Still hangin’ in Numbers. My thought this morning as I’m reading is that grumbling, complaining, and BLAME-SHIFTING is an age old dilemma.

“Blame-shifting is a manipulative tactic where a person denies responsibilities for THEIR actions, mistakes, or abusive behavior by transferring the blame onto someone else.”

The people were blaming Moses, God…heck, anyone else they could find to blame…instead of taking a look at themselves and asking what did WE do to contribute to this situation or what can WE do to get ourselves out of this situation. They were literally like “hey! YOU haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey…YOU haven’t given us a new homeland…”

On and on and on they went…ungrateful for what had already been given to them and blaming others for what had not yet been given to them.

Personal responsibility is not the norm. Taking a good, hard look at ourselves and the situations we are in is a sign of maturity. Looking at others and finding ways to blame them is a sign of immaturity.

One posture moves you forward. One keeps you stuck in unhealthy patterns…going round and round…sometimes for generations…or in the case of this story…for about 40 years.

Want to get unstuck? Look inward, not outward. Stop complaining, start doing. Stop blaming, starting owning.

xox.eb

I was thinking this morning how taking steps forward BY FAITH with hands and hearts wide open is both unsettling and fully settling at the same time.

We’re not used to movement without control. We want to KNOW know. We want to plot and plan. We want the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted. But living BY FAITH doesn’t work that way.

Living BY FAITH means we are fully reliant on following the Lord over following what we feel. We take steps forward when the door is open while simultaneously being willing to stop if the door closes. We surrender our timing to His. We don’t push, we’re pulled. We feel like participants in HIS story..not like the ones writing it.

I used to describe it as the difference in being the director of a movie…orchestrating it, writing and managing every scene…versus being IN the movie…directed and watching it unfold. The first scenario may falsely make us feel more safe…but it’s the second one that is truly the safest place to be.

Following. Not directing.

xox.eb

“Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everythingthey said.” -Numbers 11:1

They’d just been rescued from the bondage of Egypt…but there, they had meat and fruits and veggies…and now…since they’ve been freed…all they have is manna. Over and over again…just manna.

And so, they complained.

Have you ever done that? Asked the Lord for something or for him to help you OUT of a situation…only to get to the new place to discover that there were issues there as well. I mean…that’s life. It ain’t easy all the time and there’s no situation that’s perfect.

Heck. I’ve been complaining about gas prices and food prices. And yet, I can buy both of those things. I have a car to put gas in. I have a full working kitchen to cook that food in. We go out to eat when we want to. Any way you slice it, we’re blessed.

Anyway. That scripture made me pause this morning and maybe it will make you pause as well.

xox.eb

“Whenever the cloud lifted, the people of Israel would break camp and follow it. In this way, they traveled and camped at the Lord’s command wherever HE told them to go.” Numbers 9: 17-18

We started living this way in 2008. We were in Southern Pines, on our farm we never thought we’d leave, when the cloud moved and we KNEW we were to break up camp and follow it.

Supernatural movement happened the whole way through…from selling smack dab in the middle of a real estate recession to listing it for what he told me to ($888,000) and having it go under contract on 8/8/8. It was quite the lesson in hearing and obeying.

And now, it seems the cloud is moving for us again. We find ourselves on a farm we thought we’d NEVER leave…on a mountain we thought we’d be buried on…and yet, we know. Supernatural movement has already begun.

Following the cloud, we have found, is a much better way to live than just making decisions on our own and doing what WE think is best. That hasn’t always turned out the way we thought it would.

BUT.

When we wait, and watch, and the cloud moves, and then HE provides a step to step out on…and we step…and then another step appears…it removes any angst on whether you’re doing the “right thing” or simply following your emotions. I, for one, on a move this big…did NOT want to follow my emotions. I needed the cloud. ☁️

xox.eb

I wrote about this yesterday, then took it down. I sent it to Keith to critique and then, took it down again. Some mornings, my thoughts aren’t fluffy and pretty and devotional like. Some mornings, my thoughts are controversial and questioning and not fluffy at all:). This is one of those thoughts.

I commented on a “Christian Influencers” account yesterday after they were PRAISING Trump’s Easter Sunday post. Did you see it? If not…oh, you can find it out there. Anyway, I was instantly blasted with mean comments and called a Trump hater.

For real y’all? Seriously? Can we not call a spade a spade without having to add so much spin?

This morning, I woke up and opened Facebook (mistake) to see another “Christian influencer” stating that God used Trump to post that as a prophetic declaration. 😳 okay.

I voted for Trump. Twice. And…given the choices we had, I’d do it again.

But.

Voting for someone and hoping they move forward on what they campaigned on does not equal blind allegiance and never saying “hey…that’s not okay.”

And…that’s not okay.

No matter how you want to spin it.

There ya go. That’s MY morning thought.

And p.s. I’m not a Trump hater. I’m actually not an anybody hater. I cannot think of a single soul or a people group I could say I hate. Questioning things doesn’t = hate. It equals curiosity and using our God-given brains.

xox.eb

In Leviticus 27, the priests are “assessing value” to things from houses to animals to people. For example…a woman between the ages of twenty to sixty was valued at 30 shekels…a man of that age was valued at 50.

Once again, all I can think is that RELIGION tries to place a “value” on people. Oh come on, you know it’s true. Do you have valuable gifts that can serve? Prophetic insight that can draw a crowd? Do you make a lot of money so you can give large tithes?

Religiosity is no better than the world and its “value system”. Actually, I think it’s far worse because it’s cloaked in piety.

Jesus. Oh, he KNOWS your value. He knew it before you were born. He knows it even when you don’t. He doesn’t assign a value amount based on how well you perform or produce or provide money through a tithe.

Don’t let the religious system…or ANY system for that matter…assign value to you. There’s only one who can do that and he’s already made it clear just how valuable you are.

xox.eb

This is too good not to share!

Soooo…I’m about to be the recipient of some of my father’s land (so much I could say about that) and Keith and I plan to build on it. It’s kind of secluded. Last night, I said to Keith “wonder if I’ll be scared at night when we’re out there at first? If we hear a twig crack or a noise … “

And this morning, still in Leviticus, I opened up my reading to THIS EXACT VERSE:

“I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause of fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land.” - Lev 26:6

Y’all. Our God is a God who knows our every fear, our every concern, our every need…every hair on our head! He’s intricately involved, right beside us, behind us, in us. He sees all, knows all, cares about it all. He’s down to the detail. The little things that seem silly and small to us, he still cares about.

I don’t know why things like this alway blow me away. It’s simply his nature and it’s simply our inheritance as his children to hear and know his voice.

xox.eb

I’m still thinking about my post and that scripture from yesterday.

If you missed it…this was the scripture:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you OUT of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.” - Leviticus 26:13

He brought me “out” May 19-21, 2008.

I was thick in it. Smack dab in the middle of over achieving, striving, working for worth, performance, title seeking…

And I was SPENT.

Physically. Spiritually. Emotionally.

Over the course of a three day encounter…he literally scrambled my business brain to mush. What mattered on the 18th felt like a world away by the 21st.

He rescued me.

He “brought me out” … “so I would no longer be its slqve.”

It was breaking me.

Trying to be the best…work the hardest…go to the top the fastest.

Many don’t have to be fully stopped in order to fully stop.

I did.

And looking back, I’m so glad he pulled me out.

He is the master of yoke breaking.

xox.eb

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you OUT of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.” - Leviticus 26:13

He doesn’t bring us OUT to have us still be enslaved to the things that had a hook in us there.

You can’t be IN Egypt (world system) and affect it if you’re still enslaved to it.

What are you enslaved to in the land of Egypt?

Performance

Opinion of others

People pleasing

Over working

Striving

Selfish ambition

Self promotion

Trust in self and your own abilities

Trust in money

Trying to keep up with others

Guess that wasn’t really a short thought … but a good thought to ponder, nonetheless.

That yoke been broke…don’t let anyone put it back on you…including yourself.

xox.eb

This morning, as soon as I opened Facebook, a post from a well known prophetic voice came through my feed. The title: “The Camels are Coming.”

Oh, I stopped immediately. Why? Because at the beginning of 2021, in the middle of the night, I woke up hearing”the camels are coming” … that EXACT phrase. I didn’t understand what it meant at all. Odd.

A week or so later, I traveled to my grandparents home to help clean it out a bit and I found a hand carved (by my great grandfather) camel. He was an amazing whittler and I feel so blessed to have some of his items. Anyway…a camel carved…I found that interesting and confirming. It want his “norm” type of thing to whittle.

Then, a few weeks ago, a friend of mine from high school posted “the camels are coming.” The exact same phrase.

And so, on this first day of SPRING…I went back into my old notes and found where I had written about it and thought I’d re-share it. I’m going to dig a little deeper into it as well…will let you know if I learn anything new!

Love to you all on this beautiful Friday, first day of spring, finally warm day!!

xox.eb

Here’s my original post from 2021:

MORNING THOUGHTS ☕️: Words for 2021.

* THE CAMELS ARE COMING. *

Well, that’s an odd one. I LOVE when the Lord says things to me that I could not make up if I tried AND that I have to go on a treasure hunt for. This is one of those.

Camel, in Hebrew is Gimel or Gamel. The third letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It means:

REPAYMENT of something lost or STOLEN.

Let’s back up. The enemy comes to kill, STEAL, and destroy. (Do you think he’s at work right now in our nation?!! This is why we need to wake up and get ABOVE the political/election noise. There’s a principality...not flesh and blood...over this nation that is trying to destroy the very fabric of who we are. Division is ALWAYS a tactic of the enemy.)

So. The enemy steals. The lord restores that which was stolen. Do you have things in your life that have been stolen? Physical things? Spiritual things? People? Think back. Take a look. I know there are a few things I’m going to be asking to be PAID BACK.

Camels are known to be beats of burden. They are carriers of heavy things. They can travel long distances in dry land. They can withstand long periods without water. They are known to be able to withstand CHANGES that would kill other mammals but they can survive. They are working animals. They were symbols of wealth. They were one of the greatest assets for early armies.

The camels are coming. Let’s watch and see.

More thoughts from yesterday’s post.

We aren’t who we were. We’ve grown. Changed. Matured. So, reaching BACK to what was may be more of an insecurity move than anything else. If there are parts of our identity still wrapped up in what we DID, those parts can feel unstable and that instability can make us want to cling on to something.

Don’t.

Let Him finish the identity work he started in you. Let it allll settle down. Let the world move on.

You….sit at his feet until the need to “do” for approval of others or to feel valuable is GONE. He wants us fully free from that.

In a world that’s constantly doing…just being is the real flex.

And then, when all of that performance and approval mentality fades away…you’ll be able to hear very clearly what’s next and you’ll GO with an entirely different posture than if you’d just started something back up to fill a void.

He wants us healed not hurried.

He wants us free not fixated.

He wants us clear not confused.

He wants us single focused not scattered.

He wants us to know who we are aside from anything we’ve ever done or accomplished.

Sometimes, things have to be stripped away to fully grasp it.

xox.eb

I told Keith the other night that I am really, really working on only looking AHEAD and not back. I’m really longing to LET GO of it all so my hands and heart can be fully open to what is coming, not what was. I’ve sat in a grief place for long enough now…anybody else? I feel like grief has defined my last couple of years and I’m ready for joy. I’m also purposing to not just “pick up” something from the past that I’ve done, created, or started…it’s so easy to get into the “I should have…” or “I could have…” or to look longingly on past seasons that were so full of life and want to recreate them. But my realization is that when we do that…it fills our hands and doesn’t leave them free to receive what’s coming because they are full of what was. Does that make sense? Can anybody else relate? Anyway…love to you and happy Wednesday!

xox.eb

“So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life.” - Leviticus 18:3

I remember years ago, the Lord said to me “be among them, but not one of them.”

There are places I used to “live” and…I behaved just like everyone around me. In the world and OF the world. But God doesn’t resuce us from that life for us to go back in and behave the same. He calls us out to heal us and then, sometimes, he sends us back in. But we will never change environments by succumbing to the status quo. We will never be salt and light if we step in and behave by the customs of “Egypt” (world system). We will never fully grasp the fullness of HIS strength if we go in and try to operate fully out of our own.

Imitate: to follow as a model. To make a copy of. To have the appearance of.

We always have a choice. Imitate and reflect Jesus or imitate the world around us and blend in. His ways are not our ways…and so, in a world that wants it “our way” … following His way is, for sure, a road less traveled.

xox.eb

This morning, right as I was waking up, I saw an image of a shepherd (dog) leaning against the side of a white porcelain bathtub…almost lifeless…so thirsty and it was trying desperately to crane its neck to try and get a drop of water out of the tub.

What an image.

I imagine it’s a picture of the shepherds…both in the church AND in the filed….almost lifeless…so tired…desperate for refreshing for themselves.

Two scriptures came to mind.

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” - John 7:37

“Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28

Did you notice the PRESCRIPTION in both?

COME. TO. ME.

Oh, we can preach about him, talk about him, believe in him…be leading in HIS name…be ministering to the masses…be in the field working and reaching people FOR him.

But.

If we don’t learn to COME TO HIM…I mean really, really come to him and rest and just be and sit at his feet…we will always end up lifeless, worn out and thirsty….no matter how good the work we are doing is.

Busy is not a badge. Rest is required. Refreshing is mandatory.

The shepherds are thirsty.

xox.eb

Those yellow and pinks peeking in my kitchen window are giving me the joy this morning. I don’t know why, but every year, I’m AMAZED at how quickly a season can change. What can feel cold and dark and barren one moment, yields to warmth and light and blooming the next. It’s always such a good reminder to not hold so tightly to seasons in our own lives.

I’ve had seasons that I thought would be forever. And then, they weren’t. And I was crushed. But…that’s not the right posture. I now look at those seasons with so much gratitude and remember how blessed I was to have been part of them and to have learned from them. And then…I look straight ahead and into whatever the next season may hold…knowing it will be different but beautiful in its own way…and, perhaps I will now know through life lessons and time, to not cling to it too tightly, for it, too, will slip into another season one day in the future.

To everything there is a season.

xox.eb

One thing I’ve noticed, over and over again…at the end of paragraphs full of details and exact orders to follow it says this: “Moses followed ALL these instructions EXACTLY as the Lord commanded.”

It’s really challenging me because for SURE I know there are some things I have heard from the Lord that I did NOT follow exactly as he commanded. Some of the things..it’s been more like “Really Lord!?? Are you sure!? (Comical) Can’t I just … maybe later…what if I just do it this way…!?”

On and on the negotiating can go. In many, many things I’ve been immediately obedient…but there’s still a few where I’ve dragged my feet.

I heard once that delayed obedience is still disobedience. Moses might have argued a little in the beginning as well, but he always, ultimately followed through.

Do you have any “instructions” from the Lord you’ve been sitting on? May we all be spurred to ACTION…knowing and believing that obedience is always the right thing and it always holds a key and unlocks the door to the next.

xox.eb

Leviticus is wild. This morning, I’m in Chapter 13: Serious Skin Diseases 🤪. It takes everything in me to dig in and not just skim or skip past. I’m tired of reading all these rules and regulations.

My first question this morning was “why were the priests the ones making medical decisions?!” If I’m laid up with skin rashes and boils and a priest comes in and announces me “ceremonially unclean” I’m gonna be like…”ummm, duh…but can you help me with this problem!?!”

Anyway. I’m pressing through.

Then, I read this line (Lev 13:20):

“If the priest examines it and finds it to be more than SKIN DEEP, the priest must announce the person ceremonially unclean.”

SKIN DEEP: on the surface and superficial

I want Jesus (our high priest) to examine me and let me know if he finds anything more than skin deep!! I want him to dig down, get in the crevices of my heart, go on down to the roots of those wounds…look at it ALL and then show me the places that need to be treated with salve before they spread.

Skin deep Christianity seems to be for many but it is NOT for the ones who want healing and renewing and discipling and transforming and life changing walks with the Lord.

It can feel uncomfortable to let someone “examine” you head to toe and to see what issues are skin deep and need to be taken care of, but it’s so necessary for wholeness.

Let him look.

xox.eb

I was thinking some more on my last sentence I wrote yesterday…that the ORDINARY can also be sacred. I thought of the burning bush….just a common ole bush in the middle of the desert…sacred when touched by God. I thought of two pieces of wood, fit together to form a cross….ordinary, but sacred when touched by God. I thought of each of us, perhaps doing “ordinary work” day in and day out…soooo SACRED when we allow God to be IN it and flow through it.

The majority of our lives are filled with ordinary, everyday moments…many of which we just pass by and don’t even consider how sacred they are. Caring for our children. Loving on our parents. Tending to a sick loved one. Keith came home last night….after a LONNGGG day of work…and he knew that Katherine and I both had a cold/cough. He came in the house with bags from Dollar General full of ginger ale and cold and flu meds and more zycam…all the things. I laid in bed last night thinking how “ordinary” that could have seemed…but gosh, it’s so sacred, so beautiful, so ordinary but yet EXTRAordinary.

xox.eb

Leviticus is wearing me out. So many details. So many rules. So many different kinds of sacrifices and offerings. God sure loved a good barbecue back then, didn’t he:)!?

This line stood out to me this morning:

“You must distinguish between what is sacred and what is common.” - Lev 10:10

Sacred: devoted or dedicated to PURPOSE

Common: mediocre or ordinary

Distinguish: to perceive clearly and set apart as different

So…you must perceive clearly what is dedicated to purpose an set that apart from what is mediocre or ordinary.

I was just chatting with a girlfriend yesterday about decision making in your late 50’s. We both agreed it’s sooooo much different than when you’re younger. You realize the weight of decisions and that you don’t have the same luxury of just “trying things out” like you did when you were younger. Your time is shorter. You’re no longer willing to just do something to be doing it. It MUST be unto a purpose.

We can choose to just do the common thing…follow the safe path…do what everyone else is doing…don’t make waves or ruffle feathers or cause a stir. We can fly under the radar and hang out in the common area. OR…we can seek the sacred.

And p.s. the ordinary can also be sacred. So there’s that and a whole other convo. 😘

xox.eb

I love a number. So when I jotted down today’s date…it sent me to read Psalms 26. Twice:)

Psalm 26 is all about NOT going along with liars and hypocrites and the ones whose “hands are dirty with evil schemes.” When I got to the verse “they constantly take bribes” … it made me think of some of the notes I wrote in the margins while reading Exodus.

I basically wrote “super shady stuff…give me money and I’ll pay attention to you.”

I’ve seen this happen.

And. All I have to say this morning is be on guard. What may appear “holy” and “righteous” on the outside may very well not be. I’m actually seeing a lot of “self-righteous” and unholy stuff taking place among the “religious ones” and a lot of truth seeking and question asking that I think is healthy from the fringe.

Just remember…Jesus loved the fringe.

xox.eb