We have a voice!!

​"Then Moses and the children
of Israel sang this song to the
LORD, and spoke, saying:

I will sing to the LORD,
​for He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!

The LORD is my strength and
song, and He has become
my salvation; He is my God,
and I will praise Him; my
​father’s God, and I will exalt Him."

​(Exodus 15:1-2)

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I met someone very unexpectedly not too long ago; she seemed to appear in my life so suddenly, out of the blue. She was only little but the impact she would have on me would prove to be bigger than any encounter I ever had before ... with the one exception being  my initial encounter with The LORD 23 years ago. Little did I know that my life was about to be changed for all eternity as He orchestrated this divine exchange between woman & child. Before I knew it, she began to tell me her story ... there were times that it left me dumb-founded and numb and yet at other times it brought me to life in a way I had never experienced or expected. She had never told anyone her story ... not fully, for trust had been so broken and hope so completely lost that she had turned her face to the wall in the dark corner where she had been punished. She ran away from "the story" in which she felt trapped, until one day she could no longer remember. Yet here she was, beginning to speak it out loud and clear for the first time for those who would listen and hear. Yeshua HaMashiach - the One to which she would refer as ​"the man with the blue wings" - stepped into the darkness, whispered softly to her fragile heart, took her gently by her tiny hand and began to "woo her to life." I look back on all that was shared - a journey of discovery! Music, dance, words & song ... a whole range of expression that was bursting forth with such force that I likened it to that of a woman in labor! This child had been "gagged and bound"  for so long but G-D was suddenly giving back to her what had been stolen ... her voice! And her free will choice!

S uddenly it occurred to me ... I look and I hear a question:

"What is the first thing a mother [and father] anticipates immediately after the delivery of their baby ... that one sound after the hard work and painful hours of labouring?"  

My heart bursts with joy at the realization of the answer! I look and I see ...

A big pause hangs profoundly in mid-air until finally that sound rings out for all to hear ...

                        "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING!!!" 

​This encounter has left me profoundly changed!
It has put something new within my heart
​A NEW SONG!!! A song of praise to my G-D!!!
It makes we want to sing ... to shout ... to cry out!!!
To those who have been silenced and "tamed" ...
Those who have been stripped bare and shamed ...
Those who are bound by the fear of man and  
telling their story -
Having lost all strength and become too weary ...
No hope left that anyone would care ...
Who will listen ... who will dare?
To those rejected when they tried to tell ...
Left crushed & broken in a "silent hell."
​I want to proclaim to you this day ... "FREEDOM!"
As I lift my voice and say ... In Yeshua's name ...
The winter is past and the time of singing is come!


​WE HAVE A VOICE ... AND WE HAVE A CHOICE!
​

Do we know how much our heavenly Father delights in hearing our voice! Do our hearts not delight in hearing the sound of our children's voice ... no matter what age! Whether it be the first cry of our newborn, the 'giddy giggles' of our toddler, the voice of our maturing child who shouts, "Hi!" as they step into the doorway after school ... and even our adult child who calls us on the phone with "It's me." Our daughter is 20 and I can't explain with words how my heart feels when I hear the sound of her voice singing through the house ... it brings such joy to my heart. If that is so with us, how much more with our Father who is also our G-D?! The One who formed us in our mother's womb, the same One who hears the sound of our cries, is the very same One who longs to hear the sound of our voice ... and not just in the good things, but in all things at all  times. He is big enough to take it all when our hearts are hurting ... even when our emotions seem too big for us and we feel we can't possibly give voice to what we are feeling deep on the inside. He knows our hearts, and the thing is ... painful emotions that "get tucked away" and "pushed aside" find their way to the surface of our lives  one way or another. In order to find true and lasting healing & peace, we need to give expression to those things that hinder us and our walk with our G-D.

You see, He has given us a voice as an outlet if you like (remember the Sea of Galilee vs the Dead Sea?) and He has given it to us for a reason; to use and to be heard as He leads and guides. I see it much like a Conductor leading a beautiful symphony ... each and every player on their instrument making its sound in just the right place at just the right time ... it is in that place of order and harmony, that a beautiful sound is heard. So it is with our voices when used at the right place and the right time with pure motive of heart ... it can be the instrument used to pour out the Living Waters of Yeshua into the lives of those around us in the same way the River Jordan pours into the Sea of Galilee.

        Lack of love & affirmation ... fear & intimidation!

There are things that can hinder us from expressing ourselves in the way G-D intended. 

​Maybe we weren't listened to when we were little ... or maybe throughout family and other life circumstances we were told to keep quiet and not "rock the boat."  Maybe we were in a situation where we were shut down so often when we did try to speak that eventually we became silent ... maybe we were mocked and humiliated and rejected which has held us captive to the fear of being rejected ... maybe we just could never get a word in edgewise so we just gave up trying or believing that we were worth hearing  ... or maybe a teacher/authority figure told us we couldn't sing or didn't have a very nice voice ... you get the gist; there can be many different reasons. Perhaps we just lacked the affirmation we needed to grow with confidence and safety for who we were and in the gifts we have been given. Whatever the case may be, when the fear of man gains a foothold, we can lose the ability to use our voice, our gifts - ultimately our lives - the way G-D has intended.  When we are striving to be heard through the wounded places in our hearts, we then become vulnerable to our lives sounding more like a clanging symbol  rather than being a beautiful song - the great and awesome  symphony playing through the power of His love and compassion. 

Our former years are often known as "the foundation years." Naturally speaking, the same way in which the foundations of a house determine its strength and endurance, it is the very foundations on which our lives begin that the level of well-being and wholeness is determined ... but also to what degree of pressure & strain we are able to withstand when the storms of life come. The scriptures speak of a house being built on firm foundations or shifting sands ... if the very foundations of our lives - going back even to when we were conceived - were not built using the key ingredients of  G-D's divine recipe, there are consequences that can follow us all the way into our adult lives. When damage occurs it can be likened to hidden cracks in the foundations that need to be repaired ... sometimes, even the house itself begins crumbling  before the fault in the foundations is exposed. BUT ... He is The Master Restorer, G-D  of healing & restoration, and there is NOTHING too big or too difficult for Him. He has the most amazing ways of putting the broken pieces of our hearts and lives back together again, much like the pieces of a puzzle ... He can put us back together as we were intended, and from all those pieces, He can make the most beautiful picture ... BEAUTY FOR ASHES!! [Isaiah 61]

G-D has designed for us to know love and affirmation ... it is the glue if you like that holds things together. The scriptures tell us that love is the greatest ... the question is ... what does love look like? You see, G-D holds the blueprint ... it is in Him and only Him that True Love can be found ~ and equally that Love is found in the Truth of who He is and the Truth of His word (Torah/instruction). When things go wrong, especially when traumatic circumstances occur and we have not been given the opportunity to voice or express ourselves freely & safely at the appropriate  time surrounding the trauma, it can get buried deep within; we can even break and "get trapped in the cycle of the past." BUT ...
​

 I PROCLAIM GOOD NEWS!!! 

As we look to Isaiah 61 and see WHO Yeshua is and
​all He came to be and do ...

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
​To proclaim good news to the poor
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion--
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour."

​------------------------------------------------
​​

​So now I will finish where I began ...
​what about this little one and my big encounter?

​A Passover Experience - a story of old
​But the Greatest Love Story ever told!
​The Great I AM - with His Love came to save ...
​Yeshua reached down, brought her forth from the grave!
​Released her from darkness, from the clutches of hell
​Now it is His story she longs to tell
​To give hope to others, to rescue the lost
​To tell them it's worth it, whatever the cost!
​To find Him at last makes it worth every tear
​The One who turns tables, sets us free from our fear!
​Her story is one of new hope and recovery ...
​From slavery to free man ...
​The Voyage of discovery!
​

​What I haven't yet told you, listen closely & see
​The little one I met, she's now growing so free
Learning to trust as she walks day by day
​Taking His hand, letting Him lead the way
She and I are no different - we're the same you see
​For the little one I met ... she is quite simply ME!
​He's making me whole  ... "He makes all things new!"
​
​"Behold! He Comes!!!
Lamb of G-D who takes away the sins of the world"
​