Pneuma (ancient Greek) = breath, wind, or spirit

Wow, it's been a whirlwind week! And by whirlwind I mean the Spirit has been on the move. His breath has given me life; his wind has blown me to the heights; his peace has settled inside of me again.

How could I have forgotten your spirit, God? How empty I've been feeling without him. All you wanted from me was to acknowledge you. Why, you are a jealous God. You want to be famous, known, and talked about. But the jealousy you have for your name is perfect...absolutely perfect. And so, I'll live to proclaim your name! I want you to be famous! Your name and your renown is my desire!

I don't know exactly what happened, but something inside of me shifted. The heaviness, depression, and burden I felt is gone! Praise Jesus! I think part of it is that God finally revealed to me clearly what happened with Australia and it brought tremendous closure. I feel like I can move on and begin the healing process for good. A door has been opened, and I am bounding through it!

Well, I suppose I could write all the details of what has happened in the past two weeks, but I'd rather let it rest and write about what I learned today.

Psalm 1

 ¹How well God must like you— you don't hang out at Sin Saloon, you don't slink along Dead-End Road,
   you don't go to Smart-Mouth College.

 ^2-3 Instead you thrill to God's Word,
      you chew on Scripture day and night.
   You're a tree replanted in Eden,
      bearing fresh fruit every month,
   Never dropping a leaf,
      always in blossom.

 ^4-5 You're not at all like the wicked,
      who are mere windblown dust—
   Without defense in court,
      unfit company for innocent people.

 ⁶ God charts the road you take.
   The road they take is Skid Row. 

A couple of words and phrases calmed me like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer day.


"How well God must like you". I so needed to hear that and be reminded of his undying, passionate, faithful, unconditional, intimate, fatherly love!


"You thrill to God's word". Yesterday in my one-on-one mentoring session with my boss, I explained to her that I'm starting over, about to explode in growth, but as of today I'm not the woman I want to be. She asked me what type of woman I want to be. Good question. I want to be a woman with a quiet and gentle spirit, a servant, passionate for the Lord's name and madly in love with him again, humble and compassionate, an intercessor, encourager, and a woman of the word. I particularly want to be a woman of the word. She then asked me what I was doing, what strategy I had, in order to become that woman. Another good question. That's where I'm at. Asking the Lord what strategy he wants me to take to become more like him. I have a few ideas and I'm excited to begin that journey.


"...bearing fresh fruit every month". This is an easily skipped over part of this chapter in my opinion. When I stopped and thought about the process of growing fruit and the fact that it takes a whole month to bear fresh fruit, it made me cringe and groan just a bit. A month seems like forever to me! If I were a tree, I can imagine that the act of producing fruit is just a bit painful and requires much patience. And this is an important lesson that the Lord has been faithfully trying to teach me the past 23 years of my life. Patience. Many great things are birthed out of patient endurance, hard work, discipline, and more patience. But I so badly want that fruit at the end of every month!

"God charts the road you take". For some reason I got it into my head that I make things happen. For instance, I thought that I would be able to get to Australia by my own strength. I could raise the money, I could get a visa, I could do the missions training, I could build relationships with my team mates, I could get a job, etc. But you know what, at the end of the day, my strength to accomplish comes to squat! As much as I love freewill, there is some aspect of the Gospel that is clear about God's will leading and guiding us. Of course, we choose to follow him or not. However, if we do choose to follow Jesus, then we have surrendered our own plans and decided to join his. And he is a light unto our path. I don't know about you, but I find great peace in knowing that God charts my road. I think he's a bit smarter than I when it comes to making decisions and I would rather be on his road than mine anyday.

Jesus, thank you for speaking to me through your word today. Thank you for reigniting a passion and desire in my heart for your truths. I long to know you and your life-giving words more and more. Please keep me strong and discipline my heart. I want purity, holiness, and passion. I love you!