Tag Archives: brokenness

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Key Change

A minor change on a major scale

A key change doesn’t require a large shift on the scale or grandiose measures. Did you know that a half step can make all the difference? A small change can create some beautiful music.

To appreciate a key change, you don’t need to know music theory. A listener can hear the transition in tone.

Every now and then life calls for a key change. Without it there is little music produced, for a piece puts out true beauty not from the fixed notes it embraces but rather from the subtle modulation we experience.

Life is packed with opportunities for you to take the stage on some major and minor scales, but you won’t get far in a performance if you’re not willing to embrace a key change.

The key change is your perspective. A slight shift in how you view life’s circumstances will make all the difference. When someone uses words you didn’t expect or reacts contrary to the culture’s perception, that’s a result of changing perspective.

If you want to stand out in the crowd and survive with your dignity among life’s situations, it’s going to require a key change in perspective.

Your circumstance, that cross you’ve been called to carry, looks different than mine.

You could be performing mundane tasks in a job, when you may be suited for much greater work.

Perhaps you’ve been cultivating the same field, nurturing a dream year after year, even though it yields no harvest.

Or, you may be called to walk through this world with a smile while your heart secretly breaks inside.

change, perspective, spiritual growthThere are so many crosses we carry and every one of them is painful.

Outwardly this cross may appear destructive, but inwardly its spiritual work is planting the richness of a blessing deep into the soil of your soul. Many of the blessings you inherit are the fruit of sorrow or pain.

Jesus on the cross, redemption itself, is the world’s greatest blessing and was produced through the greatest pain.

The Apostle Paul made a key change. He learned how to be content whatever the circumstances. (Philippians 4:11)

The attitude we live with is what determines our growth in God. This isn’t about being fake. The key change in our perspective is trusting God when other people are getting what we want.

Growth doesn’t happen when you remain with the same heart in the same place. A harmonious arrangement in life calls for a key change in perspective.

Where is that place that presses up against your threshold of yesterday? Where do you need to die to your own will, pride and sin and surrender at the feet of Jesus the very things that keep you proud and strong?

The charm of a broken spirit leaves us with an imprint of the cross. There’s a fragrant aroma of brokenness and humility that rises after it’s been touched by fire. Make the key change to transform the song of your sorrows into a beautiful melody of redemption.

Do you trust God so much that you absolutely do not want anything that He doesn’t want you to have? That’s perspective. That’s the key change in your mind that will take an ordinary song and dance and create a signature that’s all of you glorifying all of Him.

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Key Change: A Minor Change on a Major Scale by Trisha Keehn first appeared on LiftUpYourDay on September 23, 2016.

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Are You Ready For The Rain?

Don’t let the condemning voices convince you that you’ve blown it. The brokenness in your marriage isn’t too far for recovery. Those bills can get paid and your credit restored. Your heart can discover hope after a devastating divorce, a death or unplanned pregnancy.

When we make mistakes or get off course, it’s easy to get down on ourselves and live guilty or condemned. Setbacks can push our dreams down and make us feel like a failure, weak and lame.

Sometimes it wasn’t even your fault. Maybe because of someone else, you were left here a mess with addictions, bad habits and scars. Even well-meaning people can put you at a disadvantage and it’s tempting to blame their problems for holding you back.

But it really is a waste to spend your time making excuses and going through life nursing the wounds, because God has His hand out wanting to put you back in the game.

It’s time to get off the sidelines. God is in the restoration business. Take the hand you were dealt and work with it.

The place where you are in life doesn’t change the identity of whose you are. Life may have thrown you some curves but you are still a child of the King.

God knows it all. He wants to give you back your joy, abundant peace, and help you get some victory over this stuff. He still loves you and wants to be good to you and He’s never waiting to write you off when you stray.brokenhearted, healing, psalm 147, names the stars

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground. Psalm 147:3-6

You don’t have enough power to screw up God’s calling for your life. It is irrevocable. He doesn’t change His mind based on what you do.

We are the ones who decide that our weaknesses don’t deserve the royal crown. So we give up. Don’t let someone else’s judgment of your behaviors convince you to stay there. God wants to restore you back. But you have to get into agreement with Him on this.

Bring your humility with the desire to get back on track.

Mercy doesn’t make sense. We don’t deserve it but God gives it. So how long are you going to stay where you are? A fresh start is waiting for you. Let’s be done blaming others and move forward into a newfound freedom, the favor of God.

The Most High God breathed life into you and crowned your head in favor. He made His children kings and priests unto Him. Nothing that has happened to you will ever change your identity. No one can take it away.

let it rain, pour out your favor, You still have royal blood flowing through you.

You are extremely valuable to God and the King is looking for you today. You can run but He’s going to keep pursuing you. In the club. On the streets. While you’re at work. God will leave the rest of the flock to come find you. He wants to bless you. Are you ready to receive it?

Let it rain, Lord. Open the flood gates of heaven and pour out your favor upon us today.

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Let It Go

So something new can grow

trishakeehn.com, tree, let it go, fruit,

Last night, I sat silently on my porch steps pondering life. A slight breeze swept through the loose strands of a messy knot piled high on my head and a chorus from everything living sang with sweet lullabies to my soul.

The peace of it all captured my thoughts as I marveled at the breathtaking livelihood of life.

It is Spring and technically a time of new growth, yet there in the boughs of towering tree was a lifeless limb caught up in it’s spindly vines.

It’s likely a storm had severed this part. The tangled timber was more of a stick now… the color had drained from its bark, but the branches weren’t ready to let go.

Isn’t that just like life sometimes?

A storm sweeps through, devastating our status or symbol of life. The winds snap off a chapter, but our arms cling to the kindling because we fear letting go.

field, fruit, let it go, trishakeehn.com,When a field stops producing fruit, we have to accept what has refused to come back to life; we have to let it go.

Disappointment. Divorce. Death.

With a very tender heart and deep compassion, I offer only a trail of my own tears when I whisper these words to you.

Our mind likes to circle a barren crop, hoping a seed will magically produce by staring at it long enough, when we need to cut it down, pile it up, and let it burn.

As tears sizzle over the embers.

True, God sometimes chooses to resurrect something that has died.

And other times He wants us to call it what it is – dead – and let it go, knowing that He is good. And He is for us.

We’re reminded in the book of John that God prunes branches that bear no fruit so that they will sprout more. And what does not yield produce over time is “thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up.” – John 15:6

Life is about growth.

God is all about the fruit.

You can huff and puff, but trying to resuscitate what’s not coming back to life just leaves you out of breath.

Sift the seeds of your life through the threshing floor of Christ to separate the dead from the living.

Don’t overlook the wholesome hindrances that have overstayed their season; sometimes these are the hardest to let go of because they are easier to rationalize. They’re not wrong; they’re just not right, right now.

Perhaps our ego may need to be shown the exit door first.

What doesn’t reap a harvest, what fails to resurrect in the sunshine and showers, finally needs to go.

That doesn’t mean you forget.

Some things are too sensitive or significant to let slip from memory.

These words are woven with empathy when I say, if it is gone, let it go. If it is possible to move the reminder from your sight where it has become a monument to your sadness and loss, pile it up and carry it off.

His wings will shelter you in the shadows and keep your sacred heart safe in the storm. He does not leave a life empty.

He will either restore the sterile or plant something brand-new. Know with all your faith that a fresh seed will sprout soon. Hold on to your expectation that it will be more than you can imagine.

His promise is to fertilize a flourishing future for you. He nurtures and cultivates the soil with great care and comfort.trishakeehn.com, tree, let it go, fruit,

Give it space. Sunshine. Water it with your tears if you must. And you will surely live to see His faithfulness sprout out of the seasoned soil.

Our breaths are too brief to spend another inhale grieving what could have been. Release your fears. You are stronger than you think.

Stretch out your arms and don’t let the storms scare you from pain.

Let go of what is broken and trust, for it is to your Father’s glory that you bear much fruit.

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Psalm 1:3

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Dancing On Life Lessons

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucious

The falls in life usher new seasons that change the chromatic scale of a soul.

When my life feels tangled up with complicated cords, I jump. Four years ago, my work and relationship empire began to crumble. Under pressure, I plunged from the pain and got twisted up in an exhilarating free fall that had me parachuting into the world of dance.

Some lessons later, I was swinging away the blues with a new focus. In class, I stumbled over the feet of a confident partner who was a little cocky in his push and pull, which I enjoyed. We swiveled West Coast Swing into any space we could.

The leaves formed and fell as my dancing feet moved with the rhythm of life. And then, a new season came, swaying my course into a new city. Reluctantly, I boxed up another chapter.

Dust settled on the shine of those dancing shoes as unfortunate circumstances chiseled away at the emotional edges of walls I had built.

I clung to my brokenness, and stuffed my soul with the false security of familiarity.

And yet, God met me with mercy in those tears, as He unwrapped the wounds and purified the bleeding pain. He revealed fresh layers of faith and revived buried passions.

This year has been a journey of beginnings. So it should not surprise you that last week, I took a leap right into Lindy Hop; back into the world of dance.

In the sway of those old songs, I was reminded a good dancer is one who follows the tender touch communicating which way go. This is a lesson for me in life, as sometimes it can be a struggle to restrain my tendency to control things with others and with God. Truthfully, I discovered a greater freedom in following the gentle nudges and flick of a wrist that send me sailing left over right in a thrilling twist of surprise and pure joy.

A dance begins on trust; otherwise, partners will fumble and fall over footwork. Expressions with the hands and body inspire each other in speechless conversations. I feel a blanket of peace covering my mistakes because I know this partner is a step ahead of me with his arms held out to catch me in a fall.

dancing on life lessons

As you’ve been reading this, I hope you caught the reflection of God as your partner in the dance of life.

It can be difficult to close your eyes and concede control when you don’t know a companion, much less the dance. Yet, the only way to experience the thrill that comes with taking chances is to trust. Trust the One who is already ahead of you in the dance.

He will never let you go. Even when you’ve flung yourself so far away and gotten twisted up in the momentum of your mistakes, He’s always waiting to whirl you back in; He welcomes with open arms on the return.

When you place your confidence in the palm of His hand, this unspoken permission allows Him to gently shimmy you in the way to go. It also grants Him access to press into your steps to stop and steer the course before you spin out of control.

You may be like me, with a tendency to escape pain, the unknown, and sometimes things that seem too good to be true.

There is no escape from the grip of God’s grace, interwoven and wrapped around every fiber of our being. He goes with us into the dances we do around life’s hard stuff so that we can discover the deeper love from a Father who never walks away, no matter what we’ve done.

God leaves the pattern of His fingerprint on every experience we encounter. When we know the lines in His hand and let them sink deep into our hearts, the imprint of His image stamps our soul with the Spirit’s seamless whispers, ‘I love you, I love you’.

Press into Him and feel the beat of His heart. Get close enough to taste the breath escaping His lungs through His lips.

Pray. Study Him. Seek His attention.

Open your eyes and notice His personalized expressions of love and beauty surrounding you. His embrace is warm and tender, His heart is compassionate and kind. He is for you. The identity of your first love is waiting to be discovered. The King is asking you for this dance.