Relief in the releasing

release:

verb · allow or enable to escape from confinement; set free. · allow (something) to move, act, or flow freely.

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God gave me a word this week, and he made sure I heard it loud and clear.

"Release".

A sentence like the one above for some reading this can sound ridiculous, like the mumblings of a crazy person. For some reading this, you fully understand the breadth of it. Whichever way it resonates with you, my hope is that maybe just maybe if you're reading this, god will stir your heart like he's stirred mine....

It was at the end of this Sunday's church service.

(The first one I'd been to in weeks and to be honest the only reason I went

was because I woke up with something inside me telling me I should go.)

The sermon was ending, and there was space and silence to sit with the music playing, to reflect and be still. I heard it. Simple and clear.

In the moment I really wasn't sure what to make of it. "Release".

Release.....what?

Control? Fear? Doubt? ...

We left service, and I knew that God was trying to stir something in me, but I still was unsure of what it all meant.

Tuesday came. A friend texted. We met for a playdate.

(I really didnt want to meet, I had been up all night editing, but something told me I should.

She had no plans to hang out with me, but something in her heart told her to reach out.)

And god met me right there in that park, through her.

He spoke again, loud and clear.

"Release"

He found me, right in the middle of my wandering.

When I talk about my faith, it's a relationship not a religion.

When people ask what that means. THIS. This is what I mean.

A god, so good, he goes through all lengths to bring us back close to him when we're getting pulled away.

Who uses people as his hands and feet to prove the depths of his love.

Who stops us from drowning when we can't see the tide coming in.

How can I not love a God that good?

How can I not seek a God that faithful?

How can I not tell you about a God that beautiful?

I don't have another 6 paragraphs to talk about what that simple, defining word means in relation to my life.

But what I can tell you is that it's going to change me.

Change where my attention goes, where my priorities lie, where my eyes are directed.

I needed to hear it before the tide came to wipe me right on out.

And with that I will leave you with a song I cried tears of joy over on my ride back home.

Yeah, I'm still here, that mumbling crazy girl, who believes Jesus is just that faithful,

she's moved to tears by him.

Who's saved me more times than I've deserved,

Who's given me more peace than I could ever find,

Who's loved me more deeply than I could ever grasp.

Oh how I wish this for your life too.

And if you're so inclined to, I highly recommend watching the sermon.

Kyle speaks soooo much goodness that needs to be heard:

Click Me

"I'll never be more loved than I am right now,

Wasn't holding you up, so there's nothing I can do to let you down.

Doesn't take a trophy to make you proud.

I'll never be more loved than I am right now.

Going through a storm, but I won't go down.

I hear your voice carried in the rhythm of the wind to call me out

You would cross an ocean so I wouldn't drown

You've never been closer than you are right now

You are Jireh

You are enough.

I will be content

In every circumstance

You are Jireh

You are enough. "