What We're Listening To Wednesday - Explode My Soul

What We're Listening To Wednesday

This whole album is worth a listen, but this song in particular has captivated me.

Explode my soul is an awakening, a calling upon my spirit.  The words seem like they were stolen from the depths of my very being.  Every time I play this song, I feel myself wanting to run down a sidewalk shouting "explode my soul...explode my soul, Lord."  I've decided against the shouting out loud in public scenario.  Yet I continue to sing this from a place that is being changed, transformed, challenged, encouraged, restored, healed and moving towards an explosion that will I'm sure, shake things up :)

I hope you find this song to be of encouragement.  Maybe you'll find your spirit drawn to another song, or perhaps you'll interpret the lyrics differently and they'll mean something entirely opposite of what they mean to me.  None the less...be blessed ♥

Love,
Christy Creative Dreamer Dawn

P.S., please share in the comments what you are loving listening to, we'd love to hear :)

Rest and Prayer in Italy

WILL YOU TRUST ME??

WILL YOU TRUST ME??

Will you trust me??? Four words that on their own are so simple, and yet when put together so complex.

TRUST… by definition is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something (google dictionary).

WILL YOU TRUST ME??

            God started asking me this question in November of last year. I have recently felt a desire and calling on my life to enter into a place of ministry. And I could feel God asking me, “Ashley, will you trust me”. My initial response was “sure God…whatever you want”. My answer was quick and easy, because it didn’t require much sacrifice. The next request was a little harder. “Ashley, will you trust me?”…

            “Sure God, I already said yes”…

            “Then give up your position at work…let me meet your needs, rely on me”…. Suddenly trusting God was getting a little bit harder, was requiring more.  Suddenly I realized that trusting God was a choice…a choice that would require something from me. Suddenly I realized God wasn’t looking for a quick response, or an appeasement, but a decision, a declaration, and an action.

            As I am growing up in my life, I have learned that trust is more than a feeling. Many times we decide whether we will trust someone or not based on past experiences, based on what we know about someone’s character. We believe that someone must earn our trust. That they must first be tested and found true. I trust my husband because we have weathered many obstacles together. I have found his heart to be true and full of love, and ultimately because he has proven himself faithful over and over again.

            So too is it with our Father God. Our ability to trust God often seems based on past experiences. However, God is looking for so much more than a feeling of trust. God is showing me that the trust that he desires is actually an action….an action that comes in the form of

 SURRENDER.

(To cease resisting and to submit to an authority)

In my life, I have weathered some storms….I know that they are not all behind me, that there will be more to come. And God has been asking me “Ashley, do you trust me enough to actually let go…surrender your circumstances and your life to me”. See friends we can say we trust God, but until we can loosen the hold on our lives and live our life in total surrender and abandonment to God’s will and plan, do we truly trust him??

            I actually believe that there are two forms of surrender… I believe that there is a forced surrender and a chosen surrender.

            FORCED SURRENDER: Let me immediately clear up the thought that God forces us to surrender to his will and plans…NO!!!! God is not an abuser, dictator or enforcer. He is not vengeful, and he does not MAKE us do anything. However, life has a way of causing us to surrender. We have no control over situations and circumstances that enter into our life. Death and illness are not gentlemen, they come into our lives whether we want them to or not, and they have a way of forcing us to surrender to our circumstance. People in our lives make decisions that impact us, and often we have no say in the decisions made, but are forced to live with the resulting consequences and repercussions.

            Instead, God is asking us to enter into a chosen surrender. A place of knowing that no matter what obstacles or painful circumstances we face, God is there for us, lovingly holding us, walking with us, and has the ultimate say over our future. Because once we understand and realize this, than there is no fear in letting go, in surrendering our hearts and lives to our Father.

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

            I think sometimes as Christians we foolishly allow ourselves to misunderstand this declaration by our Father. We want to believe and therefore allow ourselves to believe that it means that life will be easy, pain free, without difficult trials and circumstances. If this is your thought friend, than you have mistaken, it is actually quite the opposite. Jesus says in John 16:33 “In this World you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the World!”

“In this World you will have trouble”

            The words YOU WILL are not a possibility, a happen chance or a maybe…They are a guarantee. You will have trouble, there will be pain, there will be heart ache….But even with these guarantee’s we can still be confident in surrendering to our Father. Why?

“And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

            IN ALL THINGS….In sickness, death, pain, uncertainty, confusion, loneliness and anything else that the World will throw at us…God works for THE GOOD of those who love him. Paul actually says in Ephesians 3:20 “now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”. God can do more than good and even more than great in our lives when we surrender ourselves to him.

I have waited a very long time to write this blog. Why? Because coming to a place of surrender in my life is actually the hardest thing that I have ever done. Nobody wants pain or challenging circumstances in their life, actually we would do anything to avoid them… at all cost. But no matter what I choose, pain will come. The only thing that can take my worldly circumstances and change them into something beautiful and prosperous and good for me is my Father God. So let me ask you…Knowing what you know, what do you choose…. A forced surrender to life’s circumstances that will come whether you want them to or not, or a chosen surrender to a Father God who loves you more than you will ever know or ever be able to contain…

With a heart full of love,

            Ashley

But...

This word has the power to nullify everything previously stated before it.

I trust God, but...my circumstances are so BIG and so overwheming.  

I know God is the God of the impossible, but...this really is an impossible situation.

I know I am unique and created for a purpose, but...I wish I had their talents/skills/gifts.

The underlined/bold phrase is all that is heard.  It creates an ineffectiveness of the first statement made. 

Yet imagine if you will, you could train yourself to not speak your words in that order.  Imagine if you rendered the statement after but...ineffective. 

Let's see.  Using the same statements as above, in reverse.

My circumstances are so BIG and so overwheming, but...I TRUST GOD!!!

This really is an impossible situation, but...I know God is the God of the impossible!!!

I wish I had their talents/skills/gifts, but...I know I am unique and created for a purpose!!!

AMAZING RIGHT?!?!?

I would like to challenge you to use your words with boldness.  To speak and declare goodness, kindness, love and life.  To nullify the lies.  To render statements of defeat, useless.  To effectively use your words to create an ineffect in the statements that oppose the real truth.   To place value and worth in words that encourage and comfort.  Do not invalidate your words of peace, joy, truth, love and life with a but.

I am just a girl, but...God has risen up a warrior princess....a creative dreamer :)

Love,

Christy Creative Dreamer Dawn

Comparison steals joy!

Comparison steals joy.

Did you hear that?  Comparison steals joy, among other things.

It begins with little remarks, little jabs at yourself, that at first seem so harmless.

It may even appear that you are humble.  That you are just praising someone else's

strengths.  Yet you are subtly discrediting yourself.

Remarks like...

"She/He is way better at ______ than me."

"I am not pretty like ______."

"I don't have the qualifications like ______."

"I can't do ________."

 "She/He has more of _______ than me."

Add in whatever word(s) applies, but you see how these little snippets can tear down?!?!

There is no encouragement in it, for yourself or the person you think you are praising.

It doesn't build someone up to have you torn down in the process.

It doesn't comfort someone to have you point out all their strengths whilst you indirectly point out all your weaknesses.

Every comparison breaks you down a little.  Every comparison makes you pull back a little more.

Every comparison IS A LIE!!!

A lie from the enemy, a lie to keep you trapped, to keep you chained, to make you feel worth less, to make you feel invaluable and useless.

And in the comparison(LIES) you lose...Joy. Peace. Trust. Strength. Courage. Freedom. Uniqueness.  You lose you.

You have been created for a purpose that ONLY you, yes, only you can fulfill.

You have been created uniquely to be you and you alone. 

You have been created to SHINE. 

You have been created for GREATNESS.

But if you want what everyone else has and to be who everyone else is, how will the world experience and see you?

I read this wonderful quote from Marianne Williamson (usually misinterpreted to have been a quote from Nelson Mandela):

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

This quote has really stuck with me for some reason.  Maybe because I too have compared myself.  I too have stepped back to let others shine.  I have shyed away from being to great, to talented, to fabulous, to ______! 

But I realized, I want the world to experience me.  The me, God purposefully and intricately created.  He made me the way I am for a reason.  He is within me and wants to shine all the creativity, beauty and goodness HE IS through me.  I am like him, why would I want to hide His creative, beautiful, good, fabulous, talented, brilliant daughter from the world.  Why would I want to be like someone else that is showing the other creative, beautiful, great attributes of our Heavenly Father? 

God didn't intend for anyone of us to be a replica of another.  What a bore that would be to have us all be the same as the last.  What good would that accomplish? 

I am rambling now, LOL ;)

I hope you understand though, you are you...you are uniquely and perfectly you. 

Don't let comparison steal away the you God created.  Don't let it take away your joy.

Instead, be proud, shameless, free, joyful, fearless, brilliant, worthy, creative, bold,  courageous and live your life out loud as YOU! 

Cuz no one else can do it ;)

Love,

Christy Creative Dreamer Dawn

p.s, I didn't want to add creative dreamer to my middle name for this blog(in the beginning), but that IS what I am and I am no longer afraid to declare that in my life, among other fabulous truths ;)  What truths will you begin to declare and live out loud in your life? 

Complacent No More

Aren't we sick of complacency?  Sick of the stress, the drama, the lies, the bondage/chains?  Sick of broken families and relationships?  Aren't we sick of the fleshly desires?  Don't we want MORE?  Need MORE?

THERE IS MORE.  There is Jesus.

He came for all the reasons listed above and more.  He came to restore, heal, set free, to seek and save the lost, to bring truth and life.

You CAN change your life, your thoughts, actions, words and you can change the condition of your heart.
If you are drawing in, pressing close to Him and pursuant of His heart.  Reading your bible, which gives life and truth.  Spending time with people who will encourage and comfort you.  Praying, worshipping and praising daily(all day long is even better) Becoming constant in your relationship with abba.  I tell you friends, you change.  Your life transforms.  You begin to look more like Him.  Your actions, thoughts and words begin to look more like Him.  You begin to see yourself through your Heavenly Fathers eyes.  You start to look for ways to press in, all day long.  You start to smell the burning of your flesh.  Cuz let me tell you, you can't get in realCLOSE(yes, I did that on purpose) to abba and not expect your old self to fall away.  To get sick of all the lies, to have such distaste for the things of this world, for the drama, for the stress, for the bondage and chains.  It starts to fall away and you even ask God to continue to show you where your old self is still hanging on.  Oh, let me tell you friends, your old self WILL try to hold on.  He'll twist and draw back and beg you to just leave a little, cuz what is a little?  But God wants all of you.  He wants to chisel away everything of the old man(woman). He wants to mold you and shape you.  He has a great plan and purpose for your life.  But you have to let go of the flesh life you are trying so desperately to hold onto.

I can say I am a "christian", but it is not enough to label myself and continue to walk in this old self. NO, it is not enough.  I want to be more than a label.  I want the world to see His light and His beauty shining through me.  I want to carry His peace, His truth and His strength wherever I go.  I want my life to point back to Christ.  I will not sit in complacency.  I WILL get sick and tired of all the lies, stress, drama, bondage/chains, broken relationships and selfish desires.

I believe that when you get sick and tired of it all.  Others will take notice of how much change has taken place in your life. They too will seek change, they'll ask questions, they'll wanna know more.  You become a beacon of light pointing towards hope, towards life and truth, towards Jesus.

I don't want people to see me, I want them to see Christ through me.  I want to reflect Jesus when people look at my life.

I will not be complacent.  I will be constant.  I will go deeper, closer and press in to my Father's heart.

Will you join me?

Galatians 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Luke 9:23 - And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.


Christy Creative Dreamer Dawn

Burn

By Christy Creative Dreamer Dawn

His Way

Today I read this bible verse:

Psalm 18:30
God's way is perfect. All the LORD's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

Again!
His way is perfect.
Again!
HIS. WAY. IS. PERFECT.
PERFECT.

I don't know why today, but that hit me like a ton of bricks.  How many times I've tried to go it on my own. How many ideas I've tried to make work.  How many plans have I made.  How many dreams have I dreamed and goals I've written down.  Countless.  And to be honest, yes sometimes they've turned out good or alright.  But never perfect.  Not unless I've turned to abba, and asked him to reveal His ways.

How should I do this?
What's the best way?
What are you thinking?
Will you share with me your ideas?
Will you show me your heart?
Will you guide and direct my footsteps today?

The best part is, when I've asked Him to show me: He has.  He is so faithful.

I know these questions excite my Heavenly Father.   I know he can hardly wait for me to ask Him for his help, to show me His ways and His ideas.  I  mean, c'mon, His ways are PERFECT.  They're the BEST.  His ways are much more brilliant, rewarding and perfect than any plan I could ever conjure up.

He wants to surprise us.  He wants to lavish His gifts on us.  He wants to walk beside us.  He wants to fill us with His love and peace.  And He wants to whisper to us His perfect ways.

And yes, His ways are perfect. But this doesn't mean:
Your life looks perfect or you look perfect.

What it means is:
When you yield your ways for His perfect ways(will), your life will reflect Him, YOU will reflect Him.

I am going to continue to repeat the verse to myself.

I'm going to try and start my mornings with those questions and listen to the voice of God.

I'm excited to see all the great things He'll do, go the places He'll lead and to see a continual transformation of myself and my life that begins to look more and more like my Heavenly Father and His ways.

Matthew 7:11
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

He wants to impart to you good and perfect gifts.  He wants to show you his perfect ways, but, you have to ASK.

I ask you to join me on this challenge to seek the Fathers ways, in all things, every single day.

P.S, I wasn't going to write a blog about this bible verse.  "I" had my own ideas/topics for what I thought I was going to write about. Obviously HE had a different idea, LOL!!!

Blessings,

Christy Creative Dreamer Dawn