Eagles and Letting Go of my agenda and Letting God do His Job

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My husband and I have been married since 1994 and on our 10 year anniversary, my husband planned a phenomenal trip to Victoria Island and Tofino, British Columbia.  We had arrived at the resort and were all unpacked, including ALL my books (Lee Strobel’s, Case for Christ, Spiritual Personality Types using Myer’s Briggs, and a myriad of C.S. Lewis Books) that I had brought to read and of course, share with Kirk.  He was relaxing in the balcony and I came out to read TO him.  Today was C.S.Lewis, Mere Christianity, one of my all time favorite books, written for people like me with especially questioning and scientific type minds.  I had only been a Christian for maybe 5 years and my husband had grown up in the church, unlike myself. However, my husband had strayed from his faith and well, he needed my newfound wisdom, vision and passion to help him see the light again.  As you can imagine, it was beyond annoying for him and the light, well it was a giant spot light shining right into his eyes, blinding him to the beautiful visions that God was gifting me with.  Finally, as I said, honey, you really need to hear this, he said, why do you always have to have an agenda?  Can’t you just let it go and relax?

Well, I went to go lie down as it was not going as I had hoped. I had faIlen asleep and that is when the dream or vision came to me.  You see Kirk and I had been struggling lately with him taking on being spiritual leader of our family.  It was just not how I would do it or how I heard God telling me to do it…and was really struggling with trusting Kirk to do things his way.  I must have fallen asleep and that is when the dream or vision came to me. We were hiking and Kirk was leading and I was following.  First we went over a wooden bridge that was not as stable as I would have liked.  Then we came to a fork in the road.  To the left was a narrow ledge that wrapped around the mountain and looked inviting, adventurous, but risky. To the right was a steep mountain with a lot of trees and I already knew which way my husband would choose.  He said, come on, lets go this way, it looks like fun, the other way looks like a lot of work.  I dug my heels in and said I did not want to go.  He held my hand and said come on, you wanted me to lead, I got this.  As soon as he stepped out onto the ledge, it turned to sand and began to give way.  He was falling and I was holding his hand and now I did not want to let go for fear he would fall into the abyss below.  I was beginning to fall and God said, let him go.  I got this.  This is not your saving, it is Mine.  Clouds shaped liked hands formed and came down below him and God said again to let him go and I did.  The hands lifted my husband up and placed him at the foot of the mountain.  The clouds lifted and an eagle flew out and headed up the mountain, indicating we were to follow.  We held hands and began the steep hike together, side by side.

I woke up and knew I had to let go and let God do His work.  Kirk was His to save…not me.  God had to do it the way that was unique to Kirk and how Kirk was gifted and wired.  God spoke to me through prophetic dreams and visions and direct communication through intense study and prayer and I was gifted and wired to receive that.  We had different gifts and different purposes.

We left Victoria and began the four hour drive to Tofino, British Columbia.  We had plenty of time to talk and I shared my vision from the morning.  He liked the sound of what I had to tell him…that I would be letting go.  So I began the work of letting go.  When we arrived at our room in Tofino, we sat down at the table and there was a painting above the table of two eagles on a branch, getting ready to take flight and they were at the face of a mountain.  We smiled.

When we arrived back home and I had told a friend about our wonderful trip and my vision, she asked me tell her the name of the resort that we were staying at in Victoria and I told her again, it was the Aerie Resort. She asked me if she knew what an “Aerie” was and I said, “Nope”.  She let me know that it was an Eagle’s Nest.  God was ministering to me there in the Eagle’s Nest and bringing me to the end of myself and bringing me to Himself and He intends to carry my husband and I on the wings of Eagles to reach His fortress at the top of the mountain, which is also “Aerie”.

Exodus 19:3-4 

Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said,

“This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

 

That was nearly 9 years ago.  There were times where I have felt that we were back at the base of the mountain and we had not really climbed yet at all, but truly we have climbed and have covered ground.  I just need the continual reminder that it is in God’s time and not my own.  I also need that continual refuel of the Holy Spirit to keep my strength and perseverance up so that I won’t grow weary of the climb.

Isaiah 40:3 

but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. 

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, 

they will walk and not be faint.

Drawing from the Well and Loving Well

Summary of the Loving Well Retreat

4 Confessions of Loving Well

1. God is Perfect Love

2. Nothing can separate us from God’s Perfect Love.

3. God pours His Perfect Love into my imperfect heart.

4. Accessed, I can love anyone through anything.

God is Perfect Love

1 John 4:7-21 

“…God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.   There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love…”

The Latin Word Teleious means Complete, which means lacking nothing, of full age and mature.  God’s Love for us is exemplified by this and has no fear, nor is it hampered by insecurity or anxiety, which many times characterized aspects of our human imperfect love.   In God’s love we can be made complete by this love if we continue to allow His love to do the sanctifying work of grace in us.

Nothing Can Separate us from God’s Perfect Love

Romans 8:38-39

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God said in Isaiah 66:13, “As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you.” So God’s love for us is likened to a mother and her child and as those of us with children know the strong bond of protection and love that we can have for our children, and God’s love is even more perfect and stronger than that.

God Pours His Perfect Love into my imperfect heart

Jeremiah 17:5-10

“…But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit…”

God still loves us even when we are choosing to stay separate from Him through our own accord and bad behavior.  He is clear that in order to bear the fruit of His love, we have to choose His love above all else and not rely on humans or materialism to fulfill us.  It is not healthy for a parent to force their children to submit to their plans for their life, neither is it healthy for the human race to be forced by God to choose His plans for our life.  This would not bring us and humanity to the place of completion that He truly desires for us, therefore, He allows us to have Free Will.  He knows there are many who will not choose Him and will continue to live Hell on Earth instead of a glimpse of Heaven on Earth, through their pride or comfort in their pain and they will refuse to be reconciled and will continue to remain in captivity to the enemy.  Breaking free from pride, painful choices and the opinions of others and to live in God’s Love is Freedom.

Accessed, I can Love Anyone through Anything

Phillipians 1:9-10

“…that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,  so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,”

His desire because He loves us so much is for us to choose Him of our own accord and allow His love to change us, fill us and then with overflow, we are to be an agent of change for Him in the world.  He wants us to have the wisdom and discernment when to go back to the well to fill up and when to pour out.  He calls us to love with insight and compassion.  He wants us to have understand the potential spiritual handicaps that those He may call us to love may have.  If we don’t forgive others and deal with our own issues, we will be spiritually handicapped.

He does not want us to pour out without filling up.  He does not want us to be continually drained by unhealthy people with motives of manipulation or just rooted in bitterness.  When we are full, we can better love those who drain us.  However, some people do not want reconciled and not all relationships are are the will of God.  Some relationships, especially, those which are hurtful or extremely unhealthy and dysfunctional, are not meant to be reconciled, because the relationship was not meant to exist.  He calls us to be wise, to love at arms length when necessary and to walk away or just plain stay away, when necessary and pray.

Isaiah 58: 10-12

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.  Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”

He calls us to love afar. He calls us to love globally.  He calls up to love those in poverty with no strings attached, with nothing to gain.  But how we do gain.  Loving afar, relieves us of the burden of our own self absorption.  It gives us great insight into the lives of people of truly depend on God for their needs.

Onto Loving 4 Different Kinds of People that God Calls us to Love 

Joy 

Joy is the easy to love person.  Our “Joys” maybe different for each of us, but usually someone we get good energy from or our encouraged by.

Testy

Testy is the person that constantly tests us or we allow to push our buttons.  We may be someone else’s “Testy”.

Foe

Foe is our enemy, there is a fine line between love and hate, and sometimes our foe’s fit this idiom.  Maybe we love them, but hate their behavior.  God tells us to love our enemies and to pray for them in Matthew 5:44-46.

Far

Far is a stranger to us.  It could be someone we don’t know walking down our own street or a person in a foreign land we have showed up to help.  Do we bother to show love to people we don’t know?  God calls us to.

Much of the study echoes teachings in the Walk to Emmaus and the personal journey of my heart and it is always good to have the edification of the  journey laid out for all to see and to testify that it is a very real journey to be approached with great intention and purpose to choose to let God love you perfectly, like no one else can, so that you can break free from any captivity and then go out and love others well, pointing them to the only One that can love them perfectly.

On a personal note, what a great pleasure it was to travel this journey with the Hope Circle ladies of SUMC.  What a beautiful gift of love you poured out to all who attended and I know each and everyone was blessed and filled up with God’s love and myself included.  I enjoyed reconnecting with everyone so much…truly a gift and it is well with my soul.  It was a pleasure to spend some time with each of you.

I also speak on behalf of Samantha, my daughter, and Samantha’s Treasure,  and Girls with Vision, Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for loving “Far” with your support of the jewelry.  🙂

Loving you Each Perfectly in Christ,

Michelle Solberg

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