joy, presence, life, new, hope, great, God <3 annabeth istvan joy, presence, life, new, hope, great, God <3 annabeth istvan

free happy

Jesus makes us happy

clown. forced, fake, makeup caked, dressed to make you think of joy but on the inside a crying mess. farce!

that’s all earth offers—pretend mirage happy like chasing wind, never full.

 All earth can give you is empty wind.

 “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes 1:2-9 ESV

but this lie that can lead us to look for who is life!

because happy is real.    

  

genuine in out true happy. rainbow on rain joy! real happy.

a snail snails slowly along, happy as can be just the way he is—slime trail & all! no rock complains about sitting still. no cloud compares herself to lightning in jealous huffs. no, nature, creation, is content. so why do we talk back to Creator? why do we wish away what He gave? each one of us has a gift unique! if we would only stop looking around & instead find & embrace our specific dna. rock rock and cloud cloud, salamander be salamander and naked mole rat be naked & you be nakedly unashamed in Him.

 

a part of losing ourselves in Him is to discover the freedom of being happy. happy with how He made us because we are satisfied with His beauty. happy is not a circumstance or luck, chance or getting what we want. happy is Jesus, the only love and puzzle piece missing cornerstone without whom we will always miss but with Him, fullness and happy and life!

Jesus + Nothing = Everything!

Jesus says love your neighbor as you love yourself. if you grumble about any part of how you’re made, you’re unable to love your neighbor in that way…

 

you cannot give what you don’t have.

 

so receive love, put it on! & you will have ample love to give to the person in front of your face this moment, & the next.

 

because without love we are nothing.

 

we can do no thing on our own.

 

so receive love now. put Him on. because He gave, we give.

happy & free because Jesus died for me, i’ll live for Him in harmony! paid the price, came back to life, free. bought with blood, sealed with dove. I know i’m loved. so I sit in this rapturous goodness & grace, getting to multiply what He first gave me—love.

I looked high low, under stones & stars, all the places I could think but my heart still throbbing my hole still gaping, invisible flesh wound spreading & sin sickness killing.

until what I could not do myself was done for me, chosen by God on a wet cold skull hill, Love came down & rescued me. drowning was all I knew until I received the gift of lungs and took my first breath of Life.

happiness is Jesus is Gods gift to us. to be fully content in God. whatever you think you’re looking for, the answer is Jesus. until you surrender to His breath in your lungs, you will be stuck with the mickey mouse bandaid you taped across the bullet holes bleeding out.

be happy now when you fall down, lose your clowns—those lies masquerading as truth, & let Happiness Himself wreck & give and burn prune remodel your interior until it’s new. because until we unglue, we’ll never be who we’re created to be. so let Artist great have you. & the masterpiece He crafted you to shine will be.

 

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”Psalm 16:11

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Philippians 4:4

 

 

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stewardship, gift, love, encouragement, happy <3 annabeth istvan stewardship, gift, love, encouragement, happy <3 annabeth istvan

frog finesse

lily circle green bump leaps—flying through  air, flinging her whole self forward with one grand thrust—a royal proclamation of God’s creativity, wisdom, and beauty.

no one jumps like the frog!

zoom in on these propelling frog legs, made with denser muscle fibers and other special features that make a frog capable of leaping like no other creature on earth. frog, known for her strange leg strength, sings or rather croaks a frequency of God’s glory that no other animal created can.

the frog’s ability to jump unique & unusual is given from above just like from above an unusual & unique way is given each & every one of us.

everyone has some sort of special strength!

maybe great ideas come easily to you, or you’re able to fix anything. maybe you can pick up other languages without trouble, or you’re really good with numbers. maybe you can paint murals or run marathons. maybe you can make anyone feel at home by being friendly or you can improvise music.

we all have a frog leg.

if you’re not sure what your unique capability is, ask those in your life. they’ll know.

whatever your frog leg is—that attribute custom cut to you—use it well for the glory of God. can you whip up a mean pie? then bake your heart out. can you crack home runs? then win the derby. can you sing like an angel? belt it.

whatever your gift, don’t neglect it.

use it!

and remember, whatever your file cabinet of excuses could be (no time, i’m a mom, not good enough, inexperienced, no money, etc), God’s Grace is on you to leap!

imagine a frog who never jumped. now that would just be wrong. God didn’t give the frog hind legs for nothing!

so jump!

give God your all with what He’s given you. steward that special something to be what He gave it into the earth to be. don’t quench the image of God in you but let what He deposited into the earth through you be sown.

for the glory of the Son, shine!

let your gift leap!!

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loved, new, hope, help, wow!, goodness <3 annabeth istvan loved, new, hope, help, wow!, goodness <3 annabeth istvan

Singsong dancewed

God is just that good. Better than we could ask dream think or imagine!

the tree is laughing

all my hurt swallowed by music

i can’t stop singing

these battle wounds now

battle scars, marks

who testify—rebirth occurs

can’t tie me down

can’t cage these cells

the Breath Beginner

freed me

the Greenblue Marble Speaker spoke & stonecold death broke

flesh tent coursing, can’t contain, shaking

from fullness gonna overflow everywhere i go

my feet tap to His happy clap, their soles painted glee leave prints in minds & sidewalk squares. a simple song—Be Free

now a wave, now another, gush, asking to have me

yes! i say

thank you for proposing

my rainbow white gown drenched in joy watercolor tears. have me, ocean of bottomless sideless topless endless love

consume & partake

salsa bachata waltz twirl, love at first brush stroke You spoke & i am

You holy, divine, outside of time. all of life a mysterious romance—Your Kingly Self pursues clay us, poised to pounce the moment a flutter of one toe momentum moves toward Maker

waterfalls who no one sees

still relentlessly pour, in wood crevices and mountain treasure chests

come rest in the Garden of Design

lay down your time

surrender all bruises

put down those fists

you’ve been running but there’s a dance floor you’ve been boxing but He’s not keeping score

of your punches (that’s already paid for) so lay down and let the flower’s dew change you

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God, good, water, word, trust <3 annabeth istvan God, good, water, word, trust <3 annabeth istvan

word wash

there is life or death in spoken word! water responds to this word. it’s how God made everything! you are mostly water…what word are you allowing to shape you?

the same water splashing as Jesus came up from his baptism is in the earth today.

the same water Naaman washed in and was healed is today a fountain still rushing.

the same water parted in the Red Sea when God delivered His people from the Egyptians lives now.

the water that carried Noah and his family in the ark, the water Rebekah used to give camels a drink, the water Jesus washed his disciples’ feet with, the water that gushed from our Saviour’s side… still flows here—covering ocean beds, flooding river basins, flushing toilet bowls, dewing fields and watering gardens, raining plant food and washing our sins white.

about 71% of the earth is water!

our bodies are somewhere from 60-70% water (it varies person to person). of all people, newborns have the most water percentage wise (78%). this is no surprise as babies are fresh from Heaven!

 the US Geological Survey says that the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. the skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%.

 water is essential to life

§  water is a vital nutrient to the life of every cell, acting first as a building material

§  water regulates our internal body temperature through sweating and respiration

§  carbohydrates and proteins which our bodies use for food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream

§  water assists in flushing waste mostly through urination

§  water acts as shock absorber for brain, spinal cord, and fetus

§  water creates saliva

§  water lubricates joints

 

without water we perish.

 

in the Bible we see it was already created:

 

the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2

 

for they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. 2 Peter 3:5

what is this beautiful mystery we call water?

 Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist, studied how the molecular structure in water transforms when exposed to thoughts, sounds and intentions. his findings point us to Jesus.

 

Emoto exposed water to certain words then photographed the molecules to show the word’s effect on the water:

as you can see, water is literally changed and transformed based on word. the same water from which God spoke and all things came to be, can still today be impacted today by Word.

 

if our bodies are mostly water, what word is shaping the water of you? are your water building blocks jagged, asymmetrical, broken? or are they symmetrical snowflake mirrors, eloquent and soft, beautiful and sweet?

 

whose word are you receiving? God’s good word of Love or satan’s lie of evil?

 

the beauty of this study is that water can change. we are made of water; we can change! or rather we can allow the Word of Heaven to shape us! the Bible calls this repentance, a wild and wonderous gift.


when our hearts are fertile soil for the Word of God to make His home, when we receive what God says, allowing His Voice to shape and create anew in us, everything changes!

 …the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14

let the tears you’ve wept lead  you to every drop of Christ’s blood and all the grace downpour raining from Heaven higher than here! there is a River. His Name is Jesus. He waits to wash you with Himself, the blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel! 

will you let Him wash you? 


all your jagged  jarring spikes and broken gashes of pieces and places can be made beautiful. just let Him have you. let His eternal water touch your rivers and oceans, and all your elbows and memories will become new like when He spoke everything into existence at Day One.

reborn! FreshWATER. a fountain wellspring exploding from your heart where the King Himself rests enthroned in the storeroom of snow, dew, rain, love inside you just waiting to water the world around you!

whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.  

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