Moving to the Mountaintop

Last week I began talking about the choice of being in a cave or on a mountaintop. The cave is often a choice we choose because it provides what we perceive as shelter, comfort, and protection. But God makes it clear in the story of Elijah that the cave is not the best choice.

I lived in the mountains of North Carolina for almost 9 years. Having the mountains as my back yard for so long I actually have a tangible vision of what it feels like to be standing on top of a mountain.

On the mountain we are exposed. We are open to the winds, the rain, the wildlife and we essentially feel completely unprotected. I can remember times in college when I would hike to the top of a mountain and stand out on the edge but there were times when I wouldn’t dare go near the edge because the winds were so fierce that I was fearful I would lose stability.

I would suggest through scripture and revelation that the instability and exposure of the mountaintop is where we “GET” to see the Lord be the Lord. When we are exposed, this is where we get to see Him in His rawest, most tangible form, as long as we focus our eyes on Him. This is a gift that He wants to give to us.

In Mark 9, the bible gives us a more clear picture of the mountaintop. Jesus brought the disciples with Him to the mountaintop and when they were there Jesus revealed Himself in true light. Scripture said that Jesus “was transfigured among them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, as no one on earth could bleach them.” (Mark 9:2b-3) They had seen Jesus as only human and on the mountaintop they got to experience him tangibly as God.

Yet they didn’t accept Him for who He is. They didn't trust in the word that says, "God is my rock, my fortress, and my savior: my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety." (Psalm 18:2) They didn’t trust in their almighty King who they could even see clearly in front of them. Instead, they wondered if they were safe, turning to the God of protection they offering to build shelters. Due to the remembrance of their false security, their caves, they didn’t embrace the the security of Christ.

What structures have you put in place in your life to keep you safe and secure, but when you take a deeper look they seem to bounce back lie after lie, or create a cycle or recurring unGodly patterns? Is it a relationship? A job? A city? An addiction?

It takes a lot of strength and courage to recognize you have boxed yourself into your own cave of false security. But if you have now recognized it, it’s time to step out and onto the mountaintop.

So here are a few things I want you to know before you move out of your cave.

You are going to feel naked.

Your cave has been covering your hurts, pains, insecurities, and doubts for a long time. It’s what you have gone to for comfort, acceptance, and reassurance. So sure, when you come out of whatever your cave may be to you, it is going to feel less than desirable. You will feel exposed and unprotected. So before you step out, go ahead and come to terms with this feeling and go ahead and make up your mind that even when you feel vulnerable to the unknown and newness of the mountain top God is calling you to, you won’t turn back!!

Jesus will meet you there.

When Adam and Eve found themselves naked in the Garden, God did not leave them there uncovered. He met them there and He covered their vulnerabilities. Your, now exposed, wounds and insecurities will not be left there to bleed out. You’re heavenly father is a Healer! Not only will He heal, He will protect you in adversities to come. You are not on the mountaintop alone!

You may be tempted to dream of your cave.

Another thing I suggest you come to terms with is, you are going to miss the comfort of your false security. Be careful to not spend too much time focusing on what you are leaving behind. Trust that there is an ultimate power in the King of all Kings waiting for you in the newness. So make sure you get out of your head and take the time to look up. If you never look up...you’ll follow your foot prints right back to your cave. But if you take the time in the uncomfortability to look up and take in the scenery from the mountaintop you will see that there is so much more for you. You will see that you are not alone. Christ stands with you! I would propse this is where the disciples went wrong as well.

So when you are standing there. Maybe now single, or in a new job, or with all the junk food out of your cabinets, or without your normal crowd of friends to go out with on Friday night...do not be afraid. God is your shelter. Although, you now feel exposed, you are now able to receive new sounds, be led in new ways, be brought into your destiny, become more like Christ, experience miracles, and so much more!

No more beating your head against the walls of your cave. Step into God’s presence, fully exposed, and begin to learn what it means to truly trust in a trustworthy source of security. Imagine yourself on a mountaintop without your stronghold when you look out on the horizon what is it that’s there for you?

What also amazes me about the story of the disciples on the mountaintop is that when they saw Jesus they saw him talking with Elijah and Moses. The two characters of the bible that went to the mountaintop to experience God are now walking in consistent relationship and conversation with the King. Don’t worry, eventually, you’ll stop dreaming of your cave and eventually there will be no place you’d rather be than in the unknown with your Lord. Eventually, you may even find yourself fearlessly wanting to jump off your mountaintop and take on all that the Lord is showing you. The world is yours. Come out of your cave. Determine what you’ll do when you feel naked and exposed. Lift your head and fix your eyes on Christ and then let him point you to where you will go and ultimately allow yourself to be in His PRESENCE!

Coming Out Of Your Cave

Choices. We face them daily and they are for whatever reason the way the Lord designed us to walk through life here on earth. From what toys to play with as a child, to what college to go to, to what career to follow, to who to marry, and what to believe. Hardly anything is designed for us absent of the ability to choose.

In the bible there is a specific choice that I found revelatory through the story of Elijah.

It was the choice between the cave or the mountaintop.

If you have been traveling with me through my blog I hope you have found strength in turning things around and finding hope that there is purpose in your life no matter what struggles you may face or deficiency you may be feeling. I hope you have been working diligently on making a comeback to live the abundant life you have been called to live.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah found himself at rock bottom, just like so many of us have. He sat under a tree begging for the Lord to take His life because the pressures were too hard. Instead the Lord sent an angel to give him strength. Refueled and ready to pick himself up, it was time for him to move on from a place of defeat to what the Lord had for him next.

My hope and prayer is that you have been able to experience this divine restrengthening to continue your journey with the Lord as well. God will provide this strength for us to keep going but where we go from there is up to us.

As Elijah traveled he came to the mountain of God. When he got there he found shelter in a cave. Have you ever been caught in a place you shouldn't have been or been exploring or playing with something that you didn't know was unsafe and then your parent walked in the room? Just by the tone of their question you immediately knew you were wrong. I think this is how it was for Elijah when God spoke to him in the cave. God came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” I can just hear these words being said to me by my mom or dad after catching me in a place I shouldn’t be, can’t you?! It was evident by God’s question that being in the cave was not the best choice. God proposed this question and then redirected Elijah saying, “Go out on the mountain and stand in the presence of the Lord.”

Elijah chose the cave but the Lord preferred the alternate choice of being on the mountaintop.

So when we’ve finally found the strength to take some steps forward and leave old ways behind, how do we know if we’ve progressed just to go straight into the cave or if we’ve found ourself placed among the mountaintop of God’s presence?

I am going to do something different this week and split this blog into a series of 2 posts.

Today I want to help you recognize if you are in the cave.

THE CAVE

Recognizing you are in a cave is hard. It’s safe right? Why not go inside? It provides us protection from the unknown and keeps us covered. Well unfortunately for our comfort zone the Lord didn’t give us His strength to keep going just so we could play it safe in the cave. The Lord knows that the cave may look safe to us and feel safe to us but it is an imposter to a God that calls himself shelter and refuge. The cave is a counterfeit option of security and we often don’t even realize we have chosen it. But there are a few characteristics of the cave I want to point out to help us determine if we are there.

A cave is dark. Being in a cave is leaning on securities and comforts other than the Lord and it will hinder our sight. So ask yourself, is it hard to change or expand your perspective? Are you feeling hindered from seeing the whole picture? Can you see opportunities other than just the ones that are right in front of you? On a rating scale from 1 to 10 where is your imagination? The cave hinders our sight from being able to see ALL of the possibilities God may have for us. You may have finally accepted God’s call on your life to pursue a different career but are you leaping out in COMPLETE FAITH or are you slowly letting go of where you’ve been? You may be believing that it is safer if you stay involved with the old company just incase things don’t turn around for you as quickly as you hope? Did you leave a relationship you knew was keeping you from your purpose and close the door or did you just distance yourself some just incase your dreams “don't work out?” The darkness of the cave will keep us from feeling confident in the Lord’s faithfulness to provide.

The cave has an echo. Every noise in the cave inevitably echoes back to you. For the enemy, this is a dream territory. Every negative thought, lie, or ungodly pattern in your life can be thrown back at you with infinite force over and over again. Do you have repeated patterns of thoughts or actions that keep rickashaying back to haunt you? If you do, that is a great indicator that you’ve have found comfort in a cave. The lies keep bouncing back with more force, and instead of flowing faith, our disbelief and doubt seem to be echoing. When these recurring voices and situations keep coming back it makes it so hard to hear the whisper of God’s voice.

The cave is cold. There’s no ability for the sun to warm us with it’s light in the cave and being cold is not comfortable. You go to your cave in hopes of comfort but you always feel as if you are alone and without. Do you often feel like you are isolated and/or lacking support? This is also a huge indicator that you have submitted to the fear of the mountaintop and are crouching in a cave when your destiny is right outside the opening.

New is scary and it makes sense that we would want to find something that we know will provide a certain level of safety when we are scared. But you have to remember. The cave is a counterfeit comfort. It is a trap to keep you from experiencing God in full! Make sure you read next week so you can hear about the choice of the mountaintop. Why is the mountaintop the better choice?

A Letter to My Desired Beach Body

It’s spring...the time when the pressure of the shorts, tank tops, and bathing suits get’s a little more intense. I have had ups and downs with health and fitness over the years. I’ve had my fair share of healthy and unhealthy habits, positive and negative self-esteem and image, and all-out control battles with my health. But this year I'm taking control of these pressures so….

Dear Desired Beach Body,

Some years you got the best of me. I work out more than I should, I eat less than I should, I use every excuse possible to go for a walk in hopes to just burn a few more calories, and I rarely ever feel like I have attained you. But this year will be different. See, I have finally seen you for what you really are. You are just a way to keep me striving. You steal my focus, my thoughts, and my time. To strive is a way to obtain something through struggle and let me tell you, you are not worth the struggle. You are, in plainest terms, empty satisfaction. You are not who you say you are. You are not a 1200 calorie diet, no carbs, and extra exercise. You are not zero ounces of fat on my body. You are not a picture of a model in a magazine.

You are what I desire and what I decide that you are.

And like I said, you are not worth a struggle. I have bigger, more important things to worry about. I have a family that needs my love, I have a heart that needs growing, and I have a whole world around me that needs reached. You are not what is used to win the approval of those around me, you are for mine and my husband’s satisfaction alone. I will not change the world by letting you control me and I am called to be a world changer. I have no doubt I'll still look beautiful on the beach this year but as we approach summer 2016 there are a few things I want you to understand as my “beach bod”.

1. I don’t exercise for you.

Exercise is for my health and you no longer have control over it.  I have beaten hereditary hypertension and migraine headaches with the discipline of exercise. It gives me energy and extra endorphins to be the best me for my family and day to day life. It supplies a way for me to set goals and beat them. And I like that. I will not tolerate any extra pressure you try to put on me the closer vacation approaches. If I need to take some time off of exercise, I will. If I want to go for a walk instead of a run, I will. Will exercising help me look better in a bathing suit? Yes. But looking good due to the efforts of exercise will be a reward for treating my body as a temple for the Lord not because you told me I had to look good in a bathing suit to impress others or be beautiful. More than I challenge my muscles, I will challenge my spirit.

2. I don’t eat for you.

I will eat healthy but I will not eat less than I should for you! You will not control what goes in my body. I will. I will eat what I want and I will eat to fuel my health and well-being. I love a good salad but if I happen to want a sandwich I will have it without guilt. I am closing the door, locking it, and throwing out the key to where you previously had access to shame me if I chose to eat certain foods.  And when I turn down a cupcake it won’t be because you are saying I can’t have it. It will be because my desire to put good ingredients in my body is real and it’s important to me to practice self-discipline, making as many good choices as I can.  

3. I don’t need you.  

If I have made it to summer vacation and I have a peace, joy, and love in my heart then I have what I need. You are a desire but not a need. And the only reason you are a desire is because is fun to give my husband the gift of a hot wife. So any pressure that makes me feel like I am not whole without you is a lie and this year I won’t believe your lies.

So now that we’ve gotten some things straight about me...here is what you need to know about you...

1. You are a reflection of my health & discipline.

More than I need to resemble a model in a magazine I need to be healthy. I will make good choices with my health and I will make choices for long term satisfaction and not temporary satisfaction. So if summer comes and you happen to resemble a worldly view of a “beach bod” it will be because you were a reflection of my HEALTHY habits!  

2. You’re not the best part of me.

If you do happen to get attention this summer, don’t flatter yourself. It is easy for people to comment on what they can see but the truth is, my heart is the most beautiful part of me. I am fearfully and wonderfully made by the Creator of the universe and He has woven His DNA in my heart & spirit, not my body.  

3. You don’t define me.

My measure of success is not you. In Galatians the word of God tells me that I was brought out of slavery and adopted as an heir to Christ. And to subject myself to you, deprive myself, over work myself, neglect the people around me, to achieve what the world says you are, I would be subjecting myself into slavery when I have been called free. I will not do that. I am seen blameless and as a beautiful masterpiece in my Father’s eye’s and His thoughts are what define me. He is the unit of my measurement.

So just know….when I walk confidently in my bathing suit, hand in hand with my husband, from pier to pier or chase my toddler down the shoreline it won’t be at mine or my family’s expense. I will be full of love as I’ve continued to focus on what truly matters, full of energy as I’ve made the right decisions to take care of my body, and full of food as I have fueled my body with all it needs. And yes, chances are...I’ll look appealing to the world’s eye, but you’re deception, shame, and unGodly pressures will get absolutely no credit for it. And if you end up not looking like what the world would call a successful beach bod, I’ll still be out there, shameless, confident, and beautiful!

See you in June!

Love,

Kira Cardwell  

How to Give the "Gift of You"

To me, there’s nothing more fabulous than quality time with people I love. Give me a date night, family coming into town, a coffee date with a friend, a cookout with other couples, etc and I get all fluttery inside in the hopes of genuine time. To love on other’s blesses me more than anything but the truth is, I like to be loved on too. I love for other people to ask me about my life or encourage me in the things I have going on. If you speak truth, compassion, or care to the specific things that are “me” I may be on high for days. I have had to learn the hard way not to be dependent on these experiences and to be dependent on the encouragement I can receive from the Lord. If too much time had gone by without these interactions I would feel a sense of loneliness. Now, I have come to understand that this gift I receive from others is an overflow of the love I already feel from my heavenly Father. No longer a need but a tool that builds me up even stronger. I’ve found so much valor in these moments of quality time with other people but I know just as well that, through that same overflow, I can be this extra strength for others.

In our culture to celebrate and honor others we give gifts. Presents on birthdays or at random are a blessing but I’ve found that they are lacking something, Power. Although, it may be cute, there is no power in a new shirt to change my life. There is blessing in it but no power. On the other hand, with the gift of relationship things can change, strongholds can be broken, strength instilled, emptiness filled, joy restored, trust mended, and dreams encouraged. Genuine relationships are laced together with power!

So it’s not about what we present to others it is about how we are present in their lives.

After going through a hard season where I wasn’t myself and my mind was fogged with anxiety I asked my husband how this season had hurt him. I wanted to ask for his forgiveness and I wanted to restore anything I had broken between us. It took him days to respond but he finally came to me and said. “I think the only way you hurt me was that I felt like I had lost my best friend.” ….Ouch. Those words hurt but it was true. I was not present to my husband. I was lost in my own world of worry. I could have given him a new car in that season but he would have still felt as if he was without because he didn’t have the “gift of me.”

The “gift of you” is what I would like to call your genuine presence. You are the presence that someone else needs. It may be hard to believe but you are greatest gift you can give.

Too often we find our self stuck on surface level in our relationships.

Here are 5 tools to give the “Gift of You”

1. Tear Down the Walls of Your Heart (AKA stop talking about the weather.)

*2 Corinthians 6:11-13*

We have all experienced pain that have caused us to put up walls around our heart. We guard ourselves from giving or receiving too much because we have once been taken advantage of. Our walls cause us to avoid conversations of depth. They aren’t just protecting you from what can flow in they are hindering all the good from flowing out. In the storehouse of your heart you have love, compassion, humor, encouragement, kindness, servanthood etc. You have to find those places that you have built walls for your protection and you must start tearing them down. Instead of putting your trust in your walls start putting your trust in the Lord as your healer. As your heart is open and healed you will be able to give the gift that is you to everyone around you.

2. Declutter Your Mind (AKA stop thinking about your to do list)

*2 Timothy 4:5*

Have you ever been with someone physically but they seem to be off in another land, as if, they’re completely unaware of the realities happening right before their eyes. This happens when our minds are cluttered. We’re having coffee with a friend but as they tell us about their life we are thinking about what we’re going to cook for dinner or dwelling on the conflict we had at work that morning. The people around us need our presence and we must learn to take one thing at a time. Deal with dinner at dinner time. Deal with your friend during your coffee date. As you declutter your mind you can truly give the “gift of you.”

3. Don’t Fear Pain (AKA don’t pressure yourself into taking God’s job)

*Proverbs 18:2*

Although, pain is uncomfortable, we must avoid fearing pain of others. Relieving the pressures of feeling other’s pain is essential. We are not the healer of broken hearts, Christ is. But our presence alone, if genuine, can break down the voids in another person’s pain, allowing their hearts to be open to healing instead of covering it up with their own walls. You just have to listen. You don’t have to fix it. When you aren’t afraid to be in the presence of someone’s pain you tear down shame in their life. What a beautiful way you can give the gift of you.

4. Really Feel (AKA give compassion the driver’s seat of your relationships) *1 Peter 3:8*

After providing a security for other’s to open up, open yourself up to feel what others are feeling. When Jesus healed he was always moved to do so with compassion. Really listening will allow you to really feel, which will allow you to appropriately connect. We often need to stop short of giving advice and just tell someone you’re sorry that they are going through tribulation or let them know you are excited for all the new things happening in their life. Responding to the feeling helps them feel as if they are not alone and they find companionship in the gift of you.

5. Trust the Gift of You (AKA don’t keep your uniqueness hidden)

*1 Timothy 4:14*

God has fearfully and wonderfully made you to be exactly who you are! Your quirks, your humor, your comfort, your emotion, it is all woven together what makes you so special and the people around you need that. Stop looking to others for cues on how to interact, look inside, look to your creator, and build confidence in who you are and go bless those around you!

Go give the “Gift of You”. You are awesome and other’s need you! By opening yourself up to be truly present in relationship with others will open the doors to have powerful life changing interactions for you and for them!

A Moment of Truth