A Whale of a Conversation
The only thing we didn't get to do on our honeymoon was see whales because it was past season. I've always longed to see these majestic creatures, but kept missing opportunities in both the US and Australia, where the weather didn't permit.
When a sweet friend gifted us the ability to get whale cruise tickets while we were recently in Maine, I was like a child, GIDDY with excitement!
The day came, and I prepped ALL the things we'd need, including 5 layers of clothing and jackets because we didn't pack winter clothes and it was going to drop to about 40 degrees on the water. Of course, I was hanging over the side as far as possible as we sped through the water on a super speedy catamaran. I was determined to not miss a whale sighting...the wind in my face was COLD! (And, I loved it!)
I had every expectation of it being the BEST
whale excursion they'd ever had! My anticipation was SO high!
whale excursion they'd ever had! My anticipation was SO high!We saw fin whales first, then seals and Atlantic dolphins, then finally spotted a humpback. THIS is what I'd been waiting to see - a massive whale in full breach...
What we saw were 4 tail flukes.
Don't get me wrong - I was THRILLED to see what we saw and loved every moment of the cruise, but I was also disappointed because I knew there was so much more to be seen and to experience.
I brought my disappointment before the Lord. What followed was a whale of a convo with Him... I clearly heard my Father speak to the depths of my heart.
"Daughter, this experience with the whales is mirroring what you're feeling and sensing in your relationship with Me.
You have such expectation. You know how big I am and long to see Me in the fullness of who I am in might and majesty and raw beauty - to be left speechless before Me, and have your breath taken away in My presence on display.
You've seen Me in part, yet you know how much more is just below the surface, and you're longing for it."
Selah.Pause in His presence.
Have you ever felt like this? You KNOW there's more in Him, yet you're only experiencing a portion that's so much smaller than what you recognize is just below the surface?
My whale experience absolutely mirrored my internal longings for Him, and it's given me a tangible experience that's like a pin on a map and a line drawn in the sand. It tells me to return again and again with continued expectation in my heart of seeing and experiencing more of Him.
I've seen Him in measure, but I KNOW there's so much more to Him. It's just below the surface, and He delights in revealing Himself to us in power, might, and beauty.
I have complete assurance within me of seeing Him in all His glory as I continue to look for Him with full expectation in my heart!
THAT was a whale of a conversation!
What has He been speaking to you recently?
Living for Him,
Andrea
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
The Wilderness Woman
About a month ago, I sensed the Lord inviting me into a time of rest in December - one that didn’t negate all activity, but created intentional space for simply being in His presence without my normal focused study. The invitation was to encountering Him in the ways He wanted to spend time with me, surrendering my approach to devotional time in His presence and any agendas I might have in prayer and conversation with Him.
I spent November finishing my Bible reading plan, eagerly awaiting the arrival of December 1st.
When I came into His presence this morning, I began to cry without understanding why. I paused and listened to my heart telling me the tears were a release of both my heart and soul in relief and gratitude. Without “doing,” I could just “be,” which is what my internal world was desperately in need of receiving.
I then began to see myself clothed in an outer garment that was threadbare, worn, and frayed. As I continued to look, I saw the most beautiful threads being woven into the garment, refreshing and renewing it, strengthening it as it intertwined with the original threads. I knew what I was seeing wasn’t a picture of being cloaked with a new garment - that wasn’t needed. The original design I was meant to be clothed in simply needed to be refreshed.
This made me think of the scripture in Revelation 12 that had caught my eye last week. The Lord had told me it was an anchor scripture for the month ahead.“But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and a half a time, from the presence of the serpent.” (vs. 14, NKJV)
In my opinion, I think the wilderness sometimes gets a bad rap. It’s generally depicted as a place of wandering and being lost, often in response to poor decisions made on our part. While that can definitely be true, I think there’s beauty to it that we’ve missed. This verse clearly depicts it as a place of refuge, protection, and nourishment. The woman had a place there that was her own, and she knew where to find it.
This verse made me see the wilderness with an entirely different perspective, and I instinctively knew December would be a wilderness month for me. That didn’t frighten me as the thought would have in the past. Instead, I was drawn to be in the wilderness, longing for it more and more as each day leading up to December passed, and the time to fly away on eagle’s wings drew nearer.
As I continued to think about the verse, the aspect of the woman having a place stuck with me. I had to know more and better understand this place she knew, so I did a word study on it. I found one of the meanings of the word is “scabbard.” In that discovery, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “Daughter, your place in the wilderness is an invitation to sheath your weapon. Put away your sword, but keep it at your side.”
This was especially meaningful to me because in the Lord’s initial invitation to rest, He specifically suggested I lay aside my study of His Word, the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). It was still to be kept near, but not wielded during these particular days.
His invitation was to lay everything aside that I would normally do, have no agenda or plan, but simply fly away to the place I know in His presence, revel in Him, and allow Him to nourish me for a time. As I do, He’ll be weaving His glorious threads throughout the garment He specifically designed for me to be clothed in. I’ll be refreshed, strengthened, and renewed while still cloaked in His original design for my life.
This is the personal picture God has given me of rest in the wilderness. What does your place in the wilderness look like?
I believe the wilderness invitation to rest is there for each of us this month. What would it look like for you to fly away on the wings of an eagle to a wilderness place all your own and be nourished by Him?
Will you say yes?
Living for Him,
Andrea
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
February 2025: Implement & Obtain Permits
In January, I began sharing about structure and the blueprints I believe God wants to share with us for building in partnership with him in 2025, and beyond. For me, it’s looked like establishing new routines, becoming more intentional again with how I plan my days, weeks, and months, and putting new things in place. As we continue to move into February, I want to share my practical process with you, as well as a word focus I sensed God speaking over this month. See how it resonates with you and let it be a conversation starter between you and God.On the last day of January, I felt led to reflect on that month differently and more intentionally than ever before. What did it look like practically? I wrote a brief summary of what God did in January. I noted a dream about 2025 I’d had mid-December, writing it down as a prophetic anchor for the year. Then, I listed major prayers God had answered during the month and bulleted significant events that had taken place. I ended with things I could improve as I moved into the next month.
I then asked the Lord about February. My planner is set up with spaces to write down a verse and a prayer for the month, things I’m grateful for and things I’m praying for, goals for the month in the areas of faith, family, fitness, and finances, and three habits to focus on, as well as a circle to check off each day I’ve accomplished those habits. It was amazing to build on what God had revealed last month as I filled in the page for February with the structure of the consistent things He’s led me to participate in – like a prayer group and study groups covering several focuses.
God has continued to highlight to me the number of times He was specific in giving directions to people throughout the Old and New Testaments. That never stopped. While He didn’t always give precise details and at times asked individuals to walk in faith without knowing specifics, we should have an expectation of leading and guidance from Him even if the instruction is as simple as “go”)! Ask and you will receive (Matt. 7:7)!
When I asked God what His word focus was for February, I immediately heard, “Implement - it’s time to take action on the blueprints revealed so far.”
As I chatted with Brian about what we were each hearing from God for February, Brian said he’d also heard “implement,” (I loved that confirmation!) and then had immediately heard “building permits.”
That made total sense to me!
In construction, permits are required for building and renovations. They help ensure safety, make sure the construction is compliant with set codes, provide legal protection from fines, and prevent issues that could arise when selling the property if permits hadn’t been obtained.
As we begin to implement the blueprints God has shown us, we may need to obtain “permits.” What do I mean by that? Sometimes, there are things present in our lives that we need to address – things that could cause the building we’re starting to be shut down or delayed. This can look like the need to ask or offer forgiveness, pay a debt, examine (and change) our motives, or repent of things Holy Spirit reveals to us.
Just like in the natural, there may be a price to pay. For instance, forgiving someone or changing our motives can be hard. These things can come at a personal cost to us.
Repentance is a beautiful gift from the Lord, not a burden, and it’s never intended to cause us to feel shame. I love to pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). Our flesh can make it feel like we’re paying a price to repent, but the truth is the price has already been paid in full by Jesus. We’re simply grabbing hold of the redemption already ours as we ask for forgiveness.
Repentance brings freedom and joy and clears the path for us to move forward unburdened knowing God’s deep love for us. God is inviting us to take care of anything Holy Spirit shows us. When we do, “permits” are granted in the Spirit, paving the way to build according to His plans.
Now, it’s your turn to get practical and determine what this looks like for you in February. What structure has God shown you to implement? Need to get any “permits” first? Make that the top priority, then go from there and take action with the path cleared before you. Move forward with what you know, and trust He’ll show you the next steps from there.
I’d love to hear what the Lord is speaking to you! Send me a message about it! Need help hearing God’s voice? Grab some time on my calendar and let’s chat! I love helping people hear the voice of God for themselves!
Living for Him
Andrea
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
Hard-Pressed, But Not Crushed
Recently, Brian has been reading 2 Corinthians 4 & 5 over and over again. I finally listened to his prompting to read it and began to see it like never before, feeling as if I was reading new chapters of the Bible. (I love it when God does that!)I got to verse 8 in chapter 4, which starts with, “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed..." and a photo I recently saw came to mind.
Someone had posted about making stamped, clay ornaments, but they were unlike any I’d ever seen before. Lace had been pressed into white clay shapes, creating the most intricate and delicate designs on their surfaces.
I saw beauty in being pressed but not crushed – of having an imprint made on the surface that replicated what had been pressed into it.
God spoke to my heart and said, “The continued pressing and pressure you’re feeling is the imprint being made in you – who you’ve become in Me through facing the pressure of this year, plus My very being and fabric of who I AM imprinted even more deeply into you. It’s being pressed more deeply for My intricate design to be made clear.”
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17)
When used on paper, a stamp only makes a mark on the surface by it first being pressed firmly into the ink, then pressed down firmly onto the surface it’s to make its mark upon. It’s as if we’ve been pressed into the ink that is Him and now the pressure is being applied for the mark to be made on the “paper” (i.e., earth) around us. It’s an imprint of Him within us that can only be imprinted elsewhere when pressure and pressing are applied.
The pressing many of us have continued to go through, even recently, has been for the purpose of making sure what we’ve gained this year - who we’ve become in the old passing away and all things becoming new, has gone down deeply, making a clear imprint on our spirits, souls, and lives.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:16-18)
That pressing has been working His beautiful design in us and it’s reflecting His glory. You might not be able to see it, but those unseen things are those that are eternal.
Don’t lose heart, sweet friend! He’s been making His imprint in and through you, and it’s stunning!
Living for Him,
Andrea (& Brian)
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
Let Go of What Used to Be
Recently, I began watching the series, “The Lost Kitchen.” I’m only on the second episode of season one, but God has been speaking so much to me through Erin French’s story of her life and restaurant.As her 2020 story unfolds in the second episode, she says, “I have to let go of what it used to be.” The Lord spoke to my heart in that moment, telling me to pay attention to those words.
I believe many of us have been looking backward at what things used to be like. Maybe without even realizing it, our hearts seem to long for what once was – the familiar, the secure, the known – even if it wasn’t the best.
We’ve been in transition, and it’s taking longer than we’d expected. We knew what to leave and had a sense of what we were moving into, yet we’ve been in this messy middle of it coming to pass and it leaves us looking back, longing for some of the things of the old season.
God has called you out into a new season and He’s asked you to leave the old behind.
Erin French was forced to rethink the way she’d done things. The Lost Kitchen had become an incredibly successful, well-oiled machine; then she had to reinvent everything. She was willing to innovate, think outside the box, and be creative. Because of her unwillingness to not give up and her willingness to transition into what she’d never done before, not only did she “make it,” but so did her family and closest friends (who work beside her), as well as her entire community.
It’s never just about us. Our perseverance in pressing into this new season has a far-reaching impact, but we can’t move into the new still holding onto the old.
Whether what we’re holding onto is “the good old days,” or instead, disillusionment, regret, disappointment, or even the determination to never have things be like they once were, if we’re holding onto it, we’re weighed down by it.
Forget what lies behind. Reach forward to what’s ahead. Press on toward all God is calling you to in this new season. Don’t turn back! (Philippians 3:13-14, paraphrased)
We can learn from the past, but it can’t become an idol we long after. Be willing to let go of what used to be – for your sake and others. Be flexible, think differently, focus forward, and keep taking the next step. All of heaven is cheering you on!
Living for Him,
Andrea
*Photo by Greta Rybus
Our Mission: Love Others Well & Empower Them to Do the Same
