I was in Switzerland last week for one week. I couldn't possibly have planned on my own what happened in Switzerland! Everyday included Divine encounters, connections and a revealing of the purpose of me being there! If I back up, I desired to go to Switzerland and dreamt of this while in Africa (end of 2014) as I made many close Swiss friends at my missions school! I felt a connection to Switzerland even back then. Anyway, it was in my heart to go possibly on my way to South Africa! I wasn't sure if this was my idea and I wanted to ensure that this was the Lord's timing! I wasn't getting clear guidance, so my wise mom suggested I throw out a fleece to God. I haven't really done this much, but I thought this was a great idea! I told God that if He wanted me to go to Switzerland, please have at least one of my two friends from Switzerland contact me! I had been in touch with both of them since Africa, but for one of my friends, we hadn't communicated for about a month and the other a couple of months! Two days later, my friend wrote a message to both of us! Then the other said, she has felt to write me in the last week and she wrote me some long messaged to catch up! I knew this was no coincidence to get messages from not one, but both! My heart leapt and I told them this story! They got so excited that I would be coming!!!
It became quite clear that although the natural beauty drew me in, the Lord brought me there, especially for one of my friends! He truly loves people/us more than anything else, 'tis amazing!! Actually, I had Holy moments with the 3 Harvest Iris friends I visited and rich connections with their friends and church family in Switzerland. In fact, Pastor Surprise who is an International speaker and leader for Iris that lives at the base I am at in South Africa has spoken in Switzerland at the church that I attended with my friends, so cool!
Back to my sweet friend, she got engaged a few months back shortly after returning from Africa at the beginning of this year. She is someone with an abundance of JOY, PEACE and LOVE and of course she has so much excitement for this upcoming wedding! At the same time though, she was quite busy, working full time, attending school, involved with church ministry and really not much time for herself, practically none! I can really relate in past years of my life. In fact, we have countless parallels in our life journeys! To give you a bit of a picture, here is a bit about my story, I always thought I had to say YES to anyone and everyone! I wanted to keep the peace and please people and I avoided conflict at all costs! In fact, I often feel the undertones of atmosphere if there is tension, sadness, anger, or any other kind of emotion; I wanted the atmosphere to be peaceful and I would do anything to keep it that way. I also carried the emotions of others in those high intensity emotional atmospheres attempting to shift things positively. I would attempt this by doing what I thought others wanted of me or asked of me, I would jump as high as people wanted, slap a smile on my face and just keep serving/giving!
He knew the desires of my friend's heart and made a way, this reminds me of Romans 8: 27 - 28
As you can see, it is very lush green filled with much grass and trees! It has cows all over, this felt so much like my home in Wisconsin! Of course, the landscape is much more hilly with beautiful mountains in the background. The cows wear cowbells that you hear as they walk about, this is so they can be found as they graze in the mountains! Church bells (glockenspiel) ring every hour sounding and feeling like I am in the middle of The Sound of Music! So romantic! It of course has many quaint shops and beautiful steeples and churches as well! There is much beauty to fall in love with as I love nature enjoy marveling at His creativity in creation!!
It became quite clear that although the natural beauty drew me in, the Lord brought me there, especially for one of my friends! He truly loves people/us more than anything else, 'tis amazing!! Actually, I had Holy moments with the 3 Harvest Iris friends I visited and rich connections with their friends and church family in Switzerland. In fact, Pastor Surprise who is an International speaker and leader for Iris that lives at the base I am at in South Africa has spoken in Switzerland at the church that I attended with my friends, so cool!
Back to my sweet friend, she got engaged a few months back shortly after returning from Africa at the beginning of this year. She is someone with an abundance of JOY, PEACE and LOVE and of course she has so much excitement for this upcoming wedding! At the same time though, she was quite busy, working full time, attending school, involved with church ministry and really not much time for herself, practically none! I can really relate in past years of my life. In fact, we have countless parallels in our life journeys! To give you a bit of a picture, here is a bit about my story, I always thought I had to say YES to anyone and everyone! I wanted to keep the peace and please people and I avoided conflict at all costs! In fact, I often feel the undertones of atmosphere if there is tension, sadness, anger, or any other kind of emotion; I wanted the atmosphere to be peaceful and I would do anything to keep it that way. I also carried the emotions of others in those high intensity emotional atmospheres attempting to shift things positively. I would attempt this by doing what I thought others wanted of me or asked of me, I would jump as high as people wanted, slap a smile on my face and just keep serving/giving!
Of course, I now know that one of my gifts and my friends also is to bring PEACE and JOY, but as you know, this isn't the way to offer these gifts! Living this way burned me out over time, this happened about 4 years ago. I had done everything "right" by man, but lacked joy, energy and life! It was then that I quit my job of 11 years and began a journey that I am still on of learning "to BE"! Most of my life, I had been a human doing, with a good heart nonetheless, but I hadn't learned to BE with me and seek the face of the One who created me and learn to see me how He saw me! This is a much different viewpoint! I am still learning much!! I also didn't know me, I had viewed myself through the lense of how I would affect others and chose to please them not knowing how to fully love myself. I had made an idol out of man! At the root of all of my actions was that I believed a lie that intoxicated my whole life, my belief was that other people and their feelings are more important than mine! This couldn't be more far from the Truth! Our gifts will fully blossom as I FULLY know in my heart how LOVED I am and of course the same for you, as you know how LOVED you are by Him, this changes all things! As we learn to BE and REST in Him, the unique gifts that He put within us will naturally flow, mixed in with JOY, PEACE and LOVE!
Jesus said the greatest commandment given is:
You must love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor
as yourself.' ~ Matthew 22: 37 - 39
So, what happens when we haven't encountered how He loves us and then I am not aligned with how the Creator of the universe who IS LOVE sees me? Well, then I don't yet know how to fully love Him, myself and I won't love others as He loves me or them either! Of course, I will not arrive,
we will not arrive, this is a beautiful lifelong journey we are on! We reflect the one whom we seek and I know that His thoughts, His love and creation are what I want to pursue and put my FAITH and HOPE! If you don't know this yet, it is okay, pray to Him, He can change things and love us more in a moment than others can in a lifetime!
So, I was brought to Switzerland to share what the Lord has been teaching me to her! The Lord is amazing, He changed my schedule and brought me to Switzerland because He loves her so much!! That is how He LOVES US, He will arrange anything and everything only to demonstrate His love for ONE person! Of course, He is so amazing that He works amazing blessings for me and others (including my friend's mom) also! Of course, my desire was only that I could save my friend some time and heartache with the wisdom that I have learned, many times the hard way! =) It was truly such a rich time! Intense too, her mom was not happy with her daughter's current life decisions and tension was building in the home. However, the Lord had another plan, He always does, His GRACE abounds so richly and changes everything including man's "plans!" She hadn't yet learned how to LOVE herself and see herself as a beautiful Daughter that doesn't need to look through the eyes of man and idolizing their importance or views, only seek Him and BE, He will do the rest!!
Practical tools that really have helped me set loving boundaries for myself and others has been many things including watching my mom grow and blossom as the Lord restored her value and voice from within that had been lost. Dann Farrelly's teachings on Brave Communication are amazing. Also, Danny Silk's book, Keep Your Love On and his podcasts called Loving on Purpose have been crucial in my own life. Danny has taught me so much! I began to learn that until I said NO, I couldn't properly say YES! That in order to be present for the person I am with and love them, I had to say NO to many other opportunities! I had to fight regret, fear of making the wrong choice and upsetting others and learning to trust my decision! I often wished that I were more than one place at once and not truly be in the moment where I am! I also have had to fight the lie that conflict is bad, that is not true and embrace the challenge that is ahead of me! Conflict is a gift where we have an opportunity to grow as iron sharpens iron, however, there is a loving way to speak my voice and hold a boundary keeping my love on! I learned that in order to love myself, I cannot be busy all the time giving and giving, I must make time to BE with Him and feel His love and understand how He sees me! Only then can I love me the best and then a natural outpouring of LOVE will flow to others!! There is so much more I could say here, but that will be for another day!
The beautiful thing is that my friend had been praying for tools, she knew that she aligned to others and couldn't properly find her own voice and the desires that are within her. She prayed for tools and then the Lord brought me there! She was hungry and ready, she took notes of things that I said, she immediately put them into practice. The joy was leaving her as she was feeling overwhelmed and confused in her life. By the end of the week, she said that the JOY had come back and she hadn't felt this way for some time! Also, her mom began to have more grace and eyes to see even the ways that she had modeled this to her daughter and the lies she believed in her own life.The glory goes to the Lord, He knew she needed some love and wisdom from our fellow body, in the end He gave me new wisdom and tools as I shared with her, so amazing!!
He knew the desires of my friend's heart and made a way, this reminds me of Romans 8: 27 - 28
God, the searcher of the heart, knows fully our longings, yet he also understands the desires of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit (Counselor) passionately pleads before God for us, his holy ones, in perfect harmony with God's plan and our destiny. So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God's perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.
