Hi friend! It has been a while! As you may know, multitasking with my writing makes my head spin, and so I took some time to focus on bringing Shine Your Light: 77 Blessings to Clear Your Energy and Claim Your God-Given Calling out into the world!
It is fun to be back in this space!! And slightly reinvented space, I might add! Welcome to Manifesting Jesus! (Should I be warning/reminding you in advance of my sometimes aggressive use of the exclamation point?)
My intention for this space is to support us as we manifest the lives we desire and were made for—with Jesus as our guide.
(And I can’t think of anything more beautiful than manifesting the healing love and energy of Jesus out into the world as it uniquely shines -as a facet of God’s beauty -through each of our beings while doing our darndest to live out our unique callings.)
Quick note: if you are in the Minneapolis area Friday April 12th, I would love to see you at this wonderful upcoming Women’s Wellness Event! We will be in the beautiful space of Prairie School of Dance where we will take some time to remember what it feels like to be in our God-given Light. And the best part: we will get to take a Holy Yoga class from the amazing Brooke Toftoy! Yay!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/848670284667?aff=oddtdtcreator
I hope that you are well and I would love to hear how life is going for you!
I would love to start out by asking, if I may,
what do you desire?
What do you deeply want and long for?
…in your wildest dreams even?
What if our desires are whispers from God, Beauty waiting to be opened, And Love longing to be incarnated…
I think your heart has a lot of beauty to offer. I think your heart has been clinging to God for so long that it is more than ready to breathe fresh life on this earth. There is healing waiting to happen from within you. What if your desires are the very desires of our Creator? Something in me tells me your desires are good and that they hold seeds that are just waiting in hope to bear healing fruit in this lifetime for the good of this earth and the people on it.
I am willing to bet your desires are filled with beauty and that they are entirely worth betting on. I believe in you.
Sometimes we are told that our hearts cannot be trusted, and that above all else they are deceitful and desperately wicked, leaning on Jeremiah 17:9 as evidence. This interpretation can get confusing as we try to align the desires of our hearts with God’s call on our lives.
I reached out to a dear mentor and friend who happens to be a wonderful pastor and spiritual director about the Jeremiah 17:9 verse. He mentioned that the translation of the heart being deceitful and wicked, really may not be very accurate to its original meaning. In fact, may be closer to the word vulnerable.
He pointed me toward a Hebrew word study in an attempt to get closer to the original heart (pun) of this message. My jaw about hit the floor upon reading that this verse may be more accurately translated as “the heart has a depth of knowledge that makes it vulnerable and who can know it.”1 (I highly recommend the article in its entirety if this interests you!)
Later in scripture from Jeremiah, it says, “you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13), and “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). This book is so fascinating—as much as it is about Jeremiah prophesying and warning about ‘willful disobedience’, he also offers encouragement for deep transformation with God. And according to my trusty old Quest Bible, “Jeremiah was a young man who struggled to know God’s plan for his life”, and that if you have ever wondered God’s purpose for your life, you are in good company with Jeremiah. It seems as though this book may be about clearing out his own ability to listen for the voice of God in his life, as he does his best to encourage and speak life into the lives of others. Perhaps this is a whole separate train of thought, but certainly one that is really pulling at me to investigate!
I wonder if the translation that our heart is deceitful and wicked seems helpful because it seemingly ensures that we will remember our need for Jesus. Frankly, it just leaves me mostly confused on what and where to go for discernment. I sincerely long to lean into scripture and prayer and the wisdom of others, and also at the end of the day I am still listening for an inner full body yes. For an internal excitement or feelings of being alive. An energy of the Spirit that confidently whispers a loving go.
“Most of organized religion, without meaning to, has actually discouraged us from taking the mystical path by telling us almost exclusively to trust outer authority, Scripture, tradition, or various kinds of experts (what I call the “containers”)— instead of telling us the value and importance of inner experience itself (which is the “content”). In fact, most of us were strongly warned against ever trusting ourselves.” Richard Rohr
(Rohr’s definition of mystical is simply experiential knowledge of spiritual things)
When I reflect on this verse through the translation that my heart is deeply mysterious and vulnerable (instead of desperately sick and deceitful), I still need and long for Jesus to walk me through the mystery of my heart. I still need Jesus to hold my hand and show me what love truly is. I still need grace to help me untangle everything from the imago dei within. Except now, as I reflect on and wonder about the whispers of my heart, I am in the energy of curiosity and love and courage versus walking in the energy of fear of my very own God-given insides, my very own heart where Jesus lives.
Back to our focus here today: what if we could deeply trust our desires as if they were the very desires of God planted in us? Because I really believe we can. Jesus teaches us the very ways to embody Love and Life. He teaches us how to have relationship with God, Creator and with Love in human form itself. And so when we seek and live out a relationship with God, at some point, I have to imagine that God is like, okay my darling, trust yourself. I am in you. Trust your voice. This voice of love I have graced upon you. Trust those whispers I keep sending you day after day. You are in love with me, you are in alignment with me, now my darling, go out and live. Go after those heartfelt desires.
Because, we were designed to bloom. Designed to flourish and live a full life. In fact, perhaps your blooming is your very purpose on this earth. What if your blooming is mysteriously heaven coming to earth?
“human beings are the only species who forget how to bloom” 2David Whyte
So what if we remember how to bloom? What if we let our hearts unfold into the sun? And what if the desires of our heart will help to guide the way? You have been seeking for so long. You deeply know the Love of God. I can almost see you holding on so tightly to the very heartbeat of God. You resonate with the heart of God. With Love. Let your desires dance with the desires of God and breathe them into the space around us for the benefit of all of us. For the very purpose of co-creating with God to bring heaven to earth. Perhaps even our trying to go after our heartfelt desires, even when riddled with ‘failings’ or missing the mark, are the very actions that bring more of that resounding heartbeat to our earth.
So, how can we manifest the life of our dreams with Jesus as our companion? How can we manifest God-honoring desires that bring heaven to this earth? How can we let our desires light the way to the blooming of our True Selves and then therefore more of the healing energy of Christ from within and amongst us.
Well, if I had that answer that would be sweet. What do you think?
I would like to give myself room to play and discover that very thing on this substack. Do you want to come along and join me? This could be fun. And if not, we can always shift to something else. ;) (that is supposed to be a wink, but substack doesn’t let me do emojis, and I apparently cannot live without winking emojis.)
May we feel emboldened to clear off all that is blocking us from receiving the ever present gift of God’s Presence, so that we may feel confident that when we hear the whisper of desire- we will know deep within our guts that it is most certainly here to bring healing and good fruit to the earth.
I trust the desires of your heart to be fruitful. I think you’re nice. And cool. God has got you and cares about your desires and your dreams! And I do too:)
May we manifest the lives of our God-honoring dreams with Jesus as our companion. You are loved and made from Love and created to bring goodness and healing to this earth! To this very heaven on earth. Blessings and love to you. And cheers to trying something new!
And as you walk the path to your desires, here is a little something from Shine Your Light for you…
A Blessing: for the Waiting Waiting is gold Waiting is patience in disguise Waiting is character uncovered The lie is it must be hurried The gold is it gets to be enjoyed There is goodness here There is life to be lived here There is journey and growth and love And meetings of divine souls In the waiting God meets us deeply in the waiting The revealing of our soul takes place In the waiting Little connection points to the Creator occur In the waiting We find that, in the waiting, we are Invited to co-create To heal To unleash To unveil and discover And take off that which makes us feel that we must have What we want now When in reality We are Loved here Whole here In touch with God and others here In the waiting We know it is not the destination But the journey So let’s start living that truth Let’s let our desires light the way Let our God-planted hopes Shine And then step into Faith, here and now By faith Feel the feelings of what we long for here and now As we sense them swim through our veins By faith we Sense the joy The peace The is-ness In the here and now By faith And awareness We notice Bliss And then even just the noticing of the bliss Warms the way forward From our seat of awareness of what is We can have what we want Here and now We can feel Life True Life Here and now Go there with me, won’t you? Let’s have some fun On the way to what we want Because ultimately, what we want is Here and now When we let it be That way The way Is patience True patience is gold and good and life and peace and God With us What a joy What a good life we get to lead Shine Your Light book
“After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” 1 Kings 19:12
“Much of our world’s noise and activity seems designed to silence the hungers and longings of our heart. Maybe we are unaware of these deep, inner hungers. They are there, but perhaps no one has encouraged us to pay attention. Jesus speaks to the hungers of our heart, to our longings. If we listen to Jesus, we will discover that these longings are the doorways through which we come that the people with these longings are “blessed”—God’s kind and gracious presence, are connected to one another.” From Learning to Listen by Wendy Miller as presented in A Guide to Prayer
If you feel led, I would be so humbled and appreciative of your support for my work!
Two ways to support:
Share this substack with someone you think may enjoy :)
or write a review of Shine Your Light on Amazon
I used to be afraid of writing reviews, because it felt like it was in some far off Amazon land that was nowhere to be found- but have actually found that it sincerely only takes about 30 seconds, and have learned how helpful they are for writers. Even something short and simple is amazing and appreciated! Writing reviews has become one of my favorite things because I know how truly supportive they are:)
As I begin again to more actively seek out a publisher for my book that is in the works, these small supports go a long way in helping me to find a good fit. If I have learned anything in publishing Shine Your Light it is that creating a book is a group effort, and the more people involved for the highest and best for all, the better. From my heart, thank you for considering!
I hope you have a beautiful day!
https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2015/01/hebrew-word-study-deceitful-wicked-%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%81-%D7%A2%D7%9B%D7%91/
my new favorite quote by David Whyte as told by the amazingly passionate and wise Frank Rogers <3 (I cannot find where David Whyte actually said this- so if you know, please share.)
I feel like this was specifically written for me, which feels like a God wink, not an ego boost. So rich in curiosity and encouragements. Thank you, thank you!
I forget that you are my daughter after reading a couple paragraphs of your writing! I start thinking this really speaks to my heart and my mind! I get inspired to want to know God better and to experience even more heaven on earth! Thank you for sharing ! I have dreams that have never left me despite circumstances that make those dreams feel impossible. From the deepest part of my soul, after reading this I feel that inner confidence that my dream can still come true! Thank you Kate !❤️