Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Supernatural Alignment

“Mommy?”

“Yes, love?”

“Will you lay down with me?”

His sweet voice drew me in.  I snuggled in with my firstborn and I quickly fell asleep. Only a short time passed before I was abruptly awoken by the Lord. My son snuggled close to me—wide awake. I said nothing to him, yet something strangely familiar was resonating in my spirit.

“What is it Lord?”

Do you remember?

Before I could respond it was as if the Lord pushed play on an old dusty movie reel and I became a spectator to a life long forgotten thirty years earlier…

Sleepy-eyed she climbed the stairs to her parent’s bedroom. Pushing their door open she tiptoed in and stood by her father’s bed side. Hidden in the shadows of the night she quietly whispered to him.

“Daddy.”

Startled awake her father reached for his glasses to see who stood near. His cleared vision focused on a small figure in front of him. It was his little girl with her troubled eyes. He knew it was her. She always came to him in the night— always trembling—always frightened.

“Another bad dream, Pooh?”

“Yes, Daddy. Can I sleep with you?”

He opened his arms and she crawled in. Relieved she was no longer alone she nestled up next to her father. She knew she was safe. Yet she could not escape the memory of the nightmare. Hearing her father fall back to sleep, she lay awake wide-eyed with haunting thoughts. The house was dead silent except for one distinctive sound—her father’s breathing.

The little girl listened attentively to the hum of her father inhale and exhale.

In. Out. In. Out.

She was fixated on the tempo. She noticed how different his pattern of breathing was compared to her own. His long and noisy puffs of air contrasted greatly to her short quiet ones. With determination she began to imitate his breathing pattern.

In. Out. In. Out.

It had a strange calming affect on the little girl. She would continue to breathe with him until the vibration of her father’s heart diverted her. She then contemplated for what seemed like an eternity how she could manipulate her heart to beat in sync with his.

The little girl concentrated so intensely on her father’s breathing and heartbeat she soon forgot about the bad dreams and eventually drifted off to a deep and peaceful rest.

The movie reel stopped and the past faded into the present.

I remember. I remember countless nights of my childhood spent breathing in sync with my father. I looked down at my boy beside me and sensed the Lord near.

Listen.

My heart quickened. It was the sound I heard when the Lord woke me. My son was intentionally aligning his own breathing pattern to match mine.

“Lord, what does all this mean?”

Beloved, you need to come into alignment with Me.

His words resonated deep in my soul.

Aligning with the Father is both powerful and vulnerable —it is a position of intimacy. When I come into alignment I am close enough to feel His breath on my face as He speaks my true identity over me. Even close enough to hear His heart beat of His great love for me.

This supernatural alignment only occurs when I choose to wake up from the bad dream, climb the stairs of the throne room, and crawl into the Father’s lap. It is only in Him where I will find a deep and peaceful rest.


I’m already awake, so I’m off to start the climb…

How about you?


Reflective Scripture

God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know who we are: Father and children.
Romans 8:15 Message

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1 NIV

"I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV

Relevant Worship

The Father’s Song by Matt Redman

We Welcome You (Father God) by Cece Winans

The Father’s House by Laura Rhinehart

10 comments:

  1. WOW. Powerful writing. Powerful story. Powerful encouragement. I love the 'movie reel' imagery. Amazing what God does when you rest in Him.

    VERY nice, Laura.

    Way to go God!

    And to answer your question, I think God and I are gonna go for a walk this morning, hand in hand. I think I'll just be quiet and see what HE has to say for once, instead of doing all the talking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aligning with the Father is both powerful and vulnerable —it is a position of intimacy. When I come into alignment I am close enough to feel His breath on my face as He speaks my true identity over me. Even close enough to hear His heart beat of His great love for me.

    WOW as tears roll down my face, how I so want to believe this for myself. Oh Lord help me with my unbelief.
    Once again Laura you hit me in the heart, Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This brings me so much comfort and reminds me again...to "BE STILL and KNOW THAT I AM GOD."
    Where there is no time for being, there is no time for listening. ~ Madeleine L'Engle

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a treat for me! I got to read this while waiting for the doctor to see me! Your post gives us such a beautiful picture of the Father's heart for us that I believe we are only beginning to tap into and the more we become supernaturally aligned, the more He will reveal of His heart and His GREAT love toward us!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This triggers so many memories, loss, loneliness, to name two. Thanks to your story, though, I am reminded of those same nights when I called out and the Lord answered. I can remember how He wrapped his heavenly arms around me and comforted my pain. Thank you for reminding me of those cherished moments and at the same time, proclaiming the Lord's fervent desire for us to "...hear His heart beat of His great love for (us)". Loved every word, Laura. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love how you made the imagery so vivid. The concept of breath, and life and alignment, peace, rest reminds me of God in Gen. 1 breathing life into man. Continuing with the metaphor, for me Father comes downstairs when I can't make it upstairs sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lord, help me to breathe with you today.

    ReplyDelete
  8. As the tears roll down my face all I can say is THANK YOU.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow - you had me at:
    "The little girl concentrated so intensely on her father’s breathing and heartbeat she soon forgot about the bad dreams and eventually drifted off to a deep and peaceful rest"

    What a great image and real life experiance to demonstrate how we are moved to a place of peace when we simply "follow" our Abba.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I pondered over what you wrote for days and realized that I do most of the talking with God instead of resting in Him,listening, and aligning myself with him. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete