Looking Out, Looking In – A Spiritual Vision Unfolds – My Journal

Standing on the edge of a cliff, I look out over a beautiful panoramic view of a valley. I then look down at my feet, planted firmly in this spot.

Questions stir in me, shooting against the walls of my mind, each trying to one up the other in wanting me to make a decision…………apart from the Spirit of God. This internal conversation goes on and on and on.

Go………Stay
Wait……Move
There…..Here
Jump…..Stand

There is tension brewing within me between what is out there and what is right here. My heart cries out for adventure, yet the practicality of life’s day-to-days keep me anchored to my own fears in real-time. In the place that I stand right now, comfort and convenience can often become my best friends. Life can be lived through a lens of being too careful and too confined. Thank you Holy Spirit that you keep opening my spirit to see my life through an eternal lens of what it is in Christ not what it is in the world.

Is there a clear direction coming soon? Is there an answer to these weighty questions that I have been carrying for so long? I hope so. I don’t want to stand here forever. I like a change of scenery. I want to move within that sweet spot called destiny, called purpose.

Change is good. Change is in my DNA, or at least that is what I keep telling myself, over and over and over.

Yet why is it that at times, I fight this overarching storyline of my life? Why is it that I won’t always accept my own joy in spontaneity, travel and change? The voice of regret likes to remind me about what this has cost me, the price paid over years of travel. Lost time. Lost memories. Lost friendships. Sigh……….wait a minute. If I buy into this, regret would have its way and tell me what my life should have been like…….like this, like that. And if regret had its way, I would never ben standing on the edge of this cliff.

Lost in my thoughts, I smile and look up again to see this beautiful expanse of valley. Something occurs to me. I can’t stand here forever and at some point I have to shorten the distance between here and there. How? Jumping. There’s no way back. The distance between here and there must first be reconciled in me before any new step of adventure is before me

“Define yourself,” an inner voice whispers.

I think for a brief moment before words start flowing out of my inner being.

Travel
Journey
Places
Inspiration
Color
Nature
Oceans
Mountains
Cities
Museums
Art
Coffee shops
Writing Dreaming Photo this Photo that Creativity Originality Movement Intentional Spontaneous Sound Music Worship Vision

I could go on and on and on but at this point I sense Jesus is smiling. I have been brought to the edge of this cliff for such a time as this. All these words are open-ended. They come alive within action and action involves faith and faith always involves risk and cutting against the grain of what is normal or acceptable. These words integrate my purpose and infuse my being.

So, why am I still standing here, frustrated at times? I am the one holding me back. True reconciliation must take place inside myself in order to move. I have to come to terms with who I am. Not the terms of what anyone says but who God says that I am, how He is forming my life.

I must look at me, the ‘me’ Jesus forms, Holy Spirit breathes into and Father God loves. I am my biggest obstacle to my own well being by allowing so many others to write the script of my life at times, while I passively look on and accept their terms.

What’s next? I don’t know. I’m still standing in this place, on the edge. Been here for a while but I perceive it won’t be for long. This place? It’s been about 4 years now. Preaching about the edge. Talking about faith. Out of the box journey and adventure yet…..I am still here on the edge. Why?

God is doing something so deep in me that it goes beyond anything I have ever been through up to this point in my Christian life. I can’t always define it. I don’t always know exactly what it is. I only know that at some point I will be asked to jump. I hope that what Scripture says is true. I know it is but again….faith in action? There’s always a few questions asked by even the most spiritual of us.

 

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind. (Isaiah 40:31 Message)

 

This is all preparation time for me into the next phase of my life. One thing I do realize. We never arrive. We are always in journey. And there will be another time that I find myself at the edge of a cliff in preparation to jump once again.

For now, I wait, looking out, looking in. As these two perspectives are reconciled, I will jump into my next place of glory and faith. Christianity is exciting. Or at least I see it that way. Enjoy the journey!

In Christ,
Debra
About Me
Rivers of Eden Ministry

Moving Day Coming Up!

So many profound statements have now become quite cliché. In the process, we then ignore the depth of their meaning and how they may challenge and change our life. For instance, it is quite easy to find yourself going through life, swept along by the current of popular group think or tailoring your responses to be more tolerable and compliant, or even to just fit in because one may love to be loved. You walk around saying “Let’s all just love each other” or “God is in control” or some such thing which is all true in its essence, but lacks punch when said as a proverbial cliché. You then wake up one day and discover, much to your amazement, that you may not have truly lived for many years of your life. Ouch!

So what do you do then? Guilt doesn’t work. Regret? No way! You may throw caution to the wind, living with a vengeance seeking to define yourself from all the missed years. Of course, that vengeance is contrived and will burn you out. So what to do?

I woke up and decided to be me. Haha! Truly……..that may sound ridiculous but it’s easy to get tossed into the whirlpool of acceptance simply because you don’t want to rock the boat or simply because it’s a scary thing to say what you really feel, even if one does it in wisdom. I feel in the depths of my being, I am created to challenge. I did it wrong for many years. Now it’s time to do it right. Think what you will. I truly feel this way. Too many people flowing along in life not quite knowing anything beyond Twitter one-liners or Facebook likes.

There is great love to be expressed through all of us when we realize it is not some nebulous cliché tossed around like the wind. Love is profound, able to bear wrongs, to know what to say despite it being unpopular and to know when to be quiet, to bear wrongs suffered against you when you sense that you have done what is necessary, to be misunderstood. and so much more.

I turned 60 in June…….it definitely has its advantages. Haha! 50 did not bother me. 60 was a bit challenging for a few months when you realize life seems shorter in front of you then behind but today, I woke up refreshed and renewed. God has indeed touched my heart today AND we will be living in the Oxnard/Ventura area. God is so good. Will be writing more about this new move in the days ahead and how the decision transpired.

He really does love us, you know…………I wanted to be near the beach, the ocean – to write, along with great new adventures. Now, I can be at the beaches in Ventura in about 20 minutes, Malibu beaches in about 30 minutes, Santa Barbara in about 45………..something about me and water…….Love it.

In Christ,
Debra Westbrook

New Sounds Break Old Cycles!

New ‘sounds’ break old cycles – Sounds flowing out create change in the atmosphere. Sounds flowing in music. Words of declaration coming forth from your life. Rising to a new place is greatly influenced by the words we speak or the sound that emanates from our lives. There is power in what we speak. There are many creative ways of expression that bring forth a new sound in the earth today. New sounds break old cycles, yet before they do, they often have to confront the current sound that pervades the atmosphere around them. Christ in me, the hope of glory – my sound goes forth from the reality.

By the way, new sounds do not solely belong to a young generation. Age has nothing to do with this. Gender has absolutely nothing to do with this. A new sound rises up from the depths of one’s being, overflows into the atmosphere around them, and challenges the status quo, which often says, “Don’t rock the boat!”

New sounds break old cycles! Prophetically speaking, this is the entrance into breakthrough. It starts with the sound that permeates the atmosphere in varying ways and degrees of influence.

A word of advice:

Don’t pull an old sound into a new sound through confrontation, comparison, or contradiction.

Stay with me as I prophetically work this out. Hear me by Holy Spirit. Lots of you need to hear this because freedom comes through a new sound. Something in us is unlocked and set free. We need this. I need this.

Bring forth a new sound. In doing this, don’t constantly spend any time or effort in challenging or confronting the existing sound!

This is a waste of energy and can get you off focus. Challenge and confrontation by a new sound against an old sound will come through its own virtue. By the simple fact of what is being proclaimed from the Lord, the new sound will eventually confront and displace what is permeating the spiritual atmosphere. Be at peace with the new sound and be in the rest of the ONE who gave it to you to speak. Just speak and leave the rest to the Lord.

Bring forth a new sound. Don’t constantly compare the new sound to the old sound.

Comparison is a trap. People may draw you into comparison by intentionally or unintentionally try to instill doubt within you about your belief in your sound. They do this through words or remarks that imply “Really?” or “What if? or “Come on, do you really believe this?” Don’t let anyone mess with your mind. You have something to say from the Lord. Say it without comparing it to anything else or anyone else.

There may be a transition between an old sound and a new sound coming forth. In that transition time, we may tend to think we have to hold on to a bit of the old sound and let it intermingle with the new sound. Don’t. Break free entirely. But, but, but, we have not arrived at this point alone. I never think I have the whole picture.  I journey in the company of those who have gone before me and those who will inevitably come after my sound is proclaimed. Walk in humility and grace, allowing the Lord to take His sound flowing through you, making it what He will of it and taking it where He wants it to go.

Bring forth a new sound. This new sound is not new to God’s ears but it may be new to our ears.

A new sound may appear to contradict the old sound, forcing these two sounds to contradict each other, to be at odds with each other. In the spiritual atmosphere there is a tension and an opposition that will arise from the clashing of two sounds. This causes dissonance. What is that?

Dissonance is a lack of agreement that may cause sounds to clash with each other. It may indicate the two sounds are at odds with each other.

This may or may not be the case. It may depend on the old not wanting to let go and make way for the new. Let’s not forget that Jesus Christ crucified is the foundation of any new sound. He is the testimony and the life in every prophetic sound.  Move in unity and grace. Allow the new sound, ordained by God, to move out in breakthrough, allowing the Body of Christ to go to its next appropriate level. Humility and grace in God’s people will allow a flow to go forth like a river, making a way through the darkness bringing light and hope into the earth.

(I am trying to bring forth words that are spirit and life to those who read. Perhaps you read this and don’t have a clue what I am talking about here. Well, take a few insights applying it to your life in Christ. That will be very good. To those, who, by the Holy Spirit, catch what I am saying, know this. So many of us have to break free of old patterns, old cycles, old ways of thinking – to break out of a place of invisibility, out of the hinterlands – to come forth and take our stand in Christ for such a time as this.)

In Christ, Debra Westbrook

Please pray and consider having Rivers of Eden minister in your gathering, home group, conference or church in 2014. This is our year of release wherever and whenever God opens His doors bringing His grace and His glory through us to those to whom we are called in this season. Feel Free to contact us on Facebook, Twitter.