Home Away from Home

From far east coast beaches to now the west coast, my schedule continues to remain full! I enjoy living life abundantly and am so blessed to do life with incredible people all over. It is a home away from home here. I love the lavish simplicities of our lifestyle here in LA. We have so much conversation, coffee, and community gatherings. This week we are doing a deep body detox, trying to enter the holidays on the leaner side! I loved eating my lentils, persian cucumbers and edamame mash for lunch today alongside of green white tea. I had a morning that enabled me to get an hour massage that was fantastic. So many toxins and build ups released!

I meet amazing people every time I come, hence my community out here is gaining in size! God orchestrates my steps and schedules in a way that blows my mind. Through these Godly new friends I found myself at a Beverly Hills salon/spa having health food and sharing Jesus stories on the white couch while facials were being had then at Models for Christ last night where there was an immediate knitting of hearts with many. There are fundraisers, banquets, coffee appointments, and play dates all still ahead as we enjoy John 10:10.

This little yellow cottage in which I stay truly is my home away from home. Hugs and Kisses still for Atlanta though! Grateful to the Lord for life and life abundantly.

Charleston

I had a wonderful time in Charleston celebrating yet another beautiful bride. The way that God fashions fits for individual women and men leaves me to glorify Him even more! Laurie and Caleb have a God written story for all to enjoy and rejoice over this spring.

The maid of honor secured a gorgeous Charleston home on the beach for all 10 of us! It was stunning and so affordable, praise Jesus for deals. We set the table and enjoyed great homemade yummies including "you wont be single for long" basil pasta and chocolate brownies. Then off to the city for She crab soup, King Street, Cupcakes, and market shopping. We laughed and almost skipped on the brick streets in the perfect weather, all in black with the bride in white of course.

I was asked to share some thoughts of Scripture to the bride from the shoreline at the beach. It was truly a stunning morning filled with an occasional sand storm thanks to the wind gusts but it was perfect. I studied under the sunrise that morning praying He would convey what His heart wanted to communicate. It was so clear what He said and where He led me through my journey in the Word.

With coffee in hands and coats on bodies we opened with John 21, Jesus sweetly making his loved ones breakfast on the beach at "daybreak". Oh how many times Christ has made Himself visible and provided my needs in the center of my "day-breaks", not just at the sunrise horizon but when the day breaks in half just the same. He is so visible to those who want to see Him! It was a divine lead in to Proverbs 31 where we went verse by verse. God relayed some truths I had never seen until that morning. There is a definition not only of a Godly women hidden in Christ but of a Godly man-king as well. Never had I paid much attention to the first 9 verses but you cannot have the impact of the woman in the following 10-31 if you do not have the man listed in the first section. Truly a testament to Caleb and Laurie as two God centered Christ filled people! Proverbs 31 is not a standard or a measuring gage for how Godliness should be done by a woman, but more than that it is a picture, posture of who we already are IN Christ! He is all that in and through us. What hope, joy, and freedom this affords to the reader! A proverbs 31 recording will be posted at www.establishher.org soon...

We concluded our weekend with road trip goodies, well dont know if you can consider Pringles, candy and oreos as goodies, but they were good for that moment. We all laughed in agreement that this week deserves a very strict body detox diet! Ha! Thanks to sermon messages and great company our 6 hour drive was effortless and safe. God is good to give us celebrations, community, and Charleston!!

Look Up

As the sun baked me brown on blue and white speckled chairs, my eyes were drawn upward. Living it up in Tampa laying out at the yacht club, the Lord spoke to me a sweet word: look up and watch for Me!

The pool was quite empty with only a few south Tampa socialites creating ripples and conversations in the shallow end, when it happened. A huge, I mean gigantic, air force plane passed over heads so low i could almost grab a seat, it seemed. It's sound reverberated through the sky as it made it's entrance into the tree line behind me. All I could do was look up in awe with mouth dropped. Simply incredible! But even more incredible, the size 2 women in gucci glasses never raised there head or batted an eye, much less looked up! One of two reasons potentially: they were engrossed in something more inspiring than a thousand plus pound machine turning mid flight right above their heads or it just had become utterly common to them- unworthy of a glance. Either way, I was shocked due to the activity above and below. Nothing wrong with gucci, being fit, or having a good convo but Something else is worth our attention! Look upward!

Are we too engrossed into life down here that we merely don't look up? God is actively present in the gorgeous blues and exponentially greater than Air Force One. He intersects our world all the time, do u notice it? What is so gripping down below that all above has become un-stimulatingly common? Has The Uncommon One creeped into the normal category by His creation? Oh how sad if this true. 

To live looking up, fully aware of all the awe in Life is better than to live in shallow conversations with heads never lifting above their horizontal plane. Colossians says to set our minds eye on things above not on the earthly trinkets that glitter to grab our attention. He says that because He knows what will be missed by those who don't look up. 

My afternoon at the pool was commenced, not with a 15 min old grilled cheese and talks in the shallows, but with a double jet stream pair of F16s screaming through the air I was breathing... Oh what I would have missed without the "look up"! 

I will not be satisfied with missing what is higher and far better. Let's look up today for He is passing over and playing in the skies! 

An Outfit this morning

II Kings 22: 14-20


The Bible just pops off the page sometimes. It did this morning as I sat overlooking the lake with coffee near and music on. It is like the veil between this life and that one is breached for a moment as the sounds ring, the trees sway, and the Word moves in power. It is a sweet powerful living book that stuns me with phrases, people, and predictions. It takes me out of this life and into the One that I was born to know fully. This morning I read of a woman I did not know previously. The scripture teems inside with new nuggets and characters just like this lake teems with so much underneath. As this earthly wind blows over me it is a picture of His breath through the Word blowing into me.

Huldah was her name. She was a prophetess and a wife. Powerful combination! Even more is that she was the wife of, believe it or not, the “wardrobe keeper for the king”. Seriously!? She was married to a man who had the eye for fashion over the royalty of the kingdom. Oh for that title in the line up of “king’s men”. Not only was she probably dressed to the nines with a keen eye but also that of a keen heart. She was a prophetess of God. Separated and sold out to the King of Israel! Men sought her out to hear her impression not her opinions. An impression is so different than an opinion. Often we all give opinions but rarely do we offer impressions. One who kneels before the Lord is given a keen sense of His opinion into the situation. As we lean into Christ, an impression can be His opinion into the situation. His opinion is all I want to hear and follow.

God had given a harsh dictation to the people of Judah in this passage and some had hardened their hearts because of it. Has God ever spoken a harsh word, direction, or truth to you? Oh He has to me, many a time. What posture does our heart turn to when the King speaks this way? Do we forsake and fret or do we believe and lean in still?

Some of the men as listed in the passage turned their hearts away from the Lord and provoked Him even more. Others were in the habit of bowing low with tender hearts to the God of “harsh words”. Though the word spoken was hard to palate they had nowhere else to turn but into the One who spoke. The one who fell into the Lord after this word was the king of Judah by sending these men out to listen to Huldah, the woman of God. Oh to be such a leader when a harsh direction or prediction of God is made that I look up and into Him regardless!

She told them that because they had turned towards the Lord with a tender humbled heart that He would truly hear them. What a thought? God truly hears and moves when we are broken and contrite with tenderness before Him. Lord, when You say something harsh, let me still, in humility, turn my heart towards you with tenderness just like they did. You ride in on the desperate cries of your people Lord! Awesome promise and posture. That is the best wardrobe to wear, a desperate bent heart towards the Living Lord Jesus.

All things Comfort

I just love days where the sun is finally out and the rain has past. I strolled through Whole Foods today searching for ingredients to make homemade bread and a surge of gratitude rushed through me. I was so comforted at God's provision in every way. He provides taste, touch, sight, smell, and emotion to add to the little comforts in life. Overwhelmed by the evidences of His reality and goodness that I had to write. So cheers to ALL things comfort... in my mind!

Partly opened and tasted foods on the way home from the grocery store
Aprons, the old fashioned full body kind
Fresh baked whole wheat millet bread ( my cousins recipe- thanks Lela)
Flour all over a kitchen island
Iced Water that has the outer mist covering the cool glass
Hot summer days at the pool
Think Thin creamy peanut protein bars
Seeds of all sorts, just the mini ones
Sun drops M&M's ( the healthy version with no food coloring)
Hannah and Mercy Girl, especially out of the bath all clean
House guests that are family
Big momma ott breakfasts
fruit salad with poppy seeds all throughout
air conditioning that is frigid
fogged sunglasses going from in to outside
Beach trips ( any travel to anywhere really)
Juice Plus houseboat dinners
colorful food on white plates
Ovaltine
Hot tea with a dainty cup
Establish Her story nights around the fire ( or with blankets in the Ott house during summer cause it is a meat locker in my parents house)
My cream of asparagus and carrot soup with a dab of sour cream
Rao's pasta sauce and rotini
the red and white toile chair with a cozy folded blanket over the backside
perfectly ripened bananas
frozen HUGE red grapes
clear nail polish freshly applied
Vacuuming the house to music
the smell of brownies baking
Grains
VITAmix blender
a made bed with more pillows than space allotted
a bowl of almonds on a coffee table
wooden jewelry
the smell of Fresh Basil spray
Sea salt
pita chips and hummus that has just been opened
Kroger's cottage cheese with organic pears
Cousins weekend in North Carolina at the lakehouse

Life is good with all things comfort.

Connections

Jesus leaves me amazed at His network of connections, conversations, and circumstances that all culminate in a divine cup of coffee. Only He can order and direct miracles such as these. My life is full of such moments and I ask for more. In these times I sense His love, presence, and intimate involvement so deeply. Today was one of those "cups of joy". It was delightful to glean wisdom, share the person of Christ, and laugh over the goodness of Life with a seasoned woman. A woman who is dear friends with my Dearest friend. A woman who knows and bleeds the ministry of Jesus not the ministry for people. Big difference. Oh I just loved this mid-day mid-week mid-ministry mid-tear moment shared with Christ through her. The world, especially Atlanta, is so small and God is entirely larger than all. His connections are endless, His circumvention is unfathomable, and His conversational skills are sweet. I love Him with all my heart! Thank you for today Jesus and reminding me of what being connected to You really resembles.

In the Flow

Oh how the heart can be empty but quickly sit as full when Jesus is factored into the scenario! Worship, hearing the Word through my Pastor, and simply positioning myself in the receiving mode was healing tonight. "It is a fire shut up in my bones and indeed I am weary of holding it in"... so I must share with you the sweet refreshments He gave tonight. The topic was John 2, the wedding miracle. I wanted to roll my eyes but they were too full of tears to move. Wedding?! Really Lord... the thorn in my side that causes so much pain as of late, that is our topic tonight? Immediately following my unbridled honesty before Him, I asked that He would soften and tune.

That, He did. John 2 nuggets that pacified so much of me tonight:

Jesus is in the flow of my life and my tears. Just as the wine flowed, the water, then back to wine again- so Jesus is in tune with the flow of my events. He knows my details... He knows when I am empty and lacking. He knows when I am full and spilling out. He is not in a corner, but in the flow! Praise God! As Louie said there is no dividing line between secular and sacred when Jesus is in the scenario. He not only is in the flow, but He creates it. He knew when the wine would run out and He knew the wine He had waiting to pour out.

It is never too late with Jesus. He waits purposefully and intentionally to bring out the best, last. He shows up with the greatest at the latest. Oh to know and love a God that does waste He good wine first, but deliberating pauses to enjoy the good wine not any earlier than "until now". His timing is higher, deeper, and beyond explanation- but He always keeps His time. He is never late, not even concerning the matters of what seems to be expired. Nothing expires when He is keeping the time.

When Jesus is in the equation there is always the possibility and probability of a miracle! Is anything too hard for the Lord? He spent the better part of the OT declaring that through faithfulness and promises and actions. Declare it again O Lord to this little girl. Nothing is too hard for Me, He says. Nothing. Especially nothing in your world, Sarah, that I created and ordained each day of anyway. A miracle, that is what I want and need. A miracle that seems ever waited for and barely hanging on by a thread... a miracle of Your divine intervention into my heart, love story, circumstances, etc.

"Whatever your story is right now- it is not finished! He can pull out the unthinkable at the impeccable time. Do not lose Hope!"

There is always a plan in motion. Jesus knew the wine would run out. He always has a plan in motion not the need for a Plan B to fix what did not work. His plans are unfolding not unraveling- they are always right, always better, and always clear ( hind's sight). You will see something that will blow your mind- but we need eyes to see it in the place of gap between now and then. while I am down on my knees fervently praying for the desires of my heart and the heart of my desires, Jesus sees it " on the desk"! He already sees the answer, the moment, the man, the talk, the day, the end, etc... He sees it while I am pleading for it. God is on the case and has been since before I was even interceding! What a thought. He is parting the waters and pulling out miracles all the time... But He puts us, especially me, through the fire because He wants me to CLING to Him even if/when the "miracle" does not come in the way or day I thought. Cling tighter! Cling to Me, He says!

Because the greatest Miracle has already happened! RESURRECTION! He was not only providing wine for a party but His mind was on providing His death for my life. It was all a picture of the great miracle He was, not just miracles He did! All my prayers will not be answered with packages I hoped for however resurrection happened and happens still! He raised from the dead, therefore all He is exists in me because I too was raised from the dead in my heart. My heart can beat with life, though broken, because He is alive. That is enough! Beat little heart beat.

Miracles are free to me! The people at the wedding didnt have to pay for the best wine or work for it. It came when they least expected it without anything they did earning it- in fact, they were pigs and had drank everything! Jesus paid the highest cost that I might be able to remain in the receiving posture of His miracles of love, intervention, intercession, grace, hope, peace, mercy, and countless others. We can rest assured that we cant manufacture, manipulate, move, or maintain the miracles of God.... we just believe and receive Him!

with comfort this is written... thanks for miracles at weddings Lord. Thanks for being in the flow of my life and tears.