Missing in action?!

Sorry folks, it seems I've been missing in action!

The truth is I was investing a great deal of time, thought & energy in the new year praying and thinking about a new adventure. This is no way puts an end to the Gold Flames ministry, though my blogs may be a bit less frequent. I'm thinking to report in a blog style about my new adventure in Australia & what God is doing here, including some of the awesome provision, stories and experiences in that journey! I will keep you posted about this once I have it up & running but thinking this new trajectory may be birthed from a God thought :D

There is one thing I wanted to talk about on this blog today that I feel is important. I've been plodding along feeling relatively ok in the day to day, in the midst of great change and in months prior, yet I've had some difficult dreams (in some cases of a repeated theme). These dreams seem to connect with lies of the heart, namely wounds from the past in specific relationships and experiences. These dreams persist in a similar theme that will often come up and my heart will react with the feeling of deep hurt that often carries into my waking hours. If I was to speak about one of these dreams, the same feelings would come up in the day hours and these feelings would often catch me by surprise feeling much deeper than what I was aware of.

I believe Jesus made us fully whole and healed and at the same time our heart/mind, what you want to call it, is still being renewed to this truth. To me, Jesus is real enough that if there is some wound, lie or hurt still persisting within our lives and thoughts and hearts, we are to bring this to the light & the truth of Christ. For some, this may be perhaps a one time 'aha' moment or encounter in which the greatest freedom follows. For me, it has been a gradual journey as Jesus becomes very real for me in the areas of my heart & renews my mind to His truth, encountering Him and His tangible presence.

I address this today because I want to remove any shame from those that may have difficulty or be struggling with something, perhaps even something from many years ago. I am not interested in a truth that is alive as a thought or idea but does not translate to my daily heart expression and actual life. I KNOW Jesus is so encompassing that He has total dominion of our hearts either way, but it is my desire that the freedom he paid the ultimate price to give us is actually the freedom that we know & live out. Listen, if your walk resembles a journey rather than an eclipsing AHA moment, I stand with you in saying, you are loved and Holy Spirit is so real that His healing touch and all encompassing love without limit is able to touch things that may have been pushed down years ago. Again, I say there is no shame in this! Rather, we are to bring everything into the light.

I can only see the grace of Christ & the way Jesus reached out to touch every person and 'sozed' them so to speak, stopping short of not one area of their life with His salvation gift. He died to make us whole and as whole is He is, this belongs to us too! Please know from me that Jesus is absolutely enough and at the same time, He loves us enough to walk us through every pain and hurt we have ever been through so we move forth into the greatest freedom. Suppression and pushing down is not the answer. Awakening to the truth of His love is. For me, this has looked like bringing every hurt and lie to Jesus on the cross. Specifically this may look like going into that lie in the dream (or however it transpires for you), into that place that feels painful and giving it to Jesus. I specifically address it with Jesus and give it to Him in prayer and ask Him to touch that place, to take that pain and lie and I counter this with His truth. When any of these dreams persist (and they often have for me), I continue to bring those things to the cross. I go boldly to the throne with it and I don't beat myself up about it (that's the enemy camp entirely!)

Hebrews 4:16 King James Version (KJV).

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

I have no interest in white washing away things in a person's life and personal experience. Things that may seem to be the biggest heartaches often also reveal, in their opposite, the greatest gifts a person may carry. For example, an extremely rejected person who is awakened to and healed by the love of God often has the greatest capacity for acceptance and compassion. Perhaps they discover that this assault was targeting an incredibly rich capacity they carry in the opposite spirit, namely incredible depths of acceptance. No doubt, this is part of our every person's true identity in Jesus but also there is a specific individual identity and call on a person's life that Christ has put within each person.

All this to say, I encourage you to never stop short of experiencing (as an actual encounter), the greatness and vastness of God's Love for you. One of my favourite activities is resting in God's presence and His comfort is so real and healing.

God's love is real because God is real and He will tangibly express this in different ways for different individuals. Sometimes I pray for people on the streets and they often strike me as extremely open to help and even to spiritual things. I think this may be because in many ways they have hit rock bottom. In such instances, I have often seen Holy Spirit touch these people in a tangible way with His presence. Though in some cases, a great heaviness may linger on in them (as often their situation & the depth of pain may persist), I know that God's presence and word will not return void. His love is REAL and there is always something transpiring from the encounter with Real love, Jesus. I expect to see a great many more people walk into such abundant freedom and victory and I desire this for myself and for you in the awesome & complete way. Jesus died to give us everything- let's not live with a scrap less of the freedom He so dearly paid for with His very life.

You are loved- you are not beyond help and God has got you in His strong right hand! Your individual journey is precious to Him because you are precious to Him, an incredible gem.

Love to you today!

Sheri