Welcome to Wednesday Wanderings with Dr. Sherri–a time we set aside to wander in the Presence of Jesus and ponder His truths. When you are ready, prepare your mind, body, and soul to have a transformational encounter with Jesus.

PREPARATION: In our last Wandering with Dr. Sherri, we examined  Breath of God. This week we will examine Bathe My Heart.  When you are ready, you may begin the dialogue with Jesus and state: “Jesus, I invite you to help me to leisurely wander into your Presence. Prepare my heart to receive, and illuminate my spiritual senses to encounter you.”

 PROMISE: Titus 3:5 Amplified Bible

Cleanse and comfort

Bless and save me

Bathe O bathe my heart and brow

Thou art comforting and saving

Thou art sweetly filling now

Stokes requests the Holy Spirit to cleanse and comfort, bless and save, and bathe his heart. Like Stokes, Are you in need of a heart bath?

PARABLE:  As we were born, my mother assigned each of us a Beatitude. My Beatitude is “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).  I often wonder why my mother assigned this Beatitude to me. What about my integrity, moral courage, and godly character did she foresee? I learned early that the condition of my heart is attached to my vision. My imagination was sanctified from an early age. I could see God in nature. I could hear his audible voice. I could feel His Presence like a blanket. Whether it is through a bird kiss with a cardinal flying across my path, the bright wings of a butterfly landing catching my glimpse, the smell of an ocean breeze lingering in my nostrils, or the blue background of the sky absorbing the clouds and painting a rainbow, I still see and experience God’s presence. 

However, as life happens and  I experience hurts from others, if I am not careful, my spiritual senses dim and God seems distant. That is a lie. God never changes. He is always with me. Winking His eye and sending me God kisses through the birds, the trees, the flowers, and the sky.  It is the condition of my heart that prevents me from seeing and experiencing His Presence.

Like Stokes, I have OFTEN asked for God to cleanse my heart from the residue of the mistrust, anger, unforgiveness, lust, malice, jealousy, and negativity that life’s circumstances have left behind. I have asked Abba to save me from the tainted view of Him and the untrue beliefs that my heart has harbored and as a result has interfered with me being blessed with a pure heart.

FACT: God is near. Awaiting us to SEE Him. He knows each of His children and shows Himself to them in different ways. The pure in heart SEE God.

When is the last time you were able to see and experience God? Perhaps if you take time and invite Him to bathe oh bathe your heart, you might see Him more clearly. 

Soul care training exercise:  Does your heart need a bath? 

• Reflect and let the Holy Spirit reveal to you what is within your heart that needs to be cleansed?
  • Notice without judgment and with a curious awareness of what comes to your mind. Invite God into your sanctified imagination. Ask Him to bring to your attention what is lingering in your heart that is unclean. Is it pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, unforgiveness, resentment, …. What is it?
• Next scan your mind and notice what the Holy Spirit is sharing that you need to know, hear, or do to have a clean heart.
• Finally, Focus on your breath. As you breathe in, invite the Holy Spirit to bathe your heart NOW. Fill the indwelling of the things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy. Breathe in the clean and refreshing Breath of God. Breath out with a clean heart.

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, Breath of God, thank you for washing my heart clean. Thank you that your breath clears the space for the love and compassion I need to dwell within my heart. I want a clean heart so I can see God. Show yourself NOW! 

PRAISE: Now that you have emptied your mind of the clutter and wandered with Jesus, take a closing moment to experience the cleansing Presence of God. Then take the mindfulness of God’s cleansing Presence moving and being within you in these last few minutes of wandering into the next ones and beyond.

Until next time, be Resonant.

The post Bathe my Heart appeared first on Resonant 7.

BONUS REFLECTION: Take five minutes to listen to the Cleansing Breath Meditation and cleanse your heart.

Image attributions:  Text art app with words added

Welcome to Wednesday Wanderings with Dr. Sherri–a time we set aside to wander in the Presence of Jesus and ponder His truths. When you are ready, prepare your mind, body, and soul to have a transformational encounter with Jesus.

PREPARATION: In our last Wandering with Dr. Sherri, we examined  Found Faultless. This week we will examine Just Breathe.  When you are ready, you may begin the dialogue with Jesus and state: “Jesus, I invite you to help me to leisurely wander into your Presence. Prepare my heart to receive, and illuminate my spiritual senses to encounter you.”

 PROMISE: Job 33:4 Amplified Bible

PARABLE:  I don’t like swimming underwater. If I am honest, its not that I don’t like it. It is that I don’t know afraid of the requirement to be underwater and hold my breath. For a trauma survivor, holding your breath is an unnatural occurrence. You walk around in a state of fear unknowingly holding your breath. Afraid that life, some uncontrollable incident, a trauma, a hurt, a habit, or a hang-up will come along and leave you breathless. You misuse your breath and hold it in fear that your breath will be taken away. That is an oxymoron. I learned this when I went to adult swimming lessons a few years ago. The instructor taught me to take a breath before I went underwater and held my breath. I learned that my breath is my greatest resource in swimming.

Because it was God’s breath that gave me life and His breath that inspires my life, the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God is my greatest supernatural resource. I realize that my fear of water is similar to my fears in life. I am holding my breath in life, afraid that I won’t meet the many tasks of the day. Procrastinating and not doing the genius thing – the God-given world-changing assignment within me because I am afraid that I won’t do it to perfection. So I hold my breath. I pause. I stay stagnant. I put off for tomorrow the wonderful creation God wants me to do today. Hours change to days. Days turn to weeks. Weeks turn to years. Years turn to decades. Until I wake up and realize the strength, the courage, the wisdom I need is living and breathing within me. So… like Stokes, I ask the Holy Spirit to breathe on me and in me and to fill me NOW. I take a deep breath in. I ask for the desire and the power to inspire me to do God’s work.

I breathe out realizing God’s creative Presence and Power lives within me. Then marvelous things happen. Not because I am marvelous but because the wondrous working Breath of God graciously fills me dissipating my paralyzing fears.   There is no room for being paralyzed by fear when the Holy Spirit is filling you with the gracious, creating power of God. He is the air I breathe. I am filled with the gracious, creative power of God. That inspires me and is  “WHY” I can do “WHAT”  God assigned me to do. 

Soul care training exercise:  Where are you holding your breath in life? What are you delaying that the Breath of God is inspiring you to do? 

• Reflect and let the Holy Spirit reveal to you what creative, God-genius assignment you are being called to do?
  • Notice without judgment and with a curious awareness what comes to your mind. Invite God into your sanctified imagination. Ask Him to bring to your attention where fear has stopped you from using the creative, empowering, and inspiring power of God to do God’s work?
• Next scan your mind and notice what the Holy Spirit is sharing that you need to know, hear, or do to move forward.
• Finally, Focus on your breath. As you breathe in, invite the Holy Spirit to fill you NOW with the creative, empower, inspiring, Presence of God and breathe out His love.

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, Breath of God, fill me NOW with your life-giving breath. Breathe into the dead dreams and hopes within me. Let your Presence and Power be life in me. I can’t tell you how, but I know you will give me just what I need. 

PRAISE: Now that you have emptied your mind of the clutter and wandered with Jesus, take a closing moment to fill the Breath of God living within you. Then take the mindfulness of God’s breath of life moving and being within you in these last few minutes of wandering into the next ones and beyond.

Until next time, be Resonant.

The post Breath of God appeared first on Resonant 7.

Image attributions:  Text art app with words added

Welcome to Wednesday Wanderings with Dr. Sherri–a time we set aside to wander in the Presence of Jesus and ponder His truths. When you are ready, prepare your mind, body, and soul to have a transformational encounter with Jesus.

PREPARATION: In our last Wandering with Dr. Sherri, we examined  Unchanging Grace. This week we will examine Found Faultless.  When you are ready, you may begin the dialogue with Jesus and state: “Jesus, I invite you to help me to leisurely wander into your Presence. Prepare my heart to receive, and illuminate my spiritual senses to encounter you.”

 PROMISE: Romans 8:1 Amplified Bible

PARABLE:  I have done many things in my life for which I have been guilty. Yet, the grace of Christ has redeemed me from shame and guilt. Oddly, some of the darkest things I’ve done have been used to point others toward Christ. Authenticity and vulnerability are the erasers of guilt and shame. When we share our shame stories, with Christ, the Enemy loses hold of condemnation. But that does not stop him from using individuals to torcher us with the images of past failures. Because the job of the Evil One is to kill, steal, and destroy our hope in Christ, he is relentless in attempting to take us back to times of regret even when we have moved forward.

How do we move beyond the words, images, and thoughts of regret of sin that Satan tries to place as roadblocks to our purpose? We hand them to Jesus and allow Him to fight our battle. Don’t let the blame and shame build up. Like a hangnail, they will irritate you. When your sin looks you in the face like a mirrored reflection, speak back with bold conviction to the Accuser the Truth that There IS NO CONDEMNATION in Christ Jesus. Even as I type, right now, like a blasting sound of the trumpet, I stand upon Christ the Solid Rock. I send the lie of the Enemy the message, “I have made choices I greatly regret, I am moving ahead. I resist you and you must stand down for I have been and shall be found faultless when I stand before the throne. Your sound cannot stand against the sound of the Angels playing my victory song of deliverance.”

Perhaps there is something in your past that continues to resurface and tries to disrupt your walking on your purposed path. If so, I invite you to sound the trumpet, put on the robe of righteousness that Christ died for you to wear, stand tall in the face of the Enemy, and declare the law of  Christ has made me new and set me free from the law of sin and death.

Soul care training exercise:  Is there a past regret that keeps trying to find you? If so, I invite you to revisit it and hand it over to Jesus, in whom there is NO condemnation. 

• Reflect and let the Holy Spirit reveal to you what is the worst sin in your life that you regret committing?
  • Notice without judgment and with a curious awareness what comes to your mind. Invite God into your sanctified imagination. Ask Him to bring to your attention how and when that sin tries to revisit and distract you.
• Next scan your mind and notice what the Holy Spirit is sharing that you need to know, hear, or do to assure you that Christ has forgiven you, there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, and that you have been and will be found faultless when you approach the throne of God.
• Finally, Focus on what God shows you and offer Him thanks for being your anchor of hope.

PRAYER: Jesus, I stand on you, my Solid Rock. Through the valley lows and the Mountain highs, I stand on your truth and call on your name. You call me by name. You call me out of the ashes of shame and blame and into your arms where there is no condemnation. Help me to rest here. Silent the whispers of the enemy that try to lead me to the dark with the spotlight of your loving grace. My Rock, My Savior, My Redeemer, I stand on you.  In the name of Jesus, the Solid Rock I stand.  I pray, amen. 

PRAISE: Now that you have emptied your mind of the clutter and wandered with Jesus, take a closing moment to be cuddled in the arms of Jesus, the Solid Rock. Then take the mindfulness of God’s unchanging hope cultivated in these last few minutes of wandering into the next ones and beyond.

Until next time, be Resonant.

The post Found Faultless appeared first on Resonant 7.

I invite you to take five minutes and experience the No Condemnation guided imagery.

Image attributions:  Text art app with words added

Welcome to Wednesday Wanderings with Dr. Sherri–a time we set aside to wander in the Presence of Jesus and ponder His truths. When you are ready, prepare your mind, body, and soul to have a transformational encounter with Jesus.

PREPARATION: In our last Wandering with Dr. Sherri, we examined  Freedom Scars. This week we will examine Unchanging Grace.  When you are ready, you may begin the dialogue with Jesus and state: “Jesus, I invite you to help me to leisurely wander into your Presence. Prepare my heart to receive, and illuminate my spiritual senses to encounter you.”

 PROMISE: Psalm 18:2 Amplified Bible

PARABLE: Have you ever been caught in a bad storm? Several years ago I was caught in the storm of a tornado that touched down in our city. The sky was dark, the rain was so heavy that the windshield wipers could not clear it. Though I was afraid, I was on the street where I grew up and so the terrain was familiar. I took a chance and decided to stop at the next house that I could see. I knew it was not the best choice but driving in the storm was more freightening. After over thirty years, I took a chance and was hopeful that my childhood neighbors had not changed.  I was shocked that a familiar face answered the door and welcomed me in to wait out the storm. 

As Christians, when we are caught in the storms of life, we can face it with certainty because our hope is in Jesus. We can expect that no matter how high the tide, it will subside because it cannot overtake the height or depth of Christ, the Solid Rock. His reputation is immutable. He is the fortress where we can take refuge when the storms of life are raging.  He is our shield when the debris is being thrown at us. He is our anchor and stronghold when our ship is sinking. His unchanging grace is the pillow of comfort where our weary hearts can rest. The waves of Covid-19 are still rolling, the unrest of social injustice is still roaring, the vision of the shore is not yet in sight. Yet we can be assured that Christ is a solid landing place. He is our rock, upon which we can stand when the circumstances in our life feel like quicksand. When is the last time you looked beyond the storm?

Soul care training exercise:  

• Reflect and let the Holy Spirit reveal to you a storm in your life that is raging.
  • Notice without judgment and with a curious awareness what comes to your mind. Invite God into your sanctified imagination. Ask Him to remind you of how you are anchored in the hope of Christ.
• Next scan your mind and notice what the Holy Spirit is sharing that you need to know, hear, or do to endure the storm with the hope that nothing can overtake Christ the Solid Rock.
• Finally, Focus on what God shows you and offer Him thanks for being your anchor of hope.

PRAYER: Jesus, I’ve had my share of storms this year and the waves are still coming. I am so thankful that you are the Rock for which the waves must splash against. Thank you that you calm my stormy seas. I love the way you love me.  In the name of Jesus I pray, amen. 

PRAISE: Now that you have emptied your mind of the clutter and wandered with Jesus, take a closing moment to visualize the Solid Rock. Then take the mindfulness of God’s unchanging hope cultivated in these last few minutes of wandering into the next ones and beyond.

Until next time, be Resonant.

The post  Unchanging gracious hope appeared first on Resonant 7.

Image attributions:  Text art app with words added

Wednesday Wanderings with Dr. Sherri is biweekly and a time we set aside to wander in the Presence of Jesus and ponder His truths. When you are ready, prepare your mind, body, and soul to have a transformational encounter with Jesus.

Wednesday Wanderings Welcome for this week.

PREPARATION: In our last Wandering with Dr. Sherri, we examined  Saving Savior. This week we will examine Freed to Free.  When you are ready, you may begin the dialogue with Jesus and state: “Jesus, I invite you to help me to leisurely wander into your Presence. Prepare my heart to receive, and illuminate my spiritual senses to encounter you.”

 PROMISE: Galatians 5:13-14 Amplified Bible

PARABLE: Harriet Tubman is my favorite African American heroin because she used her escape from slavery to transform the trajectory of others. Over and over her selflessness was on display as with tenacity she WENT BACK to free hundreds of slaves. What she did with her freedom changed the history of African Americans.  Like Jesus, Harriet was a Freedom Freer. Jesus teaches us that our freedom is not for ourselves but for others. When I reflect on this hymn, I see Jesus breaking the chains of death for me and for you. I hear him saying, “I can’t stay buried because I must arise for Sherri!” I hear Jesus saying, “I arose for you so you must rise and help free others!”

 I have a burning desire to transparently share the bondage-breaking story from shame in my life. Like the Samaritan woman, Jesus met me at a well and cleansed me. I don’t want to waste the refreshing, healing, cleansing, freedom water by remaining silent. I want to take my pitcher of transparency and authenticity that is full of grace and mercy and pour it out onto others. Like Harriet Tubman, I want to go back and help free others. Going back is simply a metaphor of sharing the scars. 

After Jesus arose, Thomas demanded evidence of Jesus’ freedom. He said unless he saw the scars and was able to put his hand into the scars of Jesus he would not believe. Jesus showed and let him Thomas touch his scars. This is a word picture of transparency, vulnerability, and authenticity. It teaches us the power of our freedom story.  It is the SCARS – surviors confessing and releasing shame stories – that help to free others.  Can you hear Jesus saying, “Don’t hide the scars. It is for your freedom that I was freed. It is for the freedom of others that you were freed.”

Perhaps there is an area in your life where you were in bondage but that the blood of Christ has drowned. Perhaps you were drowning in the hurt of abuse, the habit of addiction, or the hang-up of aggravation before Jesus freed you. Only you know what held you in bondage. Yet, Jesus put THAT hurt, habit, or hang-up in cuffs and called you to walk in freedom and to share your freedom scars with others. Are you sharing your freedom SCARS? 

Soul care training exercise:  

• Reflect and let the Holy Spirit reveal to you how he wants you to share you SCARS?
  • Notice without judgment and with a curious awareness what comes to your mind. Invite God into your sanctified imagination. Ask Him to show you THAT thing, perhaps the thing that you are most ashamed of that He freed you from. 
  • Next scan your mind and notice how you are living out your freedom. Scan your mind to see who in your life is living in bondage in that same area.
    • Now Ask the Holy Spirit to give you an image of how you can use your SCARS of freedom to introduce others to the freeing power of Jesus Christ.
    • Finally, Focus on what God shows you and offer Him thanks for the invitation to like Jesus, share your freedom.

PRAYER: Thank you Saving Savior that I don’t have to hide my scars. Authenticity, transparency, and vulnerability in you is like a healing balm rubbing out shame. Help me spread my balm to the nations. Authenticity is my super power. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen. 

PRAISE: Now that you have emptied your mind of the clutter and wandered with Jesus, take a closing moment to feel your freedom. Then take the mindfulness of God’s freedom cultivated in these last few minutes of wandering into the next ones and beyond.

Until next time, be Resonant.

The post  Freedom scars appeared first on Resonant 7.

BONUS Meditation: I invite you to take 5 minutes and listen to the SCARS guided meditation.

Image attributions:  Text art app with words added