I cannot give what I do not have.

I do know that is stating the obvious, but sometimes it helps me to frame my world with language so I can make sense of its lessons.

Six years of living without electricity, without running water in the middle of one of the poorest corners of the planet as it fought its way back from decades of war has framed volumes of learning. Watching broken little lives be loved back to life and spill laughter again. Trusting God for our food and clothes and safety and healing and hope and everything else.

I am a born problem-solver, a creative to the core. An out-of-the-box thinker, a paradigm iconoclast. And then I moved to South Sudan.

All my good ideas were still good ideas, but they couldn’t feed a growing family or heal a dying child, let alone help a warring nation. I needed an overflow that came from heaven, not from earth.

I could not give what I did not have.  But Jesus.  Beautiful Jesus.  He came to give us life and life more abundantly.  The lessons mandated by desperation. These burn the deepest.

I can only love out of overflow.  Loving out of obligation never works.  I know.  I have tried. But where God’s Love is miracles always follow.  Why?  Because God IS Love and He is good.  Always good.  Even when we don’t understand.

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  Romans 5:5

You could say that is why I wrote this book, penned this invitation.

I need to live with heaven spilling into and through my life. Don’t you?

But what does that look like practically right where I am, where you are?

And the supernatural.  Why would I be interested in that?  Deep breath. I am not talking about Hollywood spookiness or staged showmanship.  I am talking about the raw reality of God’s love making a difference in our world and the ability to walk in close intimate fellowship with Him every single day.

Living supernaturally is simply our birthright in Jesus.  And where I lived in Africa, it was a down-in-the-dirt necessity. {Since moving back to America this fall, I have found it pretty necessary here too.}

The transition has been a bit bumpy in places.  Learning here too friends.  Always learning.  Always going lower.  If I want to know what I am carrying, I have but to look at what I spill out when jarred.

Abundant, joy-filled, wonder-washed, resurrection forever Life only comes from overflow not obligation, from get-to not have-to, from His goodness not His sternness. Only when I live from this overflow do I leak grace and live out His love story etched in my moments and my days.

This book. It is an altar with my story and an invitation laid bare on it.  It would be a joy to share at least part of the journey with you.

Might I encourage you?  Be brave enough to stop.  To seek out selah spots right in the middle of your busy life where you can slow and come to Jesus. {Those quiet moments you can steal away when the kiddos fall asleep in traffic or the rare occasion you are in line alone at the grocery store.}  Lean in then to God’s whispers and draw near to Him.  He longs to speak to you in every setting.

Open wide your heart to His Spirit and the outpouring of His love.  Drink deep.  Splash freely.  Flow over.  Spill life.   You and your world will never be the same.

Pssst… I am so excited!  Today, just for Bloom I am giving away THREE autographed copies of An Invitation to the Supernatural Life.  One of the best ways to grow in receiving more from Jesus is to honor and appreciate what He has already done.  To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us one thing you are grateful God has done for you. As we read these testimonies keep in mind, a testimony is a legal precedent.  It builds our faith and encourages all of us to believe God for the more we are created for.  So let’s get this testimony party started!

Always remember.  You are loved,

Michele, From The Unpaved Road

 

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