

“I know what you want.” The still whisper in my spirit sounded like a kiss to my heart.

“I want a date night with You,” I breathed, and made some warm black tea with vanilla cream and honey.

My feet felt every thread of carpet that blanketed the wooden floors. Making my way to my room I closed the sandy drapes for an intimate dimming effect. Snuggling the pillows I sat down on my bed and started up a movie.

“Jesus,” I called longingly, “I’m here waiting.”

“So am I.”

There You were before me, eyes rich with oceans of love, yet gently warm like the crackling of a small fire. You sat next to me on the bed and rubbed my back before cradling me in Your arms. I laid my legs across Your legs and rested my head on Your chest.

“My beautiful sister, friend, and beloved bride,” You spoke, feeding my heart with words of life and encouragement.

Your rich tone changed, and I knewYou were talking to my soul, going deeper into the depths of me. “Sshhh, shh,shh. Peace…be still. I lead you beside the still, quiet, restful waters. I restore you, I’ve lead you in the paths of righteousness. Peace I leave with you. Receive it, I’ve given it and want you to have it. It delights my heart to do you good, to see you happy, whole, restful…peaceful. Let my Spirit flow to you…”

I shifted and You squeezed me tenderly, “Open up beloved, allow Me to flow my life into you…sozo you…and make you well.”

I melted into your arms and my body conformed in yours, spilling over You like water over river rocks. I breathed deeply of the scents in the fabric of your shirt and allowed the Holy Spirit to flow into me. A loving mist overshadowed me, and then rivers of life began to flow in every unhealed part of my emotions, memory, and understanding.

I sighed, my breath a tremble. My lips quivered and You secured me more tightly.

“You know…some of my brethren think it’s harder to fight…but I say it is harder to rest. To trust yourself entirely to another. To allow Me to protect you. To allow Me to love you unconditionally from start to finish. It takes more strength to relax…and this cannot be done by will power. It’s something you have to allow my Spirit to do in you and for you. It’s another area of surrender.”

I shifted again and mentally decided to go limp in your arms but You read through it.

“Your body is relaxed…but how is your heart?”

I didn’t answer. Feeling within myself, I sensed some walls remained up in fear.

“I love you perfectly. I will always love you perfectly…perfectly and completely. Please…let my love in, and all walls of fear will come down, for my perfect love casts out all fear. Let Me protect you. Let Me make your soul feel safe and sound. I want so badly for you to receive my blessings, beloved…even more than you are. Rest with Me. Stay with Me,” You pressed Your cheek against mine.

“Let Me love you to life, give you my hope that does not disappoint, fulfill your dreams. I want to do these things beloved. I want to bless you immeasurably. Your only job is to trust Me by resting in my love, my promises, my finished work on the cross, and even that is done by the Spirit. I love to be good to you. I only want to be good to you.”

P.S: I wrote this devotional from a date experience with Jesus, weeks after my faith trek to Colorado for Charis Bible College. It would be the longest time that I had ever been away from my family and California. Little did I know how deeply Jesus would enrich my life with wonderful friendships, marriage, a baby and miracles. My first year at Bible college was like living in a blissful dream…where all my needs were met by my Heavenly Father and where the beauty of my surroundings captivated my heart. 

This devotional was taken from my recently published book Visions of Celestial Love. You can purchase a copy by clicking here.