BeautyRevealed | The Blog of Melissa J. Dillon

“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

- C.S. Lewis

I’m almost done with my book… and that makes me sad. Have you ever read a book that was so good that you never wanted it to end? I may just end up reading it all over again when I’m done. 

I had a couple of hours to kill after an appointment so I brought my book and went to my favorite Coffee Shop downtown. I love it because almost everything they make is organic and very healthy. I got a Apple/Blueberry Crumble Muffin and a cup of organic coffee… it was yummy!  I took a picture because I liked how my book matched my plate (I’m strange, I know…) It was such a nice warm atmosphere since it has been rainy and slushy the last few days. 

I thought I would share a portion of a beautiful prayer penned by Leanne Payne: 

“O Lord, long ago I trusted in You, and You saved me utterly.

You took me from the ash heap, a place of powerlessness and death

And made me fruitful.

You made me as a tree whose branches reach out in every direction, 

Bearing Your rich fruits of all kinds and dripping healing waters, resins, and oils.

You caused my roots to grow down deep

To tap into hidden reserves of goodness, beauty, and life.

I put You on anew, O Lord

I cry out to You anew…” - Leanne Payne

It reminds me that only the Lord can transform us. No matter how hard we try… no matter how many self-improvement books we buy… no matter how hard we strive with our 12-step plans and to-do lists (I have had many of these over the years)… we cannot reach down into the rotten barrel of our own heart and produce good fruit. It just doesn’t work that way. We need to be grafted into The Vine. We need to be gazing on the beauty and holiness of the Lord in order to become like Him. 

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” - Jeremiah 17:5-8

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” - Ephesians 3:16-20

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” – John 15:4

“For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness

continues through all generations.”

- Psalm 100

It is late and I should be asleep next to my sweet husband, but the joy of the Lord has made my heart so full that I need to have an outlet… and since everyone I know is sleeping, I’ve decided to blog. An answered prayer… a dream come true… a blessing bestowed. We can’t share just yet (no, it’s not a baby! I’ve had a few comments about me reading “What to Expect when you’re Expecting”!) but I’ll share soon the things that God is doing among us. Mark and I were driving home in the car tonight just after receiving some wonderful news and we were both pretty giddy… we yelled and sang silly songs and laughed together. We just reveled in the happiness for a while. Then Mark broke into a beautiful song of gratitude to our Lord… his own words. I listened for a little while and then I couldn’t help but join in. I echoed his words… just reaffirming our thankfulness to our God who knows and sees all. It was a beautiful moment… I felt like there were angels singing with us. 

Lately, I cannot get enough of the presence of the Lord. I just want to breathe, eat, sleep, rest, worship and soak in His presence. He’s on my mind when I wake up… I fall asleep talking to Him and meditating on Him. It started when I began reading the book “Listening Prayer” by Leanne Payne. I recommend it to everyone… it has changed my life. She teaches on how to practice the presence of God. By remaining in Him and inviting Him in to every moment of our daily lives, we cultivate a friendship with God that brings us into a deeper maturity and communication with our Saviour. Like Mary at the feet of Jesus, I want my heart to remain near to Him always… not just during my morning devotions. She also teaches how to keep a prayer journal which has really caused quick growth in different areas of my life. I will write more on this book later, but the spiritual truths that I’ve gleaned, along with watching 12 hours of “Lord of the Rings”, has brought about a deep awakening in me that I never want to let slip away. 

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We’ve had our internet down for a little while because we were switching servers and ran into some difficulties so I am very behind on responding to emails! I promise tomorrow I will catch up with you all: Jacque, Miss Reyes!, Krista, Melly-Moo, Pat, Heidi, and others… I am not ignoring you! Tomorrow is catch-up day… emails, phone calls, laundry, photography, baking… and the list goes on. But I already know the song I will have on my lips all day long:

“Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”

Well, I must get to bed. One of my kitties is snoring (she shall remain nameless to preserve her dignity)… it is past her bedtime… and mine, too. I want to say thank you to all those who email and comment. Your gifts of friendship mean so much to me. Love to you all!

P.S. We love you, A. Can’t wait to see you!

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the Autumn tree.”

- Emily Bronte

The brilliant color of the trees is fading fast. (Sniff). We’ve had an amazing Autumn season this year in Northern Minnesota, and I’m sorry to see it leaving us for another whole year. But this year more than any other I was able to get outside and enjoy it. Besides camping, hiking and working outdoors, I have taken many more morning walks on the trail that runs alongside the lake. Crunching leaves and a hint of smoke in the air…it is so beautiful and it refreshes my soul. 

This last summer was so productive… exhausting at times, but productive. The garden plot was finally made behind the garage, we leveled our back yard (by hand!), planted grass, pulled out some unsightly bushes on one side of the yard, cleaned out more of the garage from our move, and had a garage sale. I think that next summer may be even more exhausting, however, since our goals include: enlarging our entryway in the back, putting in a patio, paving our driveway, making rock retaining walls around the garden and driveway, and putting up a picket fence around the backyard. Whew! I’m already tired just thinking about it. It may end up taking us two summers to complete it all… we’ll see. But we are looking forward to making our backyard more usable and fun to be in. Maybe something like this…

… and this…

… or something close to it anyway! Just a little inspiration to get us all through… I’m already dreaming of next Autumn.

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord.”

- Psalm 19:14

I’ve been reading through the book “Intimate Friendship with God” again by Joy Dawson. I first read this book when I was in YWAM 13 years ago (Wow! I can’t believe its been that long already) and it is still one of my favorites to thumb through and review again and again. Yesterday, I turned to the chapter on thoughts. I think this is something that Christians struggle with so much. It is one thing to “clean up our act” on the outside, but to truly turn from your sin in your thought life is the most challenging part: we may forgive someone when they ask us to but still hold onto bitterness in our heart… we may say that we trust the Lord when times are hard but secretly worry and fear… we can hold our tongue from gossiping about our neighbor but inward think critical and judgmental thoughts about them. But while we may fool others for a time, we will never fool God. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. He knows the true me. He knows the true you. And it is Him that we should strive to please. It is Him that knows how holy our thoughts are, or lack thereof.

Joy Dawson says, “All sin starts in the mind; therefore, we are only as holy as our ‘thought lives’ are holy. I believe our thoughts sound as loudly in heaven as our words do on earth. Would we want our thoughts to be written on a wall at the end of the day for anyone to see?

It is not sufficient to repent of sin committed with our words and actions alone. Repentance of our sinful thoughts are equally important. ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon’ (Isaiah 55:7). If we have not an immediate reaction of hatred to some critical, evil, unforgiving, lustful, or unbelieving thought, then we know there is still a love for that sin in our hearts. We need to ask for the fear of the Lord to come upon us to replace the love for that sin. We are only as pure as our thought lives are pure. ”

So convicting. Actually the whole book is so convicting. But in order to have the intimate friendship with God, we need to get the things out of the way that hinder it. Instead of dealing with the symptoms… we must first deal with the root… our thoughts. It is never about our “performance” but it is about what is truly in our heart. 

Just thought I’d pass on the notes that I had jotted down in case anyone else needed to hear this like I did. Blessings.

Melissa

 My favorite place to have my time with the Lord is in the cemetery. It’s not morbid as it may sound, but absolutely beautiful. It’s quiet, peaceful, I can pray out loud, sing. I walk around and read the tombstones and wonder about their lives, their legacy. It reminds me that life is short and what ultimately matters here on earth is our relationship with God. That is the only thing that we carry with us into eternity. I need to be reminded of that… and often. Sometimes I get so caught up in the here and now – the things we don’t have, the things we haven’t done, financial cares – the things of this world. But when I drive up the winding path to the cemetery – up the hill and around the corner to the far end where no one ever seems to come, I sit under my favorite tree and take a deep breath… and I remember. I remember that this life is so short and eternity is forever. And I pray for the grace to become more heavenly minded… to remember why I am here.

In the Secret by Chris Tomlin

In the secret, in the quiet place

In the stillness You are there

In the secret, in the quiet hour I wait,

Only for You, ’cause I want to know You more;

I want to know You, I want to see you face

I want to know You more

I want to touch You, I want to hear Your voice

I want to know You more.

“To be broken is the beginning of revival. It is painful,

it is humiliating, but it is the only way.”

- Roy Hession

I’ve been reading “Brokenness” again by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I needed to go back through and remind myself of the treasures and truths in this book. There is such pain in being broken… but the beauty is immeasurable. Once again I fall on the One True Rock and cry out for mercy. Here are some thoughts that I’ve been collecting over the last few days:

“{Brokenness} is God’s prescription for nearly every condition that ails human hearts and relationships. Loneliness, fear, sinful bondages, fragmented relationships, communication barriers, generation gaps, unresolved conflicts, guilt, shame, self-absorption, addictions, hypocrisy, and at times even shyness-all these issues and more have their root in pride; but they can crumble through genuine brokenness and humility.” N.L. DeMoss

“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”  -Jane Austen

I am a homebody. For some reason I feel like I should apologize for this… but I won’t. In this day and age with all of the busyness and running to and fro, I feel like I’m old-fashioned for loving to be home and being a homemaker. But I know that God has made me with a desire to make our house a home, and to bless my husband and others through it. I am so thankful for a husband who loves this about me and does not encourage me to be a “career woman”. Something inside of me just comes alive when I am domestic. But if I am busy too much or away too long, I grow weary and homesick for my haven and my calling. I am learning to say “no” to all the things that take me away from the calling that the Lord has placed within my heart.  What a joy it has been to own our first home and to make it into a haven of rest from the busyness of this life; and I completely agree with the tried and true saying, that “Home is where the heart is”! Well… MY heart anyway!