My Beloved

I was recently part of organizing and creating an atmosphere of worship for a women’s retreat.  It was a retreat like non-other than I have ever been part of before.  The Lord was there in such a way that the blessings are still ringing out. About a month before the retreat the Lord gave me this letter, “My Beloved” to give to the ladies and I believe He would have me share it with you. 

At the retreat someone shared a riveting and powerful video by Graham Cooke called… “To My Beloved”.  It was only God who could of orchestrated the two to be shared on the same weekend to the same ladies… to me!  I am sharing both.  So when you are done reading the letter from Him to His Bride (YOU) please take the time to watch the video, it will richly bless you.  He is calling you…. will you go?

My Beloved

My dearest love, do you not know how deep my love runs for you?  Oh how I long to scoop you up in my arms, twirl you around as your hair blows in the breeze.  I long to catch a glimpse of that beautiful smile that Father God created.  How beautiful is the smile He made just for you.  It fits you perfectly my love.

I have been following, pursuing and loving you all the days of your life.  When you were in your mother’s womb and you felt her pain when she thought of you, I was there comforting you.  I was covering and protecting you.  My Spirit was in the water that surrounded your tiny little shape and My Spirit flowed through your lungs giving you life.  He nurtured you for Me because of  My great love for you from the beginning.  You may have not been planned by your family but you were most definitely planned by My Father… We have a purpose for you.

I knew your heart would yearn for me, that you would eventually turn to me and it brings me such joy to see it come to pass.  I also knew the pain that you would endure throughout your life, the struggles that pain would cause you and how much you would fear.  The enemy could see your worth and your love for me too, and he could also see your weaknesses and he formed a terrible plan against you and I sent angels to minister to you and protected you.  I bound the enemy so he could not end your life and I have made sure you have been and always will be under my protection.  You are my girl, you are hidden under my wings.

My sweet love, how I long for the day when you abandon all your fears and run to me.  I see you peeking out from time to time as you think you are sneaking a peak of me.  As soon as you think I am looking you dart back behind the wall you have built.  I love you so much and I have more patience than you could imagine. I will not give up, you will be able to love Me with an abandoned love. I have so much to give you and I am just waiting for you to ask.  Remember my covenant to you?  It is unbreakable and I will forever honor my part regardless of your ability to honor yours.  I know you will make mistakes, I have already taken care of that for you.  Just touch my hands and you will see.

I wait with you to hear your desires and your invitation to be part of your life. You are my girl, my beloved, my passion!  I will always pursue you, I am right beside you. Come Away With Me…                         Yeshua

Carri Schutter ©2015  

Fierce Protector

Psalm 91:4

“He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart”

This Bible verse has always captured my heart.  I have had many things happen in my life where I have needed the protection of our Father, and this verse reminds me that no matter what happens, I always have it!  His protection is fierce and requires nothing on our parts other than faith and from past experience, sometimes not even that.

This painting was done by my amazing husband, Mark.  You can see more of his works and writings at markschutter.com.

Know you are loved by the God who made all things.  You were beautifully and wonderfully made and His eyes are upon you!

Are You A Sledgehammer?

Life has been pretty hectic for me lately.  The time I have for writing has dwindled and when I do have time I am so tired I don’t want to write, I want to rest!  When I really start getting busy I tend to say no to the things that give me life and continue to say yes to everyone and everything else because heaven forbid I let someone else down.  That has to come to an end to some extent.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many times when we need to die to ourselves and continue to give to others, even when we are tired and overdone.  But when it happens on a continual basis something happens to us.  We empty out so completely that there is nothing left to give… not even a kind word to the ones you love the most.  You know what I am talking about don’t you?  Of course you do because it can happen to us all.

I was at church last night and I got to hear one of our pastors that doesn’t normally preach because our teaching pastor was home recuperating from surgery.  You know how you get used to hearing someone and then you realize someone else is preaching and the man (or woman) inside of you gets bummed.  Not because the other person isn’t great, but because you had set expectations there weren’t going to be met.  We can be so selfish sometimes.

Pastor Mike is a funny man, lively and outgoing!  My husband and I are introverts so sometimes people like him take us back a bit… mostly because we wish we could be so lively and happy to talk with everyone that we come in contact with!  He has a passion that is intoxicating and his passion for the Lord is something I will always aspire to.

In his message last night there were some wonderful points, many that should be shared… but in this season of my life the one that hit me the most had to do with being a sledgehammer.  He told a story about tearing down a wall with a sledgehammer and seeing the rubble all around him, likening that rubble to the people we leave in the wake of our unkind, angry or even hateful words. What I wrote in my notes was this… “Words are like sledgehammers… don’t leave a pile of broken people laying on the floor behind you when you are done with them.”

It cut me deep.  Not because I am a nasty person and talk horrible things over others.  The opposite is true most of the time.  I love to encourage others and make them feel wonderful about themselves.  But if I am honest, the people I love the most get the least of that side of me.

See I am tired from all that goes on my life as most people are today.  So when I am home with my family they get the brunt of that.  Example… My daughter comes running into the room, loud and laughing with the joy of the Lord because she has fully memorized her long Bible verse (something I struggle doing) and just wants to share it with me, what do I do?  I immediately tell her to quiet down and to quit running because I am tired and don’t want to hear it!  Now, I wasn’t overly loud or mean when I said it, but my words though they were true, took the wind out of her sail and left her feeling lifeless and unimportant.  My heart was crushed as soon as I saw what I had done.

How often do I crush part of her spirit with the quick words that just flow out of my mouth?  Am I bringing life to her or crushing her spirit and draining all the happiness and joy she has right out of her?  It is said that children laugh over 400 times a day and adults… only 17.  Are my words robbing her of those laughs?  I am not saying there are not times that she needs to be serious, but do we prefer serious at the expense of joy?

My new prayer is that I would see her and my husband for how the Lord created them… filled with great joy and love for HIM… filled with happiness that bubbles over in laughter and sometimes jumping, screaming and spinning craziness.  Those things can cause me a bit of anxiety but I can live with that anxiety because it is reminding me that I have lost my laughter and have become the sledgehammer and in the moment I can choose to be different.

Are you the sledgehammer or do you choose to be different as well?

Labels

Darkness or Light?

What are you going to choose today? No matter the circumstance I will choose to live in the light of the Son, instead of the smothering darkness of the enemy.

Whit’s End Mealtime Devotions Giveaway!

I have had the great pleasure of reviewing a couple books by Tricia Goyer.  I have fallen in love with her writing, both fiction and non-fiction and have now been given the opportunity to review a devotional for children that she has been able to work on.  The devotional is Whit’s End Mealtime Devotions by John Avery Whittaker with help from Tricia Goyer and Crystal Bowman.

Mealtimes in our day and age are very sadly a dying thing.  Many people are so over-booked, overworked and overwhelmed to sit down and take a meal together because there just doesn’t seem to be enough time.  But what a wonderful thing for the family it is.  There have been many studies that show that families who eat meals together regularly have less troubles within themselves and with their kids as they grow older.  The family grows into a tight knit unit and I ask this…  how wonderful is that!

This devotional is wonderful because it gives the family something fun to chew on during that mealtime.  It gives your mealtime more meaning that just the fact that is is centered around food.  They are short fun little devotionals.  And each one is a little different.  Sometimes they require getting out the Bible, other times it is just about asking and answering questions.  Regardless, they are so great and filling.  I highly recommend it for your family.  They will love it as much as I do!  But the best test was my daughter… she is head over heals in love with this devotional and ask, “Do we get to do the devotional again!!!”  She can’t wait!

Here is a copy of the first several pages if you would like to check it out for yourself!

Whit’s End Mealtime Devotions!

Now after all that I have something exciting for you!  I have been given a free book to give away here on my site!  Yay! I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  So, if you are interested in winning this book there are a few ways you can enter to win it.

1.  Leave a comment below with your favorite devotional that you do with your kids.  Also, if you have a special thing you do at mealtimes to make it more meaningful, please share with us so we can have some fun too!  Also leave a note if you followed my blog, Facebook page or Twitter page as well.. so I can be sure to count those entries as well!

2.  Follow my blog 🙂  Easy peasy!

3.  Follow my Facebook page!

4.  Follow my Twitter page!

5.  Post on Facebook about this giveaway!

6.  Tweet on Twitter about this giveaway!

7.  Pin this giveaway on Pinterest!

If you post, tweet or pin an this please leave a link for me in your post below!  🙂

That is it!  There are 7 easy ways to enter!  I will be picking the winner June 22th!  Good luck to you all!  God bless!

The Ultimate Artist

Both of these pictures are taken from my back porch.  The top one taken only moments before the bottom one.  One with oranges and one with purples!  Each absolutely beautiful in their own way.  God is the true Master Creator!

Do you see Him that way?

Fix your eyes on Him, because though there is so much in the world we do not understand, He has shown us through His creation that He is good and He is still working today.  He wants to work in your life just the same way He works in the beauty of His creation!

Do you believe He does?

You are a creation more beautiful than all the beautiful sunsets you could imagine.  You were created in His image!  You were created for greatness… to be loved… to be cherished… to be fought for.  Jesus fought for you!  He died for you.  Finally, He rose from the dead for you… He did all this so that you could live with HIM forever, because He loved you more than all the other things he had created.  He wants to be with you every single day.

Will you hear Him?

Boston Marathon Tragedy

4/15/13 – Another day to Never Forget…

Yesterday was my birthday.  I have trouble with my birthday each year due to sadness that fills the month of April in our home and the memories of things in my past that haunt me on a regular basis, thought not as much as they could if Christ wasn’t ministering to my heart on a continual basis.

Yesterday my family wanted to make the day special and all I wanted was to stay home and spend time alone in the quietness of them.  Not far into my day as I searched the web I was shocked and saddened to see the events unfolding at the Boston Marathon.  Sadness, anger and fear rose inside of me as I sat thinking about how I watched 9/11 unfold in the exact same way, watching live as the second plane flew into the tower, watching them fall and watching thousands die.  With disbelief I watched yesterday and thought “maybe it isn’t so.”  But it was.  Lives were ended, ripped apart and torn into pieces and not one person could change the fact that the horrid actions of a few changed the lives of so many forever.

I don’t know anyone that was hurt, but it affected me none-the-less.  When those that are loved by God (all of the human race) are hurt He cries, and so do I.  It isn’t His will for anyone to be hurt the way they were and are being hurt still today.  But He is with us giving us strength even when we don’t feel Him.  I have faced some terrible things and I didn’t always feel Him when I was going through those things, but I surely saw His hand when the time was right.  Seeing what He saved me from truly gives me a perspective of How incredibly loving and HOLY He is.  I don’t deserve to be saved, forgiven and I don’t deserve to receive any blessings at all… but He provides all those things anyway… freely.

I have been playing the song “Lamb of God” by Tenth Avenue North over and over again and what strikes me is that no matter what tragedy falls us, no matter who wills to destroy us He is still Holy, Worthy and Able and I will trust in Him for all my needs especially when I understand nothing… nothing at all.

This verse stands out to me more than any other…

“How do I dare approach this Holy One
The One who was and is, was and is to come
Robed in righteousness and mystery
We have only just begun, just begun to see
So I come broken through
The blood of Your Son and I kneel before You”

I pray for every single person hurt by this tragedy, that the Lord not only heals wounds of the body and of the heart but also of the spirit.  I pray the blood of Jesus over each person and pray that they would know His healing touch and His deep and forever free gift of salvation.  I pray that they would see that He is a God who is mightier than any foe out there and that all He wants to do is to be the one to fight for us.  All we need to do is ask and believe He will do it.  Even if it happens in a way we are not expecting.  God bless each of you in Boston and elsewhere affected by this tragedy.

 

Another Reason Good Friday Is Good!

I know I already shared one incredible video today, but this one deserves to be seen as well.  God is good!!! Be Blessed!

Good Friday (spoken word) from Central Films on Vimeo.

Come Out of the Shadows

I was having my devotional time yesterday and felt a deep sadness for things I felt I lost in my past because of things either done to me or things I saw around me.  As I mourned some things the Lord put this in my heart and I put it to pen and now it is here.  I share it with you because I know there are others out there with the same struggles and I believe this was meant for you too.  God bless each of you!

My girl, you are who you are because I created you to be that way.  And my precious daughter, you are good.  I love how I created you and never want you to change.  Every little quirk, every passion, every tear that falls for the broken, I put them there.  I love all those parts and pieces about you.  Oh how I love you!

Your pain and suffering is from the past and happened because your parents and others made bad choices, and you have had to deal with the fallout of their choices.  It was not my desire that you went through what you did, those were not the choices I would have made for you. But I can make all things work for My Glory and you can see such beautiful fruit as a result of My work in you.  The fallout you feel is not yours to deal with.  It is mine, give it to me.  I can turn water into wine.

How?

Come out of the shadows child and share it with your sister’s in Christ, with as many as will listen who know my name and are safe.  When you share the pain you feel with others it empties some of the  disease that fills you and allows me space to clean up the mess.  It allows me space to fill you up with my powerful Spirit and give you new life, a life you could have never imagined.  It will bring others into healing as well.  Your pain will bring life to many around you.

Remember… You are mine… I created you… I love you more than any other person will ever have the capacity to… the enemy of your soul tried to destroy you… I would not let him… I AM your God!  Come out of the shadows loved one and be… filled up… made new… fully restored… fully mine.