Blog 1 Tree City

The speaker reflects on the experience of waiting and how it can be difficult to stay focused and patient. They share their personal struggles and distractions while waiting for direction in their life. Through prayer and seeking guidance, they were able to find strength and creativity in the waiting period. The speaker then presents a vision of women seeking Jesus and sharing their stories to deepen their faith and encourage others. They emphasize the importance of being connected to God and living a life of faith, hope, and love. The speaker also mentions the idea of waiting being like braiding hair, where different aspects of our lives are interwoven with God's plan to create something beautiful. They invite others to join them on a journey of seeking God and finding purpose and success in living for His kingdom. The time is now. We all experience the waiting game. Sometimes we wait patiently and other times not so well. We fidget, we get tired, we lose focus. We get distracted with other activities while we wait and either quit or require a reboot. We very rarely immediately connect our minds and spirits to our Heavenly Father and engage all our spiritual strength and insight into actively resting, into praising, into trusting, into preparing, into holding steady while we wait. In seeking the Lord for next steps in my life, I waited. Yes, no doubt about it, I was distracted and disheartened at times. I binged watched shows. I ate chocolate and potato chips too late at night. I walked around confused and dazed some days. I struggled to get out of bed. I wrote and rewrote goals. I didn't see the plan yet. I prayed and prayed and read the word. I sought wise counsel. I'm stronger for it in every way. This waiting turned on the Holy Spirit led mental light bulb moment of creative dreaming. Do you dream, babe? Do you ask God for the imagination to think outside what is taking place in your situation and to envision what seems extraordinary by His Spirit-led power? Here's the vision. Father God wants to see women seeking His Son, Jesus, in their daily life roles, empowered, encouraged, exhorted, challenged, and fully intertwined in the body of Christ. The vision includes sharing our life stories to deepen our roots of faith and encourage us to trust and raise our branches in highest praise. Imagine our lives in Christ being spurred to join the Father daily, moment by moment, in a canopy of faith, hope, and love via many real life stories of hardship and grief and change, blessing and growth and wisdom. Together we will build a network of strong roots as we are surrendering, trusting, asking, sharing His good news, relying, abiding, drawing from the well, seeking the heart of the Father, resting in the palm of His hand, hiding in the shadow of His wing, running to His name, His high tower of refuge and strength, living on mission, being enfolded in the shepherd's arms and anointed with oil of healing and gladness, dancing in the delight of His great love, admiring His creation, going into all the world, renewing our minds by having the mind of Christ, and more. Father God wants to meet us in our highs and lows and in every step in between. I was recently listening to a sermon where the idea of braiding the hair or plaiting the hair was given as a synonymous Hebrew word translation or description for waiting. It's the interweaving of our lives, thoughts, actions, attitudes, jobs, bodies, all of ourselves with Father God to create a beautiful design. It takes time to perform. It takes trust that the one braiding the hair is making a tight, measured, and even braid that will hold under pressure. The waiting or plaiting is actually very functional for the purpose of joining the parts together to make the whole better. No more hair flying in the wind, as they say. So the wait becomes full of strength, purpose, and function. You can read Isaiah 40, 28-31. What does waiting look like for you? Can you imagine this analogy as you wait on the Lord? Can you imagine Him bringing more strength, purpose, and function into your life because you actively intertwined your mind with His to gain His perspective and His wisdom? Now the initial wait is over. Welcome to Tree City Therapy and Coaching Services, LLC. Join me as we seek the Father to intentionally set our minds to gain insights and ask the Holy Spirit to radically shift our attitudes to be like Jesus, intertwined together, seeking Jesus and seeking success in kingdom living, wisdom that shows today in light of eternity. This great journey is now. Thank you for joining me. I'm Kara.