Time to Lay it down

For six months we created cards based on what the LORD was showing us. Each card has a key word on the front and a scripture that goes with it. On the back it says, by definition, then gives the definition of that word. Below are the cards by their words in order of the months they were created starting in 2005.

October…….. REST

November….. PERSEVERE

December…...PEACE

January……...BELIEVE

February…….REFLECT

March……… MERCY

April……….. PASSION

WOW – an awesome thing just happened! I went down stairs to get one of each of the cards. I sorted though them and got all six. Then as I began looking on the back where the date is located I realized I was missing January. Hey Kristen, I said, are we are missing a card or did we not do one in January? She looked them all over and then BELIEVE Lionel, we are missing BELIEVE. Hmmm, that was an interesting one for me to miss. Anyway, it was an profound revelation to me. I had always thought we had done six months of cards, but we actually did SEVEN. I like that better. (ok – on with the story)

After April I was just wore out. The LORD had been teaching us real life lessons. I find it interesting that one of these words are not TRUST as that was one of the major things He was teaching us. Anyway, the very real life lessons stripped us to a very low place. At the time the LORD would not allow me to share much of what was going on. Only a few close people knew and they really only knew a portion of what we were going through. In June my family of six (four teenagers) moved into an 1100 square ft apartment. We had a huge garage sale and got ride of about 80% of our stuff. That was pretty freeing. A new lesson was about to begin. For 23 months the LORD would teach us about FAMILY, LOVE, GRACE, GRATITUDE, and maybe this is where the TRUST really began to grow. He taught us to WORSHIP, and to SEE as if we had been blind. FAITHFUL became a name of God. And in that little apartment I leaned to BREATHE. (Thank you LORD, thank you)

Whew, Ok… so after we had created the April card it became clear that we could not continue this. Long discussions with the LORD and between Kristen and I determined that it was time to lay it down. I knew deep in my heart that it was not over but now was not the time to continue on. It was a hard thing because I knew with all my heart that the LORD had stirred this up in me. I knew I was following His lead. I knew the vision was from Him. It felt a little like failure yet a lot like freedom to lay it down. My heart broke as we made the decision but I knew it was the right thing to do. There was no card created in May, or since PASSION. I honestly let it REST…until October first two thousand six.