The Secret Place

Last summer we took some of our youth to Elkton, Maryland for Youth Fest 2007.
On our way home, after being in the van for about 8 hours i exclaimed, “I don’t know how truck drivers do this day in and day out.”
And Emily Fahey replied, “their mullets give them super powers!”
Needless to say we all laughed hysterically.
I made a video of the trip, you can watch it below!
JH

I believe The “Secret Place” started with the Garden of Eden. That was to be the place where God walked and talked with Adam & Eve, where he told them secrets, where they fellowshipped with one another. I believe that the Garden of Eden still exists, that He still calls us there. It’s a place where the Lord walks through, and waits with anticipation for a visit from His creation, from the ones formed in His image. He wants us to come and seek Him, to walk with Him, to explore His beauty.

Let me explain by taking a look at intimacy with the Lord in the very beginning:

The Garden of Eden

1. Genesis 2:8 “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man He had formed.”

2. Genesis 3:8“ Then the man and His wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…”

3. Genesis 3:8b-11a “ and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

Adam didn’t want the Lord to see him because he was naked. He was afraid and ashamed. His desire for intimacy and friendship with the Lord were quickly turned into fear.

Sometimes we are afraid of intimacy because it exposes us. Everything we are is out in the open; nothing can be hidden from Him. Do you find you are afraid of intimacy with the Lord in your life?

I believe there are places he wants to take our spirits but we must be surrendered to Him.

Surrender means giving him the most important thing to Him: our time. (if our time is spent with Him we will become like Him)

Time with Him instills Trust.

Mutual trust develops intimacy.

Intimacy opens up revelation.

Just take a look at John the Beloveds life, he was close with Jesus. This intimacy with Christ would later lead him to be entrusted to write the book of Revelation.

What revelation has not been entrusted to us from the Lord because we weren’t willing to pay the price to receive it?

In order to be intimate with the Lord we must trust Him, and in return He must be able to trust us with His heart.

Feel free to leave comments.

Thank you for reading!

Jenniferlee

“Unless you become like a child you will not inherit the Kingdom of heaven.”

~Jesus

It seems once we hit the teen years we always want to be in the next phase of life.

For Example:

When we are teenagers we want to be adults so our opinions will be respected and we can be trusted with responsibility.

When we are adults we remember those worry free years and wonder why the heck we wanted to grow up so fast.

When we are single, we want to be married.

When we are married we remember the care-freeness of being single.

We wish we had children; then when we have them we remember the time to ourselves we had before them.

We want careers; once we get the career we can’t wait to retire.

Once we retire we feel useless and want to be needed again.

And we go out of the world the way we came in: toothless, hairless, and needing someone else to change our diaper.

I think the only phase in our lives we don’t want to move from is being a child. I remember when I turned 12 I was terrified of growing up, of going into junior high, of packing away the Barbies and my little ponies that I had spent the last 9 years of my life playing with (I think I may have waited until I was a freshman to actually store them away). I just wanted to be a kid, but I felt school and friends and society pulling me to grow up.

Some of my greatest memories are of my childhood.

My sister Amber (who is 17 months older) and I spent every waking moment together. We would wake up, eat breakfast and head outside to explore the barns that our Mommy told us not to go in (for fear of them falling in on us). We would play pretend, and play with our bunnies Brownie and Blackie (we were geniuses when it came to naming our pets). Then we would run inside and catch an episode of Batman & Robin, then run upstairs to continue playing “Days of Our Lives” with our Barbies and My Little Ponies. Summers were filled with fun, swimming, playing with our cousins and soaking up the sun.

During my childhood my dad worked a lot to provide for us, but I never remember worrying about provision for a moment, I just remember that he would give us wild horse rides and bull rides, or play tick-tock with us when he got home from work. My mom was sick for most of our childhood with ulcerative colitis and blood clots, but I don’t remember her complaining, just being selfless and taking care of us.

Life was worry free and wonderful.

I believe that is why Jesus was so adamant about us becoming like children.

Why?

Because as a child I didn’t worry if I was going to have money for my next house payment or meal, I knew “my daddy’s got it.” It was trust in my father.

We need to learn to trust our Heavenly Father; we need to realize that He is going to take care of us. In my own life, we live by faith, from check to check, concert to concert, and there are times when it just gets down to the last dollar and I say, “Daddy, circumstances are looking a little grim–but I trust you. You are rarely early and never late.” And he hasn’t disappointed me yet; He is always right on time.

I always say, “If He fails me this time, it will be the first time.”

I think there are so many things we need to extract from this scripture of becoming like a child. Being a mom makes me realize how boring we are as adults. We don’t play anymore and we aren’t adventurous anymore. When is the last time you went exploring? The last time you swung on a swing? Or flew a kite? Or whatever it was in your childhood that made your world go round?

There is something so exhilarating about becoming like a child. I recently got tired of being so boring to my kids. I realized deep inside I love to pretend to go shopping with Eva (she pretends to buckle me in a car seat); I love building towers and watching Luik knock them down; I love having a big tent set up in our living room that they can camp in. It’s just that for so long I’ve had to “grow up,” I’ve been bogged down by the cares of this world and have forgotten what it is like to be like a child. I am so concerned with the everyday, day-to-day chores and bills, that I forget to just live!

Granted, you can’t just throw your bills to the wind and say you trust God to find them and pay them. I’m saying, however, to trust, believe, love, follow, forgive and be adventurous like a child would be.

A child really knows how to live.

When I am with Jesus, I must become like a child–I must have child like faith.

Attributes of A Child:

∂ A child is excited to see their Father.
∂ Children are sure and secure in who they are
∂ A child is grateful for the smallest gift.
∂ A child has great faith and believes easily.
∂ A child follows well.
∂ A child is eager to learn.
∂ A child loves unconditionally.
∂ A child forgives easily.
∂ A child has a heart filled with adventure.

So next time you find yourself wrapped and entangled with the cares and concerns of life, step away from your desk, put the phone down, close the laptop, put on some normal clothes and go buy some Legos. Buy a Happy Meal for yourself. Or buy a collector’s addition Barbie or G.I. Joe, fly a kite, make a fort, or just take a walk and soak in the beauty of the Father who created it all for you. And remember to take a deep breath and live a little.

I’m going outside to run around in the giant snowflakes.

Thanks for reading,

Jenniferlee

“Of some departments of our work, however, we are apt to say—‘I have no gift, no talent for it.’ But surely dependence upon the promise of heavenly wisdom would obtain a competent measure to meet the demand. Or should it even be withheld, how profitable would be that humbling exercise of faith—‘most gladly to glory in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon us!’ But nothing is more paralyzing to faith—nothing more clogs the wheels of exertion, than repining indolence [fretful laziness] indulged under the cover of humility.”

~ Charles Bridges

Doing something that you don’t consider “your gift” requires humility. If we refuse to do things just because there are people that have perfected those things, we ourselves are proud. Sometimes we don’t attempt things just because we think we won’t be the best at them and therefore see no point or purpose in even trying.

For example, this blog. My husband set it up for me months ago, but I haven’t written. Why? Because I feel there are better bloggers, writers, people with better theological understanding, and the list goes on and on. But this quote made me realize I need to write, even though I’m not the best writer, and I haven’t truly written since high school, and… and… and… yada yada yada. So here it is, my first post. I am cringing as I write it because it is all so new and unfamiliar.

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” ~Philippians 2:3

Jenniferlee