Thunderhead: Write the VisionI'm a total visionary, and even as a kid I was exploding with creative ideas. I remember making designs with watermelon juice on my paper plate during picnics and using flannel cloth from the rag bag to make prairie-style doll clothes. As we grow, sometimes our dreams become bigger and seem harder to accomplish. If we're prone to creative ideas, it's easy to write them off as “impossible” instead of hold on to that childlike creative streak. When I was age 17, I had a dream that felt enormous, but I couldn't help hoping and praying it would come true! I'd always dreamed of singing my little original songs on stage, and I desperately wanted to share my music with my favorite recording artist that I heard on the radio. I happened to meet him one day at a backstage event, and he prayed for me out of the goodness of his heart. Like thousands of other teenagers, I really wanted to meet this man who played the piano and wrote pop songs. After about two years of desperately praying and hoping that I could somehow share my songs with him, a mentor gave me a piece of advice.
“Sometimes,” she said in matter-of-fact tone, “you just need to write your request and lay it before the Lord. If it's meant to be, He'll make a way. If not, then move on with your life.” So I did: I wrote my request, laid it on my bedroom floor, and prayed. Nothing happened, so I buried the dream for about three years, moved across the state, and stopped writing songs. During that time I had some profound encounters with God and started to pick up music again and express myself in worship to God. One day I happened to be driving through the town I used to live in and noticed that my favorite pop star was doing a benefit concert and dinner in a local church. I decided to go, but I only had enough money for a concert ticket and not the meal beforehand. A funny thing happened that night. I arrived to the church early and asked to meet with the pastor. “Do you happen to have a little corner where I could pray?” I asked politely. “I'm coming to the concert, but I don't have a ticket to the dinner.” To my surprise, the pop singer appeared and to my astonishment he remembered me from three years ago! “Would you be my guest for the dinner?” he asked, and then he proceeded to walk me to the ticket table and purchase me a ticket with cash from his own wallet. Then he asked me to help him with the sound check, so I sat at the shiny grand piano in a daze, playing one of my little songs just like I had dreamed of doing years before. During dinner, I asked him every single question I'd ever wondered about the music industry. God had seen the prayer I had written down and laid before Him several years earlier, and just when He was about to call me into full time ministry and knew I would need some extra courage, He made my dream come true! My point is this: God hears our prayers, but there is something special about writing down our dreams and visions. God told Habakkuk, Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. Hab. 2:2 Time and time again, I've seen God's plans unfold in ways that leave me startled with a sense of wonder and awe, and many of these were dreams that I've written down and laid before Him. It's a beautiful thing. So if you feel like your head is in the clouds and exploding with ideas, write them down and lay them before the Lord. He knows exactly where He desires to take you, and you might be shocked at how He brings them to pass! On a side note: I just opened up my non-profit, The Potter's House Creative Ministries! Part of the vision is to host monthly events for the community where we teach both kids and adults to write or draw what God is speaking to them. Find out more at:
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The Arizona highway stretched long and thin through the desert mountains, and I was fighting fear as I drove my little RAV4 over the blacktop. I had been booked to speak at a church in AZ, and I realized I was a long way from the nearest gas station! With no cell phone reception among the rocks and cactus, it was a long drive and I had never been to this church before. I flipped through the radio stations to pass the time and could only get one signal: a pop music station playing Walk the Moon's track, Shut up and Dance, a tongue-in-cheek song about simply enjoying the moment. I laughed- the song hit home, and I realized the Holy Spirit was calling me to rest and just trust Him on that trip. To dance, and let Him lead. Sure enough, everything turned out great. God protected, provided, and there was an opportunity for some special ministry time at the church. To this day, Shut up and Dance makes me smile every time I hear it. Later, I decided to create a photo to this idea after discovering some Scripture that really brought the concept to life. "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him..." Psalm 37:7a The Hebrew word "rest" in this verse means: "to be dumb, to stop, quiet self, rest, be silent, tarry." I'm one of those visionaries who is constantly chewing on ideas, making sense of chaos, and processing pretty much everything. This specific directive couldn't be clearer: STOP TALKING- and that includes the chatter of the inner mind. Still your soul, Rebecca. Pause. Embrace silence. "Wait patiently" is a single Hebrew word with a radical meaning: "to twist or whirl in a circular or spiral manner, specifically to dance..." This word is translated into various words in English. For instance, is could mean dance, or it could mean to birth, like Psalm 29:9 which says that God's voice makes the "hinds to calve," and calve is this dancing Hebrew word. Other times it's interpreted as "fear," or even "formed." I'm not a scholar, but this Hebrew word seems to denote a verb of passion, motion, and even creativity. For me, perhaps this verse is summed up in the lyrics of the pop song where the lover playfully sings this invitation, "Shut up and dance with me!" As much as God loves our business and action for the Kingdom, sometimes the place of rest means silence and a dance of faith with Him- whatever that looks like. Whether you're driving through the Arizona desert or through a difficult time in life, trusting God is the best place to be! I was all ready to send a composite photo but decided on a very different creative direction this week, because I believe the message of the moment is more important than just sharing "cool art!" I was in prayer a couple of days ago and the Lord impressed this image on my heart of a fork. It wasn't your average silver fork-- it had extra prongs for picking up specialty hors d'oeuvres. Immediately I realized that God is enlarging our hearts to contain what He has for the next season. Just like this fork has to be extra large for serving foods that are timely, special, and strategically placed within a meal, He is preparing us for very special things to unfold in our journey. It was a funny little image but totally true for my life, and I think it could be for someone else's too! Often we want and expect God to do great things in our lives, but in reality we are so unprepared for them to happen! In His graciousness, God molds and shapes our hearts to be ready for the next step. David realized this when he penned Psalm 119:32.
I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. The Hebrew word for enlarge, means “to broaden, make room, make open wide.” Our Father is so wise and good with our hearts! When we belong to Christ, He actually makes room in our heart so we can handle the beauty of His plans. There have been some things God has asked me to do that have been very difficult, and others that have nearly overloaded my nervous system with excitement! For each time, I have needed God's “enlarging” of my vision, dreams, and trust in Him in order to handle the task, battle, and responsibility of the assignment. I believe that God is using this time to sharpen and fine tune our hearts so that He can entrust us with what is to come! Sometimes that means dealing with attitudes and emotions that remind me that it's time to "clean house" and realign with the character of Christ. Other times it means letting go of things from another season that aren't meant to fit into God's plan for this season. It could even mean spending extra time in rest and prayer so that God can download His plans for my journey. I'm choosing to lean into this process because I'm SO EXCITED for what is to come! What does "enlarging" look like for you? Prayer: Lord, enlarge my faith, trust, and vision so that I can see clearly and accurately and be ready for what is to come! In the Book of Revelation, we see the prayers of the saints coming before the throne like sweet smelling incense before the Lord, and heaven responding to this perfume. I wanted to capture a bit of that idea, and also remind us that 2019 is a great time to allow God to fully open our hearts to the place of deep worship again. In any relationship, an open heart is so important. You can't work or communicate well with a person who's heart is closed to you. When things happen to strain a relationship, sometimes our hearts tend to close out of self-protection. God is the same way-- sometimes our hearts get hurt or we are disappointed by life, so our hearts are a little bit less excited about our relationship with Him. Yet God is constantly there for us and with us. His love never changes, and He's as excited about us as ever! Nothing can separate us from His love.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38, 39 As we start 2019, let's ask the Father to fill us with His love like never before! Let's bring before Him everything that's on our hearts, and ask Him to heal, restore, and refresh us so that we can open our hearts fully to Him and enjoy His love fully. From this place of worship, mighty things happen that change our world as we worship the King! Prayer: Father, I love You. As I begin this new year with You, show me if there's any area in my heart that has become closed to You. As I bring my heart to You, please refuel it with passion so that I can worship with heart fully abandoned to You! The term means: innovative, fresh, unusual, unprecedented, inventive, pioneering, radical. I created this picture with the idea of the ground being ready, even before the shovel actually starts to go to work. The soil is loose and soft enough to be worked, and it's time to start tilling. 2019 is a great year for "ground breaking," new things!
There are so many seasons in our lives. Sometimes we invest into something that doesn't produce the harvest we hoped for, and it can be disappointing. I remember one year where several of my ministry project failed, and I was frustrated,because I really believed I was obeying God by investing in these ways. During this time, God gave me a powerful picture of how to process this disappointment... One day I was driving through Arkansas and noticed fields of golden wheat whose heads were hanging low with the weight of the grain. On closer look, the grains were bulging and starting to turn brown, like the wheat was starting to turn bad. Someone told me, “Every few years, the farmers will grow a field of wheat, and instead of harvesting it, they'll let it over-ripen and then till it back into the ground as natural fertilizer. Instead of an immediate harvest, he nutrients of the crop is invested into the next season.” This made so much sense to me, and I realized that God did the same thing in my life. Even though my creative projects hadn't reached the “harvest” I was hoping for, they carried a lot of learning lessons, and I was able to apply what I'd learned to the next season and get a “richer harvest” because of it. God cares about the “soil” of our hearts-- even enough to give us seasons that produce less harvest than we hope for so that we can be more fruitful in the coming seasons. I pray that we'll be able to run after the Father and dream His dreams this year-- whether it's sowing and receiving a huge harvest, or learning valuable lessons that prepare us for what's coming next. For me, I've got some new things that are “ground breaking” in my world! They are new and exciting, and a little scary! I 'm choosing to trust that God will use EVERYTHING for His glory in this new season... and even things in the past can become “fertilizer” if I ask God to help me learn and grow in wisdom so that I can have a better harvest in what is coming. Like this picture, I'm trusting God for good soil as I sow into His new season! Prayer: Father, please take every piece of my past- the blessings and the hardships- and use them for your glory. In 2019, may there be many new groundbreaking moments that happen by Your leading! FOLLOW: https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaFriedlanderProductions/ While praying over the new year to come, I saw an image in my heart and decided to create it. I saw a branch with golden keys growing on it, just as fruit would grow on a tree, and knew the title should be “Tree of Life.” The keys represent wisdom from the Lord, just as we call answers to a difficult situation, "the key." Scripture speaks about the Tree of Life in several places: the beginning, middle, and end of the Bible. I found it a fascinating study and a great place for us to look at as we prepare for a new year!
The first mention of the Tree of Life is in the Book of Genesis when God placed the sacred tree in the Garden of Eden for His children to eat, but they chose the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil instead. The last is reference is found in Revelation as God promises to reinstate access to the tree for those who obey His commandments. (Genesis 2:9, 3:24, Revelation 22:2) This makes a good history lesson and future promise, but what can the Tree of Life offer us today? In the middle of Scripture, we come to four references that can apply to us right now.
As we prepare for the year ahead, let's ask the Father for the keys of wisdom for our journey! Father, I ask You for the wisdom that You have promised. Please show me how to RECEIVE the keys You have for my life and BE a source of healing and life for others! Merry Christmas! In the midst of the season of giving, I've been thinking a lot about the kind of gift Jesus likes... Sometimes people tell me, “Oh Rebecca, think what you could do with a huge crew and a million dollar budget for your films! You could accomplish so much more for God's Kingdom with your talent.” It's natural human reasoning to think that, but only if you believe that talent is a gift that pleases God. The truth is, God doesn't need our gifts. I believe God is not interested in my talent-- He's interested in my heart. He doesn't anoint talent: He anoints obedience. Obedience is the seed that grows great faith. (In fact, the things He chooses to use are often the things that I think are the most ridiculous or least “talented!") This is why we are called to surrender our gifts and talents to Christ-- because without the component of obedience, they are unusable in the Kingdom of God. No matter how “talented” we are, He looks for a heart that follows hard after Him and puts Him first. God wants to do amazing things with people who choose to say "yes" to Him!
Last year I was working on my first film about the Celtic saints, and I couldn't figure out why on earth God was asking me to do this film! There were so many other people who were more knowledgeable, skilled, and better funded than I for this project. I tried to figure out if there was something in my skill set that qualified me for the task, and I finally shared my question with my prayer team, "Why is God calling ME to do this film?" One of my prayer partners responded, "Because He knows you'll do it." I laughed-- God wasn't giving me this assignment because of my skill set, rather, He was calling me to do something so big that He would get the glory... because I had very little to offer other than simple obedience. God is simply not interested in our talents (although I believe He honors those who refine their craft) but what He really wants is our obedience to dare to follow Him into adventures of faith! The beauty comes when we learn that God wants to partner with us in creativity, and that He's able to co-create with us in ways that defy imagination. Repeatedly I've watched Him rearrange weather patterns in order to stage the perfect conditions for a film shoot. Sometime He brings people into place just a few hours before a shoot, including the costumes, props, and skills that are just right for the scene. One time He sent a stunt choreographer for a pirate scene in Alaska just when we were shooting a “fight” scene-- this man just happened to be visiting the church I was speaking at one Sunday morning and heard the call for extras that afternoon. Other times He puts rainbows in the sky in a perfect place, or sends a weaver to donate a special length of hand-woven cloth to the film shoot. At times, I've felt angels on site while filming. Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." John 15:5 This Christmas, I challenge you to give your life to Christ as a gift, surrender all your talents and dreams to Him, and then follow His lead. He might just use you and a camera... you and a laptop... or you and an idea no one has ever thought of before to change the world. You never know where life with Jesus will take you! Prayer: Lord, I surrender every gift, talent, resource, and idea to You. Show me how to follow You in the mundane things, and help me to trust if You ask me to take a leap of faith to pursue Your call on my life! I don't know about you, but I'm ready for 2018 to be finished so I can “turn the page” and start a new year! I created this photo with the idea that the Bride of Christ is sleeping, but midnight is about to strike and a brand new day will begin. This bride has become pretty comfortable with her current position, but the time that is coming that she will need to arise and prepare for the new day so she can meet her bridegroom in it. Notice the clock in this photo: it's nearly midnight- just on the verge of a brand new day. A quick study on the word “midnight” in the New Testament paints an interesting picture. It's the most inconvenient time of day: Then, teaching them more about prayer, he [Jesus] used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ Luke 11:5-7 It's easy to fall asleep: Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight... As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” Acts 20:7,9 Breakthrough happens at midnight: Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! Acts 16:25, 26 The Bridegroom arrives at midnight: "At midnight they were roused by the shout, 'Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!' Matthew 25:6 We're on the verge of a new year, and I believe God is about to release new things into the earth. During this “almost new day” season, I feel like this poses the same challenges and opportunities that these scriptures reveal about the midnight hour: -There's lots of inconveniences. People sometimes display more needs at Christmas time, and since there's often a lot of un-met expectations, it's easy for our lives to take on added drama. -It's easy to “fall asleep” spiritually because there's a lot of extra options and demands on our time. -Breakthrough happens when we worship and pray! -It's the time when the Bridegroom calls us to go out to meet Him! God is getting ready to meet us for the new year with new dreams, strategies, and open doors! As the Bride of Christ, let's make the decision to be “awake at midnight” so we can tap into the blessings of this season! Here's a few ideas: -Stay intentional about spending time with Jesus in your personal prayer time. It's easy to get so caught up in the glitter of celebrating Christmas, that we forget to spend time with Jesus! -Remember how Paul and Silas received freedom as they worshiped and prayed at midnight: I believe this can be a time of great break though! Let's make time to worship and pray, even in the business of the season. -Listen for the Bridegroom's voice. He is ready to give fresh direction, strategies, and insight for the new year. Let's keep our ears open and listen for His wisdom! Prayer: Lord, show me how to prepare for the year ahead. Tune my ears to hear Your call, and give me the wisdom for the new season, so that I can be ready for what you have created for us to do together! Over the last few days, I've been astounded by the faithfulness of God. Sometimes He brings amazing people into our journey in a way that's deeply humbling, and opens our eyes to see His hand even in the most difficult of situations. It's a beautiful reminder that He wants to be a part of our lives even more than we want Him to, and He really is working on our behalf. 'Though the wind and waves crash, we can rest assured that our God is faithful.
Often the things God wants to reveal to us cannot be seen with our human eyes. In fact, if we only see with our eyes, our perspective will often lead us astray from God's plan. Sometimes it takes closing our eyes to a situation in order to fully see what God is doing, and peaceful clarity comes when we seek God's vision in prayer. Seven times in the Old Testament, God asked the prophets, “What do you see?” (Jeremiah 1:11, 1:13, 24:3, Amos 7:8, 8:2, Zechariah 4:2, 5:2.) One of these times Zechariah was even awakened by an angel “like a man awakened from his sleep,” and his eyes were opened before the angel asked what he saw. Jeremiah was blessed by the Lord for reporting what he saw, and was told “you have seen beautifully/well.” Each time, God wasn't asking for their perspective on current events or what they saw with their natural eyes, but rather if they were seeing the specific thing He wanted to show them. Each time they saw what God was revealing, God brought revelation that was specific to their circumstances, and unveiled His plan. I created this picture to remind us that the unseen world is mostly where God speaks. For many of us, He doesn't show up with a bold of lightning or write in the sky the answers we seek. In fact, we may discover Him in the most unusual of places. When thinking of this, I recalled how the Apostle John was a prisoner on the island of Patmos when he saw a door opened in heaven (Revelation 4:1). John had been exiled for the gospel's sake to this remote island, and I'm sure there was nothing comfortable about his surroundings. Then one day, traditionally while in a cave, he suddenly saw Jesus, who told him to write what he had seen and was about to see (Rev. 1:19). A door opened in heaven, and John was invited to see wonders that would unfold God's perspective about life on earth. When Jesus invites us to “come and see,” He invites us into heaven's perspective.
Many of my greatest experiences with the Lord have happened in "cave" places of solitude where I've just been crying out for an answer in prayer. Sometimes it's when I'm pacing in the bathroom (which is a nice, quiet place to pray!), or recently it's been when I perch on a cliff overlooking the beach, armed with a notebook to journal and write out my prayers. My situation may look bleak, but suddenly I have a "come up here and see" moment, where the Lord gives me a perspective that suddenly changes my entire outlook on the situation. Mountains become molehills and impossibilities become possible when He shifts my perspective and I begin to see through a new lens-- and none of this happens through my natural eyesight. Sometimes it happens with a thought impressed on my heart, and other times it occurs as I read the Scriptures, like King David who prayed, Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law. Psalm 119:18 Maybe this week we won't be caught up to heaven like John did, but we can still seek the Lord's perspective on situations that happen to us every day. Like this photo, sometimes it means deliberately choosing not to look on things with our natural eyes, but to kneel before the Lord on prayer and seek His perspective. We have open access to heaven, and God longs for us to see like He sees! Prayer: Lord, open my eyes so I can see You! Show me Your perspective as I lay situations at Your feet and desire heaven's plan. |
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