Word

Word

God’s Word
God’s Word is powerful
 
At the ABIDE healing conference yesterday
God made it clear to me
That I need to release
Through word
Through color
 
The evening before already
God had made clear to me his ever-available providence not coincidence
I came home from work on Friday
And got to spend the evening pruning our roses
Spring, green, growth, life
And pruning the roses grows them more abundantly
Upon coming inside
I check agenda for Saturday
And the verse for the ABIDE conference is John 15:4
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
 
The first 30 minutes of each day are mine alone
It’s the only alone 30-minutes I have each day
And I’m going to be more intentional to ABIDE with them
To stay in a given place of expectancy and relationship
The place – the big comfy chair in our living room
The interior space – Lord, what do you want me to do today?
Identity – knowing who I am in God
 
This morning I began with 2 songs
1.      The Lord’s Prayer (Deliver Us) – Selah
Praying isn’t easy for me
So I choose to pray the Words Jesus taught us
Each phrase lingers with expansive thoughts
2.      Healing Is In Your Hands – Christy Nockels
How high, how wide
No matter where I am
Healing is in Your hands
How deep, how strong
Now by your grace I stand
 
STAND
It’s my one word for 2015
I searched for it
It was given to me
STAND
It wasn’t found easily
From a sermon series we were encouraged to identify one word
To listen for it
To look for it
To trust that God would provide it
 
As the weeks progressed those around me secured their one word
I didn’t have one word
I had one accumulating note
With many words
Many phrases
And thought perhaps I was going to just be a rule-breaker
By having more than one word
They were each good words, full of significant meaning to me:
Gracious
Generous
Hope
Safe place
Near
Kind
Warrior
Respect
Onward my warrior soul
This world is not our home
Break open the sky
Quiet confidence
Relentless (that became Avery’s 2015 word)
Write
Word
Story
Balance
Unshaken
Grounded
Breathe
Unclench
Release
Foundation
Victory
Testimony
 
But on Sunday morning, February 15, 2015
God gave me the ONE word: STAND
 
context
Back on Sunday, December 7, 2014
I had the 2^nd worst panic attack of my life
It blind-sided me
I've battled anxiety since 2009
But church was never an anxiety trigger
It was the one hour each week to be filled and renewed
But this panic attack forced me to walk out of church
To sit in the van full of crazy physical symptoms
Leaving me wondering if I should call 911
Or text Lance and Avery to walk out of church
To pull Carver and Davis out of class
To drive me home
And that’s what happened
That afternoon
I took my panic attack meds
(which I resist and overthink taking because I don’t want to need them)
And I layed in bed staring at the ceiling for hours
Waiting for symptoms to subside
Which they did
 
Every Sunday since then was hard
I didn’t want to go to church
For fear of another panic attack
So I would take my meds every Sunday morning before we went
And I hated that
 
But Sunday, February 15, 2015
It was clear to me
satan, the enemy, was attacking my 1 hour each week
Where I was fully aligned with God
Openly listening and abundantly receiving
 
Anxiety/Panic makes me dizzy
And I’ve always been prone to motion
And inner-ear issues
So often I’ll sit
 
On Sunday, February 15, 2015
I was sitting
Until this verse
 
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll STAND
 
And that’s what I did
I made the decision to STAND
And tearfully wrote
At the end of my long accumulating note
my.one.word
STAND
I knew
Without a shadow of a doubt
That was to be
my
ONE
Word
for
2015
STAND

Word
God's Word
God's Word is powerful!

-tvz 4/19/2015