Category Archives: Encouragement

Encouragement

WHEN LOSS LEADS TO GAIN: Last 3 Months of 2024

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The losses of life come to us all. At the time it’s hard to see beyond them and, much less, to imagine that any good could come from them.

Many within the Body of Messiah have experienced incredible despair and loss during the last 7 years. While I don’t know your personal struggle, I do know that the tide IS turning.

We’re a bit older now.

We’re a bit wiser.

The flames you went thru didn’t take you out.

They lit you up.

No one can stop what’s coming.

No one.

Keep leaning into GOD. Be purposeful.

He’s walking you thru it. You’re getting your life back.

And He has plans. Oh boy, does He ever!

After a devastating loss, in 2016, boxer Ronda Rousey said the following:

“That loss saved me from becoming what I hate,” she says. “One of those people who live their lives to impress everyone else. Who put up a front for the world to admire. Who make sure every charitable act is posted and shared for their own image gain. Who posture and pose for people they care nothing about except for the opinion they have of them.”

Can you relate? Have the losses in your life worked to burn away, and conserve you from becoming something you would have, in time, hated?

“I’m just getting my life back,” she says. –Boxer Ronda Rousey, 2016

We’ve reached a tipping point, within the Body of Messiah. The losses, of the past 7 years, are falling away and ushering us into a NEW SEASON!

It’s okay to get expectant.

It’s okay to get excited!

Start praising and thanking GOD NOW! 

Yes, this promotion has been a long time coming but what felt like set back, after setback, was a set up for what’s coming next. The losses came for many reasons which includes you becoming who you were always meant to be.

While the enemy hurled dart after dart against you, your Heavenly Father burned away all that was never for you.

Get in a posture of humility so that you can receive. Keep your eyes locked on Yeshua (Jesus). Keep your heart pure. This is so important.

This doesn’t mean all trials have ended but it means that you’ll be seeing current (and future) trials differently because you’re different.

Your walk is different. The terrain is changing. Your sight is better.

You’ve been given AUTHORITY because you’ve OVERCOME so much! 

Things may seem messy right now. Things may seem uncertain.

Let the winds of change swirl around you as you remain steady, firmly planted in YHWH. Once things die down, you’ll find yourself in the new. PRAISE GOD!!!

THE GAIN IS ON ITS WAY!

After years of almost constant demonic attack, at first you’ll find that you’re on more of an equal playing field with the enemy.

Then, suddenly you’ll find that you have the upper hand against the enemy -in Yeshua’s strength. You won’t be tempted to take things on your own strength again.

It’s ALL HIM.

It always was. 

It always will be.

I pray this word was beneficial to you. Please let me know, in comments, if you can relate.

Shalom to you all, 

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2

Disclaimer: This word, of encouragement, is speaking to personal loss related to spiritual attack and setbacks – not the literal death of a loved one. In cases like these, there may not be a “gain” that occurs on this side of eternity. However, Yeshua walks with those who are grieving. He is near to the broken hearted. 

Check out this link to read more about the Divine Rest occurring in 2024-25:

https://shalomtotalwellness.com/2024/04/26/divine-reset-2024-25-shame-into-praise/

Encouragement

Divine Reset 2024-25: Shame into Praise

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There’s been a significant spiritual shift, recently. Does anyone else feel it? Many have been waiting for, and praying into this shift, for years. You’re sick of hearing words like “breakthrough” and “suddenly”.

You’re tired and not sure how much more you can take.

But listen: Your circumstances may not have changed but the load you’re carrying is feeling lighter. Hope is being infused into the faithful, the ones who didn’t quit despite how things looked.

Yeshua (Jesus) is stepping into the places where you, and your family, have so desperately needed healing and direction. Encouragement is here now, and more is on the way.

He’s bringing recompense to those who suffered rejection, and harm, at the hands of “friends”, “family”, and “church”. This isn’t a statement of vengeance against them. It’s a statement for you, and you, only.

He saw it all. He heard it all. He’s stepping in.

Enough is enough.

Many are carrying shame because of circumstances and how others have treated them. This shouldn’t be. And it will no longer be. Yeshua (Jesus) is healing the broken places and speaking truth into you even now. 

His Truth needs no permission to be. It simply is. The scales of the past season are being removed and the new is showing thru in brilliant display. 

So much time has passed that you wondered if you’d ever come back. Well, you are – not in your own strength but in the strength of the One who formed you in your mother’s womb.

He knows how long it’s been and is battling on your behalf to get things right.

They might be done with you, but Yeshua isn’t done with you. NO ONE is strong enough to stop what He has planned for you and your family. 

This isn’t about gaining recognize in worldly, or even ministry circles. GOD knows the heart of those whose main goal is to climb a ladder to be heard or seen. That isn’t for you.

This time of isolation, and what feels like a set-back, brought you into a deeper alignment with the Father’s heart. Only He knows what’s in store for you. But I can tell you this – IT’S GONNA BE GOOD!

More is Coming. More is Coming. More is Coming.

3 Ways to Get Your Heart Ready for the More:

Stay Faithful to Him.

Don’t Give into Distraction or Worry.

Praise Him, Ahead of Time, For the Good Things Coming

A day is coming when you’ll look back, in awe, and say, “Wow, HE did it!” That day is coming sooner than you think.

But, even now, He’s moving. He’s doing. He’s speaking. He’s refining. He’s healing. He’s saving. He’s delivering. He’s guiding. He’s repositioning.

This isn’t your doing. It isn’t their doing. It’s HIS doing.

He’s peeling away the layers of pain.

He’s removing shame and turning it into praise! Hallelujah!

I pray this word of encouragement was beneficial to you. During these strange days, please know that you aren’t alone. Ever.

Shalom to you all,

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2

Encouragement

The Wilderness Season

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Thoughts on The Wilderness: No one, or at least very few of us, wakes up with the goal of spending time in the wilderness. We prefer comfort. We like our niceties. Growth sounds good but who wants messy?

Like the Hebrews, of old, it may take a move of GOD to even get us out there. Like Yeshua (Jesus), it may take the Holy Spirit’s leading. And so, on faith, we go…

…and once we’re there, reality sets in. It’s a wild place full of much less than what we once had. Uncertainty sets in. It’s narrow here. It’s constricting. There’s nowhere no run to and nowhere to hide. We can’t go back to the life we once knew. No map has been provided for our journey. We’re not sure how we’ll get out of this.

But we do have a guide. His Name is Yeshua (Jesus). In the wilderness, we learn to receive His love in a new way. All other voices become background noise as His Voice becomes the Only One we hear. His direction becomes clearer than what we see around us.

He’s with us. He’s taking us through the heat. He’s shielding us from the elements. He’s teaching us His ways. We’re learning how to love. We’re learning how to live. He’s sending the manna and the quail. We’re learning when to move and when to rest.

These things don’t always happen as effectively when in the city or in the town or when surrounded by community. But in the wilderness the necessary becomes the real. We have no other option but to cling to our Good Shepherd.

This is where real growth happens. Ashes are exchanged for beauty. We learn how to fight the giants. Preparations are being made for us to take the land.

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.

3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:

10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” -Isaiah 35:1-10 (KJV)

In this dry and lonely land, we are being strengthened. We are being refined. Champions are being born. Victory is imminent. There’s no room for fear. Our tongues only speak faith.
Look for the flowers while in this wilderness. There may not be entire fields of them. But they can be found. This is where we become FREE.

Shalom to you,

Encouragement

WHERE IS GOD IN TIMES OF SUFFERING ?

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I take the topic of health personally, very personally. Because, you see, I have been on the other end of an all-out onslaught to stop, maim, and kill me for my entire life. One of the main weapons used against me was physical illness, disease, and false approaches to “health”.

My friends are my family and when they’re sick, I can feel it. When my husband and daughter are sick, I feel it. It’s no wonder I decided to become a doctor of natural medicine. I had to. I couldn’t find the right doctor for me so I became one.

I view things differently – it’s life and death and the fight goes beyond people.

It’s principalities. It’s spiritual. It’s personal.

Maybe you can imagine my irritation upon realizing that my family is now fighting what has been termed “C-V” (for the second time). Yeah, not happy. We take all the right supplements and vitamins. We eat biblically clean. We nebulize and diffuse all the things. We’ve already been thru a round of this junk, last year, so I thought we were beyond it.

It just goes to show you how aggressive this illness is. How pointed it is. How it can target anyone.

It’s principalities. It’s spiritual. It’s personal.

So we keep taking the right supplements and vitamins. We’re still nebulizing and diffusing all the things. I have plans. I have back up plans – all for “just in case”. Some of it is a waiting game. It’s all being bathed in prayer.

And as the world is full of bad news, loved ones clinging to life…and some losing theirs, wars, rumors of wars, increased hatred among people, etc. – the literal war for our lives increases. Everyone is being affected, deeply, by one thing or another. One has to wonder where GOD is in all of it.

So, I asked. Yeah, I asked Yeshua (Jesus) this morning where He was in all of it. I know what the Bible says and I believe it. But I still needed to hear from Him.

And I found Him……sitting down on the beach of a lake. He was skipping rocks into the water. It wasn’t for sport or fun. He was waiting. And He seemed irritated. I sat down beside Him. We sat in silence, together, as I watched Him skipping the rocks over and into the water.

He’s really good at it. Each rock stayed above the water for a long time before being pulled down by their weight. A feat that I tried, as a child, but never quite succeeded at – not consistently anyways.

The sky was ablaze with pinks, and purples, as the sun set low in the distance. He had been here a long time. Waiting. Irritated. His brow furrowed. His hand clinched as He hurled each rock into the lake.“

This had to happen,“ He said, his gaze remained on the water. And He just kept skipping those rocks in. I dare not ask why this had to happen but I knew that He was referring to what we were all going thru, on a personal scale as well as world-wide. It wasn’t just about me or my family.

Of course, He knew that I was wondering “why”, even though I didn’t ask. He answered me: “It’s principalities.”

Then He forcefully skipped a rock into the lake.

“It’s spiritual.” Another rock went in.

“It’s personal.” Another rock hurled in.

He stopped skipping rocks at that point. In this solemn understanding, we sat. For the very battle I had fought all of my life – with all the feelings attached – were His feelings in this moment.

And He had to keep waiting for now. We all do. And it’s hard. It’s irritating.

I thought of how He whittled that tree branch into a whip, that one time. While He whittled, He waited. And that’s where we are right now – in that moment of tension, that moment of wait, of irritation.

He turned to me. Our eyes met. “Thank you for sitting with me.”He was grateful for MY company. Mine?

He offered no promises of things turning out okay. That all seems a bit trite now anyways, don’t you think.

But He said this:“I’m with you, always.”

“Oh hey (yes, Yeshua said “hey”) it’s your birthday today. I’m sorry, but you gift is going to be late this year.” Then He turned His gaze back to the lake and began skipping rocks again.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void,

But it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.“ For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name,

For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” — Isaiah 55:6-13

If you are currently enduring a time of suffering, please know that you are NOT alone. GOD IS with you. He is guiding you, and loving you, thru it all.

Shalom to you,

Encouragement

a divine release is coming: a word of encouragement

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For those who feel they’ve been holding their breath due to present circumstances….a Divine Release is coming.

For those still mourning past circumstances…a Divine Release is coming.

For those who are afraid of what the future may hold…a Divine Release is coming.

For those who’ve felt bound by relational fears, and unholy ties….a Divine Release is coming.

For those who are waiting alone, in the secret place….a Divine Release is coming.

For those who feel as though life has them in a holding pattern….a Divine Release is coming.

For those who have been rejected by those who you treated with nothing but kindness and even showed restraint towards….a Divine Release is coming.

For those who have shed tears, cried out, and grieved over the current state of your family/nation/other nations/the church…a Divine Release is coming.

For those who have been stung by those who preach against stinging, judged by those who preach against judging, or rejected by those who preach inclusion….a Divine Release is coming.

For those who have a heavy heart and may not even know why….a Divine Release is coming.

Just as Noah sent out a raven, and then a dove, to find a dry, resting place, you have lovingly sent out your shalom to others. With great depth of sadness, your “raven” and your “dove” returned to you as there were very few – and perhaps none – that would receive the shalom that you offered. (see Genesis 8:6-11)

Many have no room for the shalom that GOD offers because they are too busy leaning on their own understanding. As a result, their hearts and minds have been left unguarded and open to the spirits of manipulation and control. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

But just as Noah – once again- sent out another dove to find a dry, resting place, there will be a time when you too will – once again- send out your shalom and it will be received by others. (Genesis 8:12)

Until then, do not be grieved when others refuse the shalom you offer. Freewill is given to all and just as the shalom of YHWH is freely given, it can freely be refused. GOD, Himself, will see that you, yourself, will receive that which you so lovingly attempted to share with others.

The painful scenarios you have experienced may cause you to feel that you have lost out. But the truth is – you have lost nothing and those things you feel you’ve lost will return to you! “Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘Shalom!’ to the household. If a seeker of shalom is there, your ‘Shalom!’ will find its rest with him; and if there isn’t, it will return to you.” (Luke 10:5-6)

Just as YHWH commands all debts to be forgiven, and released every 7 years (known as the Jubilee Year) you, too, have a personal “Jubilee” just around the corner. A time that will astonish even the greatest of skeptics and scoffers.

Things may appear to get worse sooner than later. But remember, appearances can be deceiving.

As the winds of change blow, the spiritual atmosphere may become more tense because (after all) you’re in the midst of a spiritual battle.

Do not give into despair. Hold on, dear friends, and praise YHWH ahead of time for the good things that are on their way….a Divine Release is coming!

Shalom to you!