The word God spoke to my heart for this month is “encounter” and I couldn’t be more excited! I believe this is going to be a month of incredible, supernatural encounters with the presence and person of God, the Father, and Jesus, the Redeemer, Savior, and Healer. We’re going to see heaven collide with earth in the most beautiful of ways. Some encounters will be a result of us pressing into His presence, while at other times, these encounters will be a passionate pursuit of our hearts – simply because He longs to be with us.
When I shared this with a friend the other day, I off-handedly stated, “People are desperate for an encounter with God, not four walls.”
What did I mean by that? When you read about the times Jesus “encountered” people, it was almost always within everyday life. Yes, people came to hear him teach but very rarely was it within the four walls of the temple. More often, it was in open spaces. The most radical encounters with His transforming love and presence were on the road, near the shore, at a well, on a hillside or mountaintop, by a tree, in front of a tomb, and on a cross, just to name a few places. Jesus showed us some of the greatest face to face moments with Him mainly happened in the most unexpected times and places. I believe that’s how we’re going to encounter Him this month.
I’m not speaking against experiencing Jesus within the four walls of the church. I simply think we box Him in to those four walls and relegate Him to certain days and times of the week when what He longs for is to be with us every moment of every day, living life with us, sharing His innermost thoughts as he connects His heart with ours in the smallest and biggest of ways.
In the Gospels, we see a mix in Jesus’ life of people pursuing an encounter with Him, as well as times when Jesus sought individuals out to encounter them - even though they knew nothing about Him beforehand. I believe we’re going to see an increase in major encounters with Jesus this month – both ones that we pursue having with Him and ones where He pursues and encounters us unexpectedly.
There are ways we can position ourselves and create an atmosphere for encountering Him. Worship is one of the easiest. God can’t help but draw near at the sound of our worship. The thing is that it doesn’t take a band leading us. It’s not even necessary to have music. Worship can be found in our words, in our actions, in our yes to Him, and in our surrender. We can encounter Him as we read His word, pray, journal, or sit quietly focused on Him.
Expect encounters with Him this month in both big and small ways. As you encounter Him, allow yourself to be fully present in the moment and engage Him in conversation. That’s what the people in the Bible did – the woman at the well, the man at the Pool of Bethesda, the centurion, Martha, the disciples, Nicodemus . . . There are so many honest conversations recorded in the Word. Why would it need to be any different with us?
I believe we’re going to see a powerful move of healing encounters this month, as well. If you need that kind of encounter with Him, be persistent to press through to Him, just as the woman with the issue of blood did and was healed simply by touching His garment.
Like the man Jesus encountered at the Pool of Bethesda, He may tell you to “Stand up. Pick up your sleeping mat and you will walk!” (John 5:8) Make steps to move forward and the things you’ve felt paralyzed in will no longer hold you prisoner, paralyzed in the place you’ve been in – even for years and decades. Stand up! Move forward! Don’t remain where you’ve been!
Look for powerful encounters with Jesus this month. Expect them. Position yourself to experience Him in profound ways. And don’t be surprised when He shows up unexpectedly in the most unusual and normal places in your everyday life.
I bless you in your encounters with Him this month, my friend! Please reach out if you'd like us to pray for you!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
WELLS OF TRUTH
I hear her brokenness echoing throughout the centuries . . .
It’s the sound of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well. This story is rich with meanings we often miss as we read through it. We take the words at face value and think of it as a great story, but there’s layer upon layer of text not written on the page, but between the lines and on the hearts of both Jesus and the woman.Over the course of conversation, Jesus drew the woman out, much as she would draw water from the well – slowly, bit by bit, and long before she acknowledged the truth of what Jesus already knew about her life, you hear the weight of her heartache in the words she spoke.
“The woman replied, ‘Let me drink that water so I’ll never be thirsty again and won’t have to come back here to draw water.” (John 4:15)
We take her statement as being relief over having a solution to a situation. She wouldn’t have to come and perform the hard work of pulling up the heavy buckets of water and hauling it home because she would no longer need it. She wouldn’t be thirsty any more.
Yet, what stirred hope in her heart was not having to come to the well at a time when she could avoid others who would also be there drawing their daily water from the well. These were those who were part of her community. They knew her. And they knew how she lived her life – as one who had had five husbands and was currently living with another man.
In the words she spoke, her heart’s cry echoed the pain of what she saw in their faces and heard them say about her. It encompassed the ache of rejection, the judgment toward her, and the condemnation from those who were meant to be friends. She was an outcast within her village.
I heard that same pain coming from the hearts of countless people today . . . and I wept.
The Samaritan woman wanted a quick fix to a situation she wanted to avoid. Jesus was offering her life – and so much more that she hadn’t yet grasped.
His unconditional love and acceptance of her for who she was as she faced Him in that moment in time not only offered her eternal life as she believed in Him - His love transformed her from the inside out. Through His eyes, she no longer saw or believed herself as rejected with good reason. In the face of His truths, she was utterly made new in every way and was restored to her original, divinely given identity and destiny.
Jesus valued this “sinner” so much that she was the first He revealed Himself to as the Messiah. A sinner and a woman – two strikes against her, yet she was the one with whom He shared this revelation and so much more in that conversation. She became a deep well dug by Him.
The story goes on to tell of how she ran to the town and drew them all out to meet the man who had told her everything she’d ever done. She convinced them He might be the One they’d been waiting for . . . The town believed her – and they believed in Him.
Brian Simmons shares incredible study notes in The Passion Translation of this passage of scripture. With verse 30, he explains:
“Although unnamed in the biblical account, church tradition identifies the Samaritan woman to be Photini. An internet search of her name will yield many interesting stories about her post-conversion ministry, including her being named as an ‘apostle’ of Jesus and her eventual martyrdom. Regardless of the validity of the extrabiblical references, history records her as the first New Testament evangelist to win a city to Christ. God is faithful to use anyone to reach others when we are honest to tell others that Jesus knows everything we’ve ever done and still loves us.”
NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
I’m convinced – nothing can separate any of us from His love. Let that be our message to a broken-hearted world that believes so much less about themselves than He does.
Brian Simmons also notes (vs. 6-8), “When the sinner drank of the Savior and the Savior drank of the sinner, both were satisfied. Neither ate nor drank, but each satisfied the other.”
He's always in passionate pursuit of our hearts and He only sees us with eyes of love. He drinks US in…and WE satisfy HIM . . . “saint” and “sinner” alike.
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
RIGHTLY REFLECTING TRUTH
I was chatting with a friend recently and the subject of God came up. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since because I not only came face to face with truths I needed to examine in my own life but in that moment, I also recognized the Church needs to be held accountable as well. In short, most of us who say we love and follow God don’t really know Him and because of that, we don’t accurately reflect Him to the world around us. Often what you see is NOT what you get when it comes to God.
After listening to my friend’s perspective on God, it pretty much slipped out of my mouth that most people don’t have an accurate perception of who God really is – even those who profess to know and love Him. Because of that, we don’t accurately reflect the truth of who He is, so we end up misrepresenting Him to those around us.
I took it a step further and admitted that as a church, we don’t take responsibility for portraying God inaccurately. We also don’t admit we’ve portrayed Him as being something He’s not, most often because we don’t realize He’s different than what we’ve been taught and understood.
Christ-followers are called to reflect the loving, kind, good God we worship, yet what people regularly see is hypocritical living founded on judgment – often in the name of Jesus. We preach one thing and live another. We cast stones and point out splinters in others’ eyes while ignoring our own sins and living a life relatively void of repentance.
As a church, we’ve missed the mark – a definition often used for “sin.” We’ve been hard-hearted in this area, and I believe God is calling us to account for wrongly reflecting His character and heart of love toward all peoples of the earth. In His goodness and love, He’s offering us an opportunity to pause in His presence, allow Him to reveal areas where we’ve personally missed the mark, repent, and be healed.
Healed? Why am I talking about healing related to this? Because we’ve perceived God through the filter of brokenness. When we view God through brokenness, it causes us to form a wrong understanding of His character.
Our internal mirrors have been broken, so what many of us reflect of Him to the world around us has been a shattered image - and we haven’t even recognized it because we didn’t know it was broken.
From a healed place, we’re able to repent without shame because our repentance is founded on personal revelation of the truth of the heart and character of God, as well as our identities as His beloved sons, daughters, and Bride of Christ.
This is a time in history when the world around us is incredibly in need of hope and the belief that there is a loving, kind God and Savior who welcome them just as they are, without needing to “get their lives right” first. As a church, it’s time we repented - turned away from wrong thinking and inaccurate portrayals of our good and loving God. It’s time to tell the world how sorry we are for leading them to believe something that simply isn’t true and own up to having turned hearts away from the One who loves them like no one else, rather than drawing people close to His heart.
God, forgive us! Forgive me! Clean the mirrors of our lives so we can better see Your reflection and more clearly and accurately reflect You to the world around us as we shine Your light into the darkness.
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
Abide.
Live, dwell, wait . . .
In our fast-paced society, the idea of abiding, especially when it comes to waiting, is so contrary to everyday life. Waiting rubs against the grain of our impatience.
God never forces us to do anything. It’s always our choice in how to respond to His invitation. We were created with free will, able to make our own decisions, and it’s always been the desire of His heart of love toward us that we would choose Him.
When you read Song of Songs, especially in The Passion Translation, you can’t miss the love He has for us, along with His protection and tender loving care that gives us the space we need for the heart work He longs to do within us as He draws us near in so many unexpected ways and makes us ready to bring heaven to earth in new and greater ways.
At the start of this year, I sensed the Shepherd-King speaking to the longings of our hearts saying, “The one I love calls to me: Arise, my dearest. Hurry, my darling. COME AWAY WITH ME! I have come as you have asked to draw you to my heart and lead you out. For now is the time, my beautiful one.” (Song of Songs 2:10, TPT)
The month has changed, but His invitation to remain, to abide with Him, and not rush out of the intimacy of shared heart space, is what’s before us now. He invited us to “Come.” His invitation now is to STAY – abide, don’t rush out of this time with Him. It’s a new month, but that doesn’t mean He’s asked you to move on to the next thing yet.
Take the time to dwell with Him, enjoying His nearness, the sound of His voice, and His loving embrace enveloping you. Within His arms, He’s loving you to healing and He’s making you ready to arise in the fullness of your destiny.
The Shepherd-King has issued a command to the world around us, His Bride: “Promise me, O Jerusalem maidens, by the gentle gazelles and delicate deer, that you’ll not disturb my love until she is ready to arise.” (Song of Songs 3:5, TPT) So often, we want to rush the process, rush through the quiet, rush through the pushing into intimacy, and rush into action. In abiding, we WAIT. We LIVE in that space with Him. We STAY . . . and we don’t move on until we’re truly ready to arise.
Distractions, disruptions, chaos, very real responsibilities . . . they all seek to draw us away from where we need to be. Yet, He says, “Do not disturb my love! She has come. She is abiding. She is listening . . ."
SHE IS BEING MADE READY!!!
Growth happens in the depths of hiddenness as the seed dies, transforms, grows toward the light, and then produces a harvest that’s so much greater than what that single seed had once been (John 12:24).
Abide in those deep places with Him. He’s inviting you to remain His presence, connected heart to heart, loving and being loved. You’re being made into something so much greater than just your single-seed self. There’s so much more within you, my friend!
The thing that really struck me? He’s not commanding us to abide. It’s an invitation, not a “have to” that requires obedience. We choose what our response to His invitation will be - and we choose again and again every day, throughout each day.
My response to this conversation with Him was, “I surrender. I am not my own. Forgive me for choosing so many things over time spent abiding with You, not coming into Your presence as You’ve invited me to do. I will come and I will abide.”
World, do not disturb me until I’m ready to arise and when I do, look out!
What will your response be to His invitation to abide? Will you stay in this place of waiting, living, and dwelling until He’s declared you ready to arise? What will that time look like for you?
Need some help in figuring that out? Let’s chat and hear from Jesus together!
Living for Him,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
FEBRUARY: THERE'S SO MUCH TO LOVE!
Young Living has given us SO many things to love about this month! Wait until you hear all the news!
- Gifts with Purchase
- 10% off Enrollment Coupon
- HUGE Gift Opportunities
- Self-Care Tips
- Recipes
- Diffusing Calendar
- Upcoming Events
Check out all there is to LOVE!
FEBRUARY'S GIFTS WITH PURCHASE:
When your order hits one of these PV levels you will receive the corresponding products for FREE! Look at everything you get for free when you hit 300 PV!
*Receive the Subscription Exclusives when your order is placed through the monthly subscription program, which is the best way to save money and support your health. If you need more details on this, let me know!
Want to learn more about the benefits of each gift with purchase? Click below!
Want to place your first Young Living Order? Click here and reach out for help with accessing wholesale pricing! And, ask me if I have a 10% off coupon! (See below!)
SHARE THE LOVE THIS MONTH!
Whether you're a Customer or a Brand Partner, you'll be earning these 10% off enrollment coupons with your 100 PV orders this month! As you share about your love of Young Living with others, you can make a difference in someone else's life and earn a commission if you're a Brand Partner.
Not a Brand Partner yet? Whether you want to grow a thriving business or share occasionally, it's easy to make the transition and you could at least get your Young Living products paid for if you choose to do that. Check out Young Living's Income Disclosure Statement for more information regarding earnings. Reach out to chat more about sharing the products you love with those you love.
Get more details by clicking below.
DID SOMEONE SAY PRIZES???
Have you heard the buzz of excitement over these great gift opportunities?!?!?!
Catch all the details by clicking the link below.
TIP OF THE MONTH:
February is often looked at as the month of love, with a major focus on Valentine’s Day. While it can be fun to celebrate this romanticized day, it’s also a great opportunity to practice some self-care! Here are some ways you can love on yourself this month . . .
RECIPES OF THE MONTH: USING FEBRUARY'S GIFTS WITH PURCHASE
What good is it to get free gifts if you don't know how to put them to good use? Besides reading more about them using the link above, here are some great recipes you can try out.
Speaking of diffusing . . .
FEBRUARY'S DIFFUSING CALENDAR
Download this calendar, print it off, and place it near your oily stash for daily diffusing ideas!
UPCOMING EVENTS: CONVENTION TICKETS ARE LIVE!
Young Living convention is back - in-person and virtually! Welcome to the first-ever Young Living North American Convention! Just like our Asia Pacific, European, and Latin American regions have their own conventions, the annual convention held in Salt Lake City will now be utilized by our North America region to host their own convention - geared to the North American audience.
Registration is open and will remain open until April 30, 2022, for in-person tickets, or while availability lasts. There is no capacity limit for virtual tickets, and they will remain available through June 10.
Join us in Salt Lake City, UT at the Salt Palace Convention Center, or virtually, June 15-18, 2022!
Pricing for in-person tickets is $225.
Pricing for virtual tickets is $50.
SPIRIT & SOUL WELLNESS
As The Renovated Life, we focus on spirit, soul, and body. Young Living undergirds our focus on overall health & wellness for our bodies. But . . . that's not our only focus because we want to help meet the needs of the WHOLE person, which includes spirit and soul well-being, too!
We'll be getting back to our monthly worship gatherings in March. Please keep your eye out on our event page for the latest information.
In the meantime, check out our regular blog posts for encouragement and monthly, prophetic words. Here's a recent post of Andrea's.
A prophetic word for February will be posted this week.
That's it for this month! Please reach out if we can help you on your wellness journey!
Happy Oiling,
Andrea & Brian
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
