It’s been this kind of morning…

I feel like I’ve been sitting, curled up on my Heavenly Father’s lap, as He speaks to me and teaches me a little more of who He’s created me to be.

After a little bit of a struggle this morning, the Lord led me back to a couple of journals from 2018.

I’m always amazed at the ways He encourages me… even through the pages of my own journals.

This morning He reminded me of a few different things…

He highlighted struggles He’s led me through, times He took me into victory…

Situations He used to paint a picture that gave me deeper revelation of my relationship with Him as my Heavenly Father… ways He has shown me the way He sees me, as His daughter…

He highlighted times when I felt a huge resistance, a barrier to break through, and how when I pushed through, He was there waiting with a beautiful surprise on the other side…

I turned to the pages of the times when He spoke some significant, weighty things to me. I wrote them down –they came out like letters written to His daughter… secrets from His heart, perhaps only for mine to know and understand for this time.

And then I turned to the pages where He had me write out my full name, it was so out of the blue! I did research on each part of my name, and He showed me, through the meaning of each part of my full name, how He had been preparing me, through every season of my life. Not one season has been wasted. Even before I was born, I was on His mind, He was thinking of me and how He designed me to become, since even before I was born.

“Heather” means “flowering” and it is a “small shrub that grows in rocky areas” and it’s an “evergreen that thrives on barren lands”

“Michelle” is my original middle name, and it means, “close to God” and “gift from God”

“Ruff” is my maiden last name, which means “one dwelling on or by a patch of “rough” or “uncultivated ground”

“Barr” is my last name, and it means “height” or “hill”

Through this reminder, the Lord is pulling it all together to show me that He made me to “flourish” and to “flower” and to “grow” –to even “thrive as an evergreen on barren lands”… and He designed me to be “close to Him” …and even through I’ve gone through some “rough” times in my past, even though I have dwelled on “uncultivated ground” (ground that is not used for growing crops)…. He is taking me “higher” with Him, we are taking a journey together.

He is showing me that He has been with me all along, every step of the way…

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” (Jeremiah 1:5)

He reminded me of all of these things this morning, and then…

It was one of those mornings when I got my pen ready because I had a sense that He was going to speak something new to me, and He did.

He’s always so full of surprises.

While I treasure every morning I spend with Him, I especially treasure mornings like these. Mornings that I get to sit with Him, discovering more of who He is as He helps me to discover more of who He designed me to be.

He loves it when we linger with Him. Just a little longer…not because we have to, not because it’s what we should do, not because we are obligated to, but because we simply long to…

Thank You, Father. I love Your heart. You always have time for me. Thank You for teaching me about who I am, for showing me that what You have placed within my innermost being is meant to grow and flourish –it was there all along. Thank You for reminding me that You are “growing” me into this life, and it’s nothing I need to worry about. All I must do is keep taking steps with You. You are faithful and trustworthy to complete the good work You began in me.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6

-Heather ?