Open Writing Prompt: {Soul Rest}
Anything that touches your heart during your 1-1 time with God.

I had a dream, but it fell apart. I didn’t pick myself up again, but I let it lie broken and trampled on. All because I trusted one voice of criticism more than many voices of encouragement. That’s me. More comfortable with receiving criticism than with receiving love.

I’m trying to pick up that dream again, but it’s so hard.

I want to allow myself to open up to encouragement.

Especially from God.

To stop and listen to His voice.

To let Him lead me.

To let Him love me.

To stop analyzing and planning everything by myself.

To allow myself to merely bask in the light of His Presence.

But I’m so stuck. Like the Israelites in the wilderness. God promised deliverance, but all they see is how they are blocked in with impossibilities. Pharaoh and 600 of his best war chariots hot on their heels. The mountains on either side of them. The Red Sea, wide and deep, in front of them. Terrified, they cry out to God. They grumble at Moses. Where will they go? They blindly follow the cloud of His presence that guides them onward, but it all seems so impossible. Will God let them be devoured by their enemies? Will they drown in the sea? Wouldn’t it have been better to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness?

Moses told the people, “Fear not; stand still (firm, confident, undismayed) and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.” (Exodus 14:13-14 AMP)

Then God told Moses to stop crying out and get moving. To tell the Israelites to move on. Moses raised his staff and stretched it out over the sea. True to His promise, God opened the way, impossible from their side but always-and-forever possible from His side. As they travelled through the Red Sea on dry ground, God moved His cloud behind them spreading light to them but darkness to their enemies.

This miraculous parting of impossibilities happened again later on in the Israelites’ journey when they had to pass through the Jordan River to get to Canaan. God told the priests who held the ark to go and stand in the river. The waters weren’t even parted yet! They had to step forward into the swirling waters trusting that God would open the way.

   

I’m Stuck

God, I feel so blocked in.

Enemies nip at my heels

Ready to drag me down into the pit,

The quicksand of depression.

I can’t possibly scale those mountains.

And a raging sea of impossibilities looms ahead of me.

I’m scared, God.

I read the stories of Your miracles

And I believe them.

But I’m so stuck.

Please shatter these shackles

That bind me.

Insecurity, shame, fear.

Please nudge me forward.

To dip my feet in.

To not only pray

But to take action.

Trusting You will open the way.

Letting myself be Your beloved.

Basking in the light of Your Presence.

Drawing from the power of Your All-Sufficent Grace.

I plead on Your power, O God.

You are still a God of miracles.

I Am the Way

My precious child,

I will always be faithful to you.

I will never, never leave you.

I will always be here for you.

Stop trying to find the sufficiency in yourself.

You will never find it there.

My grace makes you sufficient.

My strength is made perfect in your weakness.

Don’t look at all the barriers around you.

My beloved, look at Me.

Listen to My Voice.

I love you with an everlasting love.

Always have and always will.

Bask in My Presence.

Allow yourself to be loved.

Rest in My love for you,

And you will trust

I can mow down your enemies,

I can level mountains,

I can open up your sea of impossibilities.

I will shatter those shackles that bind you.

I will wash your wounds.

Just move forward, My child,

One step at a time.

Take action.

Dip your feet into the waters.

And trust Me, My child.

Nothing is impossible for Me.

Trust My leading.

Trust My love.

Trust My power.