Joy When Your World Turns Upside-Down

I've been told many times to view prophetic words of encouragement as invitations into prayer rather then as guarantees from God that He will bring about what was prophesied. Perhaps they are an invitation into deeper intimacy with God; into getting to know His heart and into giving time to ask God to bring to pass what has been spoken in the given word of encouragement. If this is true, friends, tell me how you would pray upon receiving a word like the one I'm about to share.

Before I give the explanation that was given with the work of "prophetic art" shown, it's interesting to note that in the past two months three other people have approached me to share very similar words, impressions, or visions they felt the Lord had given to them for me (most of these words were unsolicited and from people uninformed of the details of the things I had personally been laying before God and processing with Him). If ever I doubted, there is no longer any room for me to deny that the Lord truly knows me, sees my heart and circumstances... and cares enough to help prepare my heart for what lies ahead.

Several of the young women I know like to regularly take time to ask the Lord to use them to give words of encouragement from His heart for others. Two weeks ago these ladies got out their art supplies and used their creativity to portray what He brought to mind. Only after the art was completed did the ladies exchange names to discover who their prophetic art piece was for (all of the recipients were to be people that were not present). The one who created the work pictured here chuckled when she saw my name on the paper she'd chosen, confessing that I had come to mind a few times during the exercise, but she had told the Lord she hoped it wasn't for me because my world had already been turned upside-down a few times recently and I probably wouldn't like hearing about more to come.

She sensed that my world was about to be flipped on its head in surprising ways, but that I would be filled with laughter and joy as I followed Jesus in the midst of it all. It was as if the more extreme the intensity of the change, the greater the release of joy.

Friends, I'm not a big fan of frequent change. On the Myers-Briggs personality test I'm an "ISTJ". They claim that I have a "deeply driven desire to promote security and peaceful living," and they are so very right! But God is bigger than personality types and really good at bringing each of us beyond our comfort-zones. He's been doing that repeatedly with me over the past five years and I've learned new things each time the winds of change come along. If this lesson is coming around again, I would love to contend for this prophetic word to be true; that my response would be joy that flows from a heart the trusts that the leadership of my God is perfect and loving.

Another friend recently thought of me when she read a quote from Heidi Baker's book Compelled By Love in the chapter entitled "Blessed are the Meek". "We must all be pliable in the Master's hands. For He wants to turn you upside down in order to turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6). God is saying, 'Lay down more. Lay down.' So there is only one direction in ministry: Lower still."

Lord, as I seek to say "YES!" to the invitation to go "lower still," I pray that You would continually fill my heart with joy and laughter, confident that You alone are in control and completely trustworthy.