From the Lagoon to the Caves

SO.... I just realized today that I had never published this and that it has been sitting as a draft for MONTHS! Silly me :) Well, I just read over it and I was so blessed and encouraged and so hopefully you can find some of that in this still as well!! Enjoy!

Its been too long bothers and sisters! My apologies for being so bad about posting on here but I am thankful that God is consistent and faithful to me and that he is who I look to as what I want to live my life like (hopefully I can apply that into my inconsistent blogging).

Tonight I want to talk about a few continuations of the Lagoon vision that I posted earlier. It was a few weeks ago that I was having a very difficult night. The enemy was speaking so many lies about my identity and my beauty as a daughter in Christ and I was extremely discouraged about how I saw myself. I had stayed in that rut for most of the night (until the wee hours of the night). I was going to go to bed as soon as I finished homework or studying or whatever I was doing, but before I did I couldn't resist the call for prayer that was put on my heart. I sat there and all I could do was ask, "Please, more of you God. I need more of your truth to be spoken into my spirit about my identity and how you see me." Almost immediately after that, I found my spirit and mind taken back to the mirror behind the waterfall at the lagoon. All Jesus had to do was place me in front of the mirror and stand behind me for me to see my shimmering skin as a reminder of how astonishing he thinks I am (not just on the outside of course, but as who I am as a daughter living under HIS authority and love). What an amazing reminder this was, that when I am being lied to about my identity, He is the source that can breathe life over and into me and NOTHING ELSE will ever be able to fill that need for holy affirmation.

The second partial continuation of this vision (it is more of a separate vision but it was revealed to me while I was thinking about the lagoon) was revealed to me when I went to visit my best friend Kris at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I went to her fellowship/ worship group and we were in this time of singing and worship and this was also during the time that my dad was going through his ER visits. Before this, I had been in this 2-3 week season of discouragement and what I saw as only failure. I was soon to be shown that if I hadn't been in this rut, that God wouldn't have a place to lift me out of so quickly and painlessly that would lead to even more consistent and intimate devotion to him... God is funny like that! The vision began with me in a cave. It is the typical caveman cave you would picture with a small fire in the center of it. Jesus had told me to met him there so there I was... He appeared and took my hand and we simply danced together. We moved swiftly and it was so freed from that one moment. We danced together around and around the fire and as we did, the fire grew bigger and bigger. We began to dance in one area and the fire began to twist from the fire to create a cylinder of fire around us. The fire was so hot and I thought I would get severely burned but the feeling was very contrary. I felt the heat but I felt it burning and refining off my impurities and imperfections. It hurt but at the same time, it was okay because I mean seriously.... I WAS DANCING WITH JESUS! Even a raging fire filled of conviction and refinement couldn't break the intimate love and freedom that I found in that moment with Jesus. After dancing in the cave, I felt more filled with life than before but I was also very tired. Despite the lack of strength I thought I was feeling, I couldn't turn down a second encounter with Jesus. This time, he asked me to meet him in this huge plaza. As I looked around, I saw a huge fountain in the middle of the plaza and surrounding us were huge buildings that were all glass. It was like the Louvre Pyramid but even more magnificent! He walked towards me and once again, He simply took my hand and we began to dance. The fountain was running and as we began to dance more, it too began to flow stronger. Before I knew it, the water from the fountain was doing the same thing that the fire in the cave did. We were consumed by a whirlwind of water! It was the coolest/ most refreshing water I had ever felt on my skin.... Why? Because the water was restoring any burns or scars I had left from the cave. In the cave I was refined and that meant taking impure mindsets of my life out. Of course that would leave some empty spaces but at the same time, it is so temporary because Jesus fills us with truth, encouragement and most of all, LOVE.

In Him,
C