Sunday, October 29, 2017

Lioness Arising

"These people rise up like a lioness; like a majestic lion they stand." - Numbers 23:24


Photo credit: Amazon.com
My church has done some studies by an incredibly gifted author named John Bevere, and as I was searching out more of his stuff, I found out that his wife is also an author, and I wanted to find out more about what she had written.  I requested some of her books for my birthday, and my kids got me her book Lioness Arising

Eager to delve in, I began reading it within a few days of receiving it, and immediately I was discouraged.  Not by its message.  Its message is powerful and enlightening.  It is full of awe and wonder.  That's what was discouraging.  As I read it, all I could think was "wow...this sounds exhausting.  Is this really what God wants for my life?  Because I'm already exhausted.  I can't handle this."

This line of thinking set off some alarm bells in my head...why was a call to action causing nothing but exhaustion and resentment in my heart?  That ain't right.

I felt the tug of the Lord calling me to come away from everything - responsibilities and events and plans and the BUSYNESS and the stress - and have a weekend practicing the concept of being still.  I kept putting it off - there is no way I could do that!  I'm a wife!  I'm a mom!  I teach!  I have responsibilities at church!  I'm a den mom!  We have soccer!  We have baseball!  I DON'T HAVE TIME TO BE STILL!

We have time for the things we make time for.  And it was high time I made some time for being still.

Finally, I shared with my husband that I needed to take this weekend, and he helped me rearrange some things to make a weekend for me to go away.  My in-laws were going to be out of town for a weekend, so I hid in their house to have a weekend with me, my journal, and my God.

And this book - Lioness Arising.

Once I cleared the clutter, I was no longer discouraged by the message of this book.  I was empowered by it. 

This is a book that every woman should read.  It's a call to be what we are.  It's a charge.  It's an encouragement that we, as women, are not second-rate characters in this story - we are joint heirs in the Kingdom.  We are God-answers.  We are the Daughters of the Most High, and we need to take our place.  We are lionesses. 

Lioness are "at ease with strength and at rest with power."  They are strategic.  They work together for the common good of the pride.  They are powerful.  They are stunning - and they know it.

You, dear ones, are stunning.  You are powerful.  And we need you.  We need you to walk in the mighty power God has granted you.  We need you to be dangerous and fully awake.  My confession is that I spend too much time thinking about how tired I am.  What's holding you back?  I want to be dangerous to the enemy and fully away.  I want to live in the light and hunt in the dark. 

I am a lioness.  So are you.  Walk in the destiny God has for you.

Also, read this book.

Order it here: Lioness Arising

Next up:
1. Without Rival by Lisa Bevere
2. The Paradigm by Jonathan Cahn
3. Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon
4. Behind the Shattered Glass by Tasha Alexander
5. Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne by David Starkey