Open the Door.

Portal I. (From the Portal Series I - IV), 8" x 10", Acrylic on canvas, 2025, Elise Ehrenholz.

If I haven't said this before, I'm saying it now. There is nothing that can replace you spending time alone with God. Nothing. You need to carve out a time and space for it. This is not an automatic pursuit. You have to choose it and keep choosing it. That's the only way it's going to happen. I've shared before a little about what these squared away times can look like. Making room in your daily life for God can look like being in quiet meditation with you just sitting or standing in a room getting as still and quiet as you can. Lie on the floor if you want to. It can be a space with worship music on, or not. It can be reading your Bible or not reading your Bible (although you do need to read that as a matter of course), or any combination of these. You can talk with God with audible words or not, although I would recommend that some of this time is spent without you opening your mouth. That is also valuable. We can get a deeper experience that way. And these are just examples. Whatever you decide to do, the main point of it though is that it has to be undistracted time with you honing your all your attention on being with God, listening for God. And this is the sentence where I tell you that not every time will feel like the God of universe is meeting with you. It can very much feel like time passing. And well what is the point of it then? For one, you are showing God that you are being diligent about showing up to hear from Him, and friends this is a very big deal. Showing yourself consistent is something God is absolutely looking for. Secondly, every time you make space for God in your life by pursuing Him you are aligning the very core of who you are, your spirit with His. You are tuning your ear and your heart to hear from Him better. And the benefit of that? Besides the wisdom from the words of the Bible itself, you're going to pick up those little nods from Heaven that otherwise you might otherwise miss, you're going to catch the feel of them and that only comes with time well spent. And these little moments that feel weightier are important because God uses these to lead you in a way that it unique to you. It will show you that He's seen you every day of your life. It's a training ground of sorts, one that is quite necessary. And as you ponder this I want to encourage you not to dismiss the importance of stepping out into faith just a little bit farther. Journeys begin with a single step. And the more you do this, the more joy you are going to find with Jesus. That's how it works, an ever-increasing joy feedback loop from Heaven and it will break you down in all the best ways possible. I wouldn't trade it. It feels like everything you've been searching for.

And I feel like God is saying today, "Make room." 

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks find, and to him who knocks it will be opened."- Matthew 7:7, 8.

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"If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”- Romans 10:9-10

Keep stretching your hands out to God dear hearts. Pour your heart out like a waterfall to Him. The road has surely been rough, but we are mighty in Him. Praise you Jesus. You did it all.