“Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well AS HE PROMISED, even while Israel wandered in the wilderness.” -Joshua 14:10

Even while Israel wandered!

Wander in the Hebrew and Greek means a restless moving about or going astray.

Our wanderings do not scare Him away.

Our wanderings do NOT negate or change HIS promises.

We may not be steady all the time. He IS steady all the time.

People may break their promises to you. He NEVER will.

xox.eb

I’m hanging out in Joshua now. Thought this was interesting. I’m in chapter 9. The Gibeonites had a plan to deceive the Israelites. They set the stage to make things LOOK a certain way….a way completely opposite from truth. They dressed the part, played the part, had props to underscore the plot…it was like a well rehearsed play. Here’s the key verse:

So the Israelites examined their food (which seemed to underscore the narrative they were telling), BUT they DID NOT consult the Lord. -Joshua 9:14

There it is.

Funny that this chapter is right after the chapter that takes place in a town called Ai.

Anyway. Just because something “looks” a certain way. Just because it’s been plotted and planned and things have been orchestrated in the background to make it APPEAR a certain way…does not make it so. We’re not supposed to just buy it hook, line and sinker. We’re supposed to use our DISCERNMENT and CONSULT with the Lord about it. Because working hard to make something look a certain way is not a new thing, it’s an ancient thing.

Use wisdom. Ask questions. Dig deeper. Consult the Lord.

xox.eb

I’m MORNING THOUGHTS ☕️: sitting on the porch having my coffee when the power company and Asplundh drive up. I ask them what they’re doing.

“We’re marking trees that we need to cut back this afternoon so they don’t interfere with the power lines.”

Interesting.

Have you ever felt pruned? Like something was cut away that you really loved or wanted to hold on to?

We know God prunes. John 15 says that every branch that doesn’t produce fruit gets taken away and every branch that does produce fruit gets pruned so it can produce more.

This morning was a great reminder for me as we are in a pruning season….that sometimes, branches need to be removed or cut back so they don’t interfere with the “power line.”

What may feel painful for a moment has purpose for the long haul.

xox.eb

Porch sittin’ while I can today…before it gets too hot. I’m in Deuteronomy 30. As I’m reading the section on “The CHOICE of Life or Death”, I can’t help but think that these are some of the most KEY verses in the Bible. Pivotal verses. A crossroad.

It’s staying it’s a CHOICE and WE get to choose. It’s not a secret locked up in heaven that we can’t figure out. It’s not so distant that we can’t decipher it. Nope. It’s a super close one…on OUR lips and in OUR hearts, actually.

WE are the ones who choose life or death, blessings or curses. There should be no “oh why oh why is this happening to me!?” kind of stuff.

He says it. Over and over.

I’m giving you a CHOICE (the right, power, or opportunity to choose).

BUT.

“If your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods….then I am warning you!”

I mean…can’t say we weren’t warned. Can’t say we don’t know that if we choose to not listen, if we choose to go our own way, if we choose to worship this world, worship our possessions, worship our careers, worship our success, worship ourselves…that we don’t know where it will lead.

There are a little of little gods vying for our attention…trying to get our eyes off the REAL God and trying to get us to choose our own way.

Don’t take the bait.

And then I kept reading and Deut 30:20 just underscored it all:

“THIS is the key to your life.”

Pretty bold stuff. Like highlight it and underline it stuff. Like really get it stuff. I think I’ll go read it all again.

xox.eb

This morning, I was looking at this plant I just bought for the porch…and I started laughing. It’s called an IMPATIENT.

I, for sure, can be impatient.

Recently, I was feeling that way around a certain thing. I had to catch myself and STOP and get back into remembering that I have nothing, ZERO, no reason to be impatient. Impatient means I’m not trusting God’s timing. Impatient can move us into trying to make things happen in OUR timing. Impatient can make us forfeit God’s best for what we think is the best. Impatient can make us miss God’s hand in our lives because we take everything into our own.

And guess what? We don’t become less impatient by trying to be more patient. That’s still a flesh thing. We become more patient by abiding in the spirit. Patience is a fruit of the SPIRIT. When I stop looking with natural eyes, wanting everything in MY timing, and I get back in my spirit and remember that God’s timing is what I really want…I can take a deep breath and release the impatience and get back to the peace of patience and trusting and knowing He’s got it.

Now, I’m even more glad I got this plant to remind me to NOT be impatient:)

xox.eb

I sure hope our nephew doesn’t mind me using this picture…it’s one of my faves. And, this morning when I read a line in Deuteronomy…it felt super appropriate.

Here’s the line:

“Get up and resume the journey.” - Deuteronomy 10:11

Yeah. Preaching that one to myself.

I remember trying to learn to ski when I was little. I think I drank more water than was safe…and each time, when I couldn’t get up, I felt a little more defeated. And each time, my father would circle that boat around and say “you’ve almost got it…go again.”

I never wanted to. I wanted to hop back in the boat, get a dry towel, curl up in a seat and just ride.

Perhaps you, like me, have felt knocked down this past season. You’ve gulped down too much water, tried to get up too many times, felt super defeated and wanted to quit…only to hear the Father say “you’ve almost got it…go again.”

And guess what?! We have a whole cloud of witnesses cheering us on. They gulped water and got knocked down, too.

So let’s put on those skies (gospel of peace), cinch up that life vest (armor), grab hold of that rope (hope) and hang on.

It’s time to get up and resume the journey.

xox.eb

Keith and I watched Eddie Murphy’s documentary on Netflix last week called “being Eddie”. One of the things he said I wanted to share with you.

He said that he operates like a sail boat, not a row boat.

In a row boat, you’re operating in your own strength. You’re sweating. You’re striving. You’re struggling to keep going.

In a sail boat, you’re looking for the W I N D and letting it move you gently and peacefully along.

It’s the most perfect visual of what it looks and feels like to live from striving (self) versus living from a posture of peace and rest (spirit).

And since I’m still in Deuteronomy, I’ll share the scripture that sums the same thing up perfectly.

It’s found in Deuteronomy 11.

The land they are about to enter is a land flowing with milk and honey…a land that God’s eyes are on 24/7 and where rain is plentiful (sailboat). It’s compared to the land they came from (Egypt) where they planted by hand, watered and tendered it themselves, and had to do it all on their own (rowboat).

And. It’s no mystery how to leave one and enter the other.

Obedience.

Obedience yields rest. It’s the key that will have you and me sitting on that sailboat unconcerned which way the wind is going to blow..just knowing we have to catch it and get into ITS flow in order to go.

Sail on.

xox.eb

A friend messaged me yesterday to share about her transition. Man…a ton of y’all are going through one as well. Anyway, I wrote back and one of the things I said stopped me.

I was talking about how I don’t even like to CHANGE up my order at my favorite restaurant anymore, much less my whole world…then I wrote “it’s shaking me up inside.”

That’s what stopped me in my tracks. There it was.

There’s a scripture in Hebrews that says that everything that CAN be shaken WILL be shaken. It goes on to say that only UNSHAKABLE THINGS will remain.

Worldly securities can be shaken. Material things can be shaken. Identities can be shaken. Routines can be shaken. Beliefs can be shaken. Temporal things can be shaken.

The shaking I’m feeling is tied to things that can shake. It’s not tied to things that cannot be shaken like God, faith, truth, eternal things.

And so, as I sat there and got my eyes off of the temporal and back on the eternal…I breathed a deep breath and released it and felt better. That sounds hyper spiritual, I know. I don’t mean for it to sound that way…but it helped. I looked around and realized that what we’ve created here, as beautiful as it is, is temporary. It’s material. It’s security, it’s my comfort zone. But it’s NOT an unshakable thing. When I put my focus back on the unshakable I was like “ohhhhhh okay…right…people, family, purpose, being willing to flow and go with no agenda and no clinging onto worldly things…that’s where I won’t shake.”

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this worldly thing called White Buck Farm 😂😂 but it ain’t going with me…it doesn’t define me…and it’s not my security.

Shaking or unshakable?

It totally depends on what we’re clinging to.

xox.eb

TRANSITION: movement, passage, or change from one position, state or stage, to another.

I’m sitting on my porch this morning enjoying a drop in temps and a cool breeze with my coffee. I’m soaking up my surroundings because I know the time I have with them is getting shorter.

Used to…if I knew change was coming…I’d almost start closing up my heart to my current state so the change wouldn’t hurt so much. Anybody else get that? Like…let me not get closer to you or fall more in love with this place because that will make it hurt more when I leave.

Now, I’m trying hard to NOT do that. I’m pressing in to love it even more. I’m intentionally spending time with people who I love and will miss beyond words. I’m embracing where I AM fully and seeing it again through the eyes of someone who knows they have to leave it.

According to alllll of the messages I’ve received on our home…so many of you are in TRANSITION as well. So many of you are sandwiched in between kids and aging parents. So many of you are facing big decisions about what’s next. Let’s all endeavor to FINISH WELL where we are so we can move into the next freely and lightly.

I see you. I know it’s not easy. Change is hard. Endings can be sad. And grief can be in the mix of emotions as much as joy can be there as well. Both and. Sadness and expectancy. Endings and beginnings.

Keep pressing forward.

xox.eb

Deuteronomy really speaks to me. So many scriptures about being rescued out of Egypt and being brought into a land of rest. So many scriptures about REMEMBERING what the Lord did…how he used miraculous signs and wonders and his strong hand to rescue.

He did this exact thing for me (us) in 2008.

I’ve told the story before, so I won’t go into all of it again….but, I always likened it to being in a burning building and not really even knowing it. Floor upon floor crashing upon themselves as it begins to topple down…and right before the moment of complete destruction…the Lord SNATCHED us out of it.

We were literally “in Egypt”…loving Jesus but also fully immersed in the world and all that it says is valuable. Building businesses. Busting a move. Buying the things.

You know…keepin’ up with the Joneses.

It’s a trap. One we didn’t even know we were in.

Until. He rescued us.

Then, we couldn’t unsee what we saw. We couldn’t go back to what was. We couldn’t keep going in the same direction.

So off to that great and terrifying wilderness and unknown we went.

Has it all been easy?! HECK NO.

Has it all been worth it?! HECK YES.

If He’s trying to rescue YOU…don’t resist. Total upheaval and total change is not for the faint at heart…but He can be trusted and he always, always, always has a better plan.

xox.eb

I love so many of the titles to chapters in the book of Deuteronomy. I want to dig into each one. These three especially….

A Call to Wholehearted Commitment (chapter 6)

A Call to Remember and Obey (chapter 8)

A Call to Love and Obedience (chapter 10)

Notice that there’s a call to WHOLE-heartedness before there’s a call to any of the others. Here’s the scripture from that chapter (6):

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I’m giving you today.”

It’s hard to be wholehearted about anything if your heart isn’t whole. And when our hearts aren’t whole we begin to fill the “hole” with other things that honestly, take us further and further away from being able to love and commit to Him … or even desire to pursue Him.

It becomes nearly impossible.

Too many other things have taken root. We have to begin to dismantle them one by one and then we must begin to remove all of the “crutches” put in place to try and numb the fact that we aren’t whole hearted.

You’ve seen it. You know what I’m talking about.

They can start out small, but then, they grow. They can be things. They can be feelings. They can be people. Anything that takes the place of being on the journey to whole-heartedness. Or maybe, better put, anything that distracts us from pursuing the journey to a whole heart.

Remember that old game Candy land?!? How you could get stuck in Molasses Swamp or you’d have to sit and wait a turn at gooey gumball lane? Yeah…that’s the visual I’m seeing. Those gumballs sure looked good. Those molasses sure tasted sweet…all of them caused DELAY.

I know that I, for one, am going to take stock and see if I have anything distracting me from the pursuit of whole-heartedness. It’s a journey for sure…but one worth taking. Take back those pieces of your heart that were stolen, given away, or neglected for too long.

xox.eb

“Be careful to never forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.” - Deut 4:9

The discipline of remembering. And sharing.

I don’t know about you, but as I get older, memories and the details can get foggy. This is a huge reason why I journal like it’s my job. I often think about my kids sitting on the floor, going through my hundreds upon hundreds of journals after I’m gone. Kind of scary…but hey, I won’t care:).

Years ago, I was asking the Lord for some direction and what He wanted me to do. His answer was simple:

“Just share the stories.”

And so, I started sharing.

Our stories, our experiences, our remembrances…carry life. They matter. They need to be told. And retold. We need to engage in the discipline of remembering.

When we share our journeys and what we’ve learned along the way, others can go further, faster on theirs. Sharing what you’ve actually walked through and learned from carries way more weight and authority than simply repeating something you heard from someone else.

Don’t let the memories escape. Write them down.

xox.eb

Y’all. We have to keep talking about Deuteronomy 1.

I want you to think about this. God gave them the land. He told them to GO IN and OCCUPY it. In 1:21 it literally says “he has placed the land on front of you! Go in and occupy it as the Lord has promised you. Do NOT be afraid. Do NOT be discouraged!”

And yet.

They didn’t fully trust Him.

They decided to send in scouts to “test the waters”, to check out the fruit. They complained in their tents. They grumbled about the Lord and his intentions towards them. They were worried about the people being taller and more powerful … heck, they said they even saw some giants there.

They focused on FACTS.

Even though they knew the Lord was going ahead of them. Even though they were told the Lord would fight for them. Even though the Lord had cared for them all along in the wilderness.

They still back peddled. They still got in their heads. They still trusted SELF over God.

And it cost them.

I’ve watched this kind of stuff play out in real life. Someone gets a word from the Lord. Instead of being obedient and moving on it, they question it, try to figure out the details of how it could happen. They go to “scout out the land” and make their own plan so they are semi-obedient but still in control.

Yeah. It doesn’t work that way.

We’re called to step out IN FAITH on the word he gives us.

To fully trust. To fully surrender. To fully step into unknowns simply because he said GO.

It can be scary but it’s always the way forward.

xox.eb

“Then, just as the Lord commanded, we left the mountain and traveled through the great and terrifying wilderness.” - Deuteronomy 1:19

Being obedient and going when God says go does NOT mean it will be easy. It does not mean smooth sailing. It does not mean you won’t be sad. It does not mean you won’t question it at times.

Obedience does NOT equal ease.

Obedience equals obedience.

And obedience is always the right first step.

It always unlocks the next one.

It always has you under His care.

It’s always the right move.

And when you hit that great and terrifying wilderness…do NOT turn back. Keep going. Keep taking steps. There is, indeed, a good land waiting for you ahead.

xox.eb

In the wake of May….I was like 😳. Too much happened too fast. I needed to put the brakes on all the movement. I was overwhelmed. It made me question if we were even supposed to build on the land we’ve been given.

I opened my Bible (always a good idea when you’re overwhelmed:). I finished the last few lines in the book of Numbers and so off to Deuteronomy I went.

And don’t you just know it…the following verse was right there…just waiting on me. And, in God’s perfect timing, it showed up on the heels of me journaling about my angst over it all.

“You have stayed on this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on. Look…I am giving all this land to you! GO IN and occupy it, for it is the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors.” - Deut 1:6-8

Ummmm. I’m sorry. What!?? Are you even kidding me?!

Yeah. He knows me. God knows that all I need is a WORD from Him to step out on and even if it’s difficult, I’ll do it.

He knows you, too. How you hear. How you need to hear from Him. What you need at any given moment. We simply have to be engaged and watching and listening and talking to him and asking.

He always shows up.

Oh, and by the way, the land we’ve are called to “go in and occupy”, my father has owned since 1977 and his family owned it before that. It is, indeed, the land of my ancestors.

xox.eb

Sometimes, God sends you places simply to speak a message that HE put in your mouth. It may not be what people want to hear. It may be hard to say. It may cause them to wiggle and squirm. BUT. IF it’s from Him…it will be full of truth. It will be needed. It will hit the mark and will not return void. Don’t add to it or take away from it. Simply share what he has asked you to share.

“I will only speak the message that the Lord puts in my mouth.” - Numbers 23:12

That’s a good message from Balaam…who, by the way, was ticked he’d been re-routed. God knew all along he had something to say to someone that was on another path.

Trust God’s path over your own.

xox.eb

I heard this quote the other day and I can’t stop thinking about it.

Truth is like a lion. It doesn’t need defending. You let it out and it defends itself.

There’s a lot of truth being let out right now. People can try to debunk it and state “their truth”, or they can try and defend something that is altogether untrue…but in the end…the TRUTH truth will remain.

I’m also realizing that truth is no wispy thing. People don’t like it. They want their version of it. But…our “own version” of truth will never set us free because it’s likely skewed, altered, watered down, or false altogether.

Real truth truly does come in like a lion. It’s strong. Mighty. Able to stand on its own. It needs no defending (even though we soooo want to defend it).

Be a truth teller. Speak it. Share it. Stand firm on it. Let it do its job.

xox.eb

Still in Numbers 20, and this morning the line that jumped out of me was this:

“We will stay on the king’s road and never leave it until we have passed through your territory.”

There were giants in the land. Hostile enemies. Threats and armies waiting to attack. The Israelites were refused passage. They were forced to turn around.

That story is worth digging deeper into and writing about…but this morning, I’m looking at that sentence differently.

I see it like a declaration.

I AM STAYING ON THE KING’S ROAD AND I WILL NEVER LEAVE IT UNTIL I PASS THROUGH THIS TERRITORY.

What a visual. Us. Walking on the KING’s road. Encountering all kinds of things along the way. Trials. Obstacles. Tests. Things that want to threaten to knock us off course. Intimidating things that make us want to retreat.

But on the King’s road is the safest place to be. No matter what comes our way. Never leave it. Don’t sway. Don’t take the short cut. Don’t look for an easier route.

Stay on the King’s road.

xox.eb

“So Moses did as he was told.” - Numbers 20:9

What he was told to do was to hit that rock with his staff in front of alllll the community that had been complaining because there was no water.

Talk about trust.

Gather all the people who are mad at you.

Grab your staff and start whacking at a rock.

Trust that water will flow and you won’t look like a fool.

Has God ever asked you to do something that looked foolish? Something that made no sense but you knew it was Him?

Yeah, me too.

And guess what?! Every time…he’s shown up just like he said he would and in hindsight you can see why he asked you to do the thing that felt foolish at the time.

May that line of scripture hold true for all of us, as well.

So Elizabeth did as she was told.

So _______ did as she/he was told.

Let the world think it’s foolish.

It’s not between you and them. It’s between you and God.

xox.eb

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