Isaiah 46 says,

“12 “Now listen to me: You’re a hardheaded bunch and hard to help. 13 I’m ready to help you right now. Deliverance is not a long-range plan. Salvation isn’t on hold. I’m putting salvation to work in Zion now, and glory in Israel.”   The Message   

Jesus came to save the lost, but thankfully His help doesn’t stop there!  He is always helping us learn Him and understand Him better.  Join me as I look at this further.

My thoughts about being a ‘future help’ were meant to be in contrast to the promise of the ‘ever-present help’ He is referred to in scripture.  Of course He is our future help.  He is our one and only help for all of time!  You will understand this as you listen.

Bless you today friends as you move forward in Him.

Love,

Melissa

If you find yourself wondering if you are the only one who can’t hear God at times, think again!  I dispel this myth and reveal a strategy to move forward resting in His love!

Ephesians 4:12-13 “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;” 

Have a great day in Jesus!!

Melissa

Good Morning Friends!!

I wanted to let you in on some exciting changes happening in my life and here on wellbymel.com.

Let me first take a few minutes to just thank you for all of your support over the past 4 years. Much like getting on a bicycle and learning how to ride, I have attempted to learn how to maneuver this blogging world. Many of you have been with me through every single bump, bruise, and victory, and some are just joining in on the fun. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I started this journey based on a word I received from the Lord out of Psalm 68:11. “The Lord gave the word; Great was the company of those who proclaimed it…” So with that, I started to proclaim what He showed me the best way I could figure to do that. Though that part of my call has not changed, the way that I proclaim it is changing.

My first love and I believe primary call is to proclaim with my mouth. I know that I am not the most talented, nor engaging writer, and to be honest, we both know I am a total grammar destroyer…yet surprisingly okay with it. It is what it is. It is just not my strength and we both know that God uses things all of the time that are not our strengths. I keep hearing Him tell me that He is “distilling my message.” Never thought of myself as a distillery, but it does say to not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit! A Holy Spirit distillery?! Selah.

Anyway, I am also quite secure that I am not the most talented nor engaging speaker, you know I really wish I were funnier; my sister Lindsey got that gene, she is hilarious.  My husband and I have made peace with my lack of humor or my odd sense of humor and okay with that too.  However, I do feel called to speak and I have felt this call for a very long time… In fact, if you have known me, say longer than an hour, I’ve probably worn out your ear a time or fifty with my stories. If that is you, thank you for your long-suffering with the long-suffering!!

Anyhow, I believe the Lord is pressing me further into this call and things at wellbymel are getting ready to be refreshingly different. I am just as clueless today with this step as I was creating wellbymel, so I am busily watching and reading tutorials, trying out new themes, learning carriers, etc.  I haven’t spoken in forever, and so rusty is an understatement…but it is amazing how God has brought about the pieces to make this happen, and that has made all of the difference to me.  It is one thing to hear Him, but when He makes it happen and you don’t, that is just the best!

Please bear with me through all of the changes in the upcoming weeks, months and years. You have been a part of this with me and I feel like we are moving forward together on our Jesus journey.

My web address will stay wellbymel.com for the time being, but at some point I am going to convert everything over to melissadivinepowell.com. I will let you know when that time comes.  Actually, you can already access the blog by the new address.

Lastly, I would love it if you would pray for me. None of us knows exactly what to do when He asks us to do something. None. We just grab our boot straps and jump. He told me 23 years ago when I received this call that if I would wait on His timing, I would lead people to Him and not away from Him. I have waited and He is leading me out on His promise. This is His work and I know that now, I just pray that I will maneuver it with grace, peace, joy, and most importantly love!

I love you friends and thank you again for getting in the boat and navigating these new waters with me!

Mel

These are my beautiful grapefruit trees!

1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”  Psalm 1:1-3

My grapefruit trees are flourishing.  They are lush and covered with fruit.  So heavy from the weight of the grapefruits they carry that their limbs bow as if Kings are passing by.  The trees are bringing forth fruit in their due season.  It is their season.  Summer is not their season, spring is not their season, and fall is not their season.  They are winter fruits and are preparing to yield an amazing crop to sustain a lot of people, in their season.

I wanted to take a minute to share my thoughts this morning as I looked upon these trees full of big, luscious, green fruit.  Here is this tree, full of fruit, yet no one can eat of it yet because it is not ripe and would be sour.  Though we see the evidence of fruit, and know that it will be ready in a few months, it is not its season right now, so its fruit is not consumable. It is not ripe.

Could this be you?  You know your harvest is inevitable, you feel momentum, your tree is full of good fruit and you are flourishing, heavy, anticipating, uncomfortable, all bowed down and about to burst… but not consumable quite yet…  The process of ripening is intricate when it comes to the maturation of citrus fruits, and I would suspect us too.

9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”  Gal. 6:9

Weariness is an inevitable challenge before any harvest.  This weight will be relieved soon, but now you must hang in there friend and let this process finish.

In whatever place this finds you today, He longs for you to have complete confidence in His love for you and His faithfulness.  If you are either bare or full, you can rest in this place because you know that you are planted by the rivers of water that bring life. Jesus is life.  You will not wither, you will not fail.  He might be growing you, pruning you, developing or maturing your fruit, whatever the process, your harvest will come.  Rest, trust and stay planted.  And just like my grapefruit trees do, shine, nourish, drink in the plentiful rain, bow to your King, and enjoy where you are because your season will come.

“3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.” Hab 2:3   

He is the well my friends, let us drink together!

Love, Mel

Sometimes, in the chaos of the world, you just want to be reassured that this amazing all-powerful God who has rescued you from darkness and in whom you have put all of your trust “gets” this crazy world He has submitted you to.  You need to know that He sees what is going on and hasn’t turned a deaf ear to it nor a blind eye because of something you should be doing, or shouldn’t have done, or something someone else should be doing, or shouldn’t have done.  You need to just know that God really is aware and has a plan to deal with all of this bad behavior taking place and all of these idiot leaders are there by some sort of design.  And, if you are like me, sometimes you just need Him to really get in your face and remind you of some stuff…to declare His Sovereignty at injustice and His Peace in the face of chaos and His Mercy in the face of mess.  This morning He did that for me and I hope for you as you read and pray with me…

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”  Matthew 23:1-4

Jesus “gets” government.  Jesus “gets” burdens.  Jesus “gets” idiots.  <Breathe in, breathe out.>

In fact, He reminded me, He more than “gets” all of these things; He sent a remedy for them.  “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”  Is. 9:6-7

The government will be upon His shoulder.  His zeal will perform this, not mine.  What a burden we bear when we allow men to tie up heavy loads and put  them on our shoulders…thank you God that we don’t have to settle for that as our life.  The same God who assures us He sees our mess has also sent His Messiah, our great deliverer!!  His Anointed One; who destroys the yoke!!  He is our Counselor, He is our Peace, He is our Father and He purposed to send His Son, knowing that His shoulder could take the weight of every government ever established by man for every civilization for all of time.

Have you allowed Him to?  Have you given Him permission to be the bearer of your burdens?  You know, by faith, we have to give them to Him, and then keep giving them to Him and keep giving them to Him and keep giving them to Him until the whole scene changes for us.  And with taking our burdens, He also gives us something, a promise…”of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.”   There is no end to Jesus!  There is no end to our advocate and great High Priest.  There is no end to our deliverer, Messiah, Savior of the World, Lord!

Father, in the name of Jesus, we declare that you are Sovereign over our nation and over our world.  We stand believing that you have an understanding that far surpasses ours and that every remedy for our nature and world is ever-present in Jesus.  We know that your Anointed One destroys every yoke and that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  Thank you that though we are in this world we are not of it.  Thank you that Your government and authority far surpasses every institution of man.  Thank you that the increase of your government and peace there will be NO end.  You are our Father, our Teacher, our Savior, our Lord.  We lay our burdens down.  We lay them down.  We lift up our leaders today and ask you to turn their hearts to you.  We lift up the massive amounts of injustice towards people and declare your deliverance and freedom to them.  We lift up our world and declare your saving grace.   Be exalted above this world.  Be exalted above our mess.  Be exalted, O God, today and forever, in Jesus.

I have struggled with God’s timing versus my timing for as long as I can remember. It has been an area that I have been tormented about.   I have had tormenting dreams and mental battles about this for as long as I can remember. As I age, I have heard each new wrinkle taunting me…”You’re not getting any younger,”  and reminding me of each disappointment in life…until now!  Hello revelation of Jesus in this area!!

Recently I heard Him speak to me loud and clear and I hope that in sharing this, you will also hear Him, so your years will be full.

I have been walking with God for 23 years. When I started my journey, every gifting I had been given seemed to be fully alive and fully active. I knew instantly what I was called to do and I was on a fast track to get there…that was until all of the interruptions of my life happened. (You can read my story under about Mel on my home page.)  Years of sickness, hospitalizations, the death of our daughter, and destitution in many areas of my life felt like complete derailment. My story was not how I envisioned my life and I spent a lot of my days in the boxing ring with Strife to make things happen in one corner and his opponent, Peace and waiting on God to move, in the other.  I stopped telling anyone about my struggle because I knew I would get another, ‘pep talk’.  I swore if another Christian (though well-meaning) told me the stinking story of the guy who rejected God’s help while trapped on his roof during a flood story, I seriously might have punched them.  I knew myself and I was not unwilling to work hard, unwilling to step out in faith, unwilling to trust Him, unwilling to go against the grain, and a whole slew of other things.  I knew me and I knew Him and I just couldn’t understand where the disconnect was.

I was like Tom Hanks in Castaway, without the ball…no wonder I always loved that movie… Anyway, you get the picture, I felt isolated and rejected and derailed and stuck. I  watched people rise and fall in their callings and I gloriously played spectator and cheerleader to them all and wondered what was wrong with me. Like Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 who had to share her life with the other woman…I’ve had to listen to my share of Peninnahs’ provoke me severely over the years.  It would make me miserable.  I couldn’t understand how the Lord had told them, “Yes”, and me, “Not right now”, again and again.  I really understood the turmoil that Hannah must have felt.  Even though she heard, “not right now”, she was given a double portion of His love and because of wrong thinking and wrong understanding, she was convinced His love was not enough.  She knew that it was supposed to be enough, and just couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t…now that was ambivalence.  What she didn’t understand was that He was prodding her on in her faith to believe for more, she just didn’t understand the process she was in.  Her destination was firm, it was her journey that was the mystery.

I saw this picture in my head, similar to the one I found and posted, and with it I heard Him say to my heart,

“We are taking the back roads.”

Being from rural Missouri, that speaks to this girl.  In one fell swoop I understood what the last 23 years had been about.  I understood and was grateful.  I could breathe again.  You know the long deep breath.  In and out.

The way the journey looks doesn’t change the destination.  But man is perception everything.  There is this scripture that says that His goodness leads us to repentance.  What that means is that when you see just how good He is, you change your mind about who He is.  In one instant, I changed my mind about His love for me, in this area.  I was able to see the last 23 years as His way of loving on me, not rejecting me.  His way of honoring who I was and not forcing me to be someone I was not.  His way of allowing me to go through the hard stuff that needed to be gone through without a fuss or extra drama.  Like picking the petals of a daisy, I now say, “He loves me.  He loves me.  He really, really loves me.”   It’s not that I didn’t have a revelation of His love, because I did, but in this area I was blinded.

The last 23 years for me were about taking the back roads and all along I thought I was the invisible lady in the city…

This revelation has produced rest in me.  It has quieted my heart and opened my mind to a different way of thinking about my life and it has blown a fresh breeze of love my way.

I now see…and for me that makes all the difference.

Are you on the back roads?  Time to see…time to understand…time to rest…time to believe…time to breathe.

Mel