Obscurities Glory

Dear Reader,

This message may not be popular and could poke at you a bit, so proceed with caution. You should know that I write this letter in love and I want you to lean in... You must learn to value your season of obscurity (which is not isolation). I’ll tell you why.

By definition obscurity is; the state of being unknown, inconspicuous, or difficult to understand.

Have you ever felt like no one could see you or understand you or as though your value was being overlooked or even worse missed? To be praised is written in our nature so in seasons when the praise seems to be muted many have a hard time coping. An ‘unfruitful season’ is not just uncomfortable, but it literally goes against our nature we weren’t built to be unappreciated or ignored or fruitless.

Having to survive seasons like this is very difficult to do. A man who is not praised for his contribution is a man wrestling with the suggestion that perhaps life has no purpose and if he is a man aware of God’s greater power then he is at best wrestling to silence the taunting that screams ‘You’re being used!’ But is this our seasonal plot in life, our gym of survival development or is there something that we are missing? Could it be that God is speaking and we are not identifying His voice or even worse misquoting Him?

If a tree falls in the forest with no one around to witness does it make a sound or shake the earth? What value does a thing have if no one is there to ascribe value to it? Are you asking for too much when you need to be validated?

The truth is needing validation isn’t the real issue at play during obscurity, identifying the voice of the necessary affirmation is.

You see the value of a man is not found in the audience one can attract, nor the applause said audience offers because value cannot be ascribbed with the five senses. No, the value of anything, especially man, is found solely in its design. The design speaks of purpose and purpose points to a creator.

We must come to discover who God is by His revealing of self along the path He has chosen for us. Obscurity allows for your process to be private, for your kinks to be worked out with minimal commentary, and for your transformation to happen without the tainted perspective of too many others. Obscurity allows you to grow and transition and rest without the pressure to perform. And obscurity lends itself to your discovery of what God knows you to be. But if you do not understand this the chaotic flow and directionless rush of culture will convince you that if the world can’t see what you’re doing then your value is questionable.

Dear Reader, In winter, are trees bare? In winter are trees barren?”

May your eyes be opened to what God is using this season in your life for, may His strength align you with His glory and may you come to treasure who you are by masterful design.

Grace & Peace,

L O R I LaChelle

The Path of Waiting

Dear Reader,

Oh, how I wish I could tell you that this month has been full of passionate work or rivetting adventure for me, that the deepest longings of my heart have finally learned my name and are in my hands, but I cannot for that would be a gross exaggeration of a much simpler truth; I am on the path of waiting and God is revealing.

I honestly don’t know where to begin. I’ve written you a dozen times, but the words nor the timing ever seemed quite right, still begin I must.

This current portion of my story is just as nuanced as I am and has kept me either on the edge of my seat, on my knees in prayer or letting my tears pair with groanings to do the praying for me. Not just this month, but this season has been different from every other page before it because I’ve come to see the sacrifice of death differently.

I am no stranger to suffering or to a type of rebirth as I have lived more than a dozen lives because I have died more than a dozen deaths. I have learned to suffer well and how to carry a burden or wear a scar in a way that only the chosen would recognize. I do not look like what I’ve been through.

The irony of that is I look exactly like what God has guided me through.

I am the breathing evidence that God is Good and I wanted to tell you about the things I have overcome or to encourage you to hold on to God’s promises because indeed He is faithful in the most ridiculous way, but all that keeps coming up right now is how, in light of the promise, soon doesn’t come soon enough.

And that’s where I want to draw your attention because that’s the gift of this season; waiting. Ugh, it’s been the slowest death, but the Lord reminds me His blessings are weighty and the waiting is not for nothing. You can’t imagine what is really in store for you because until your deepest wounds have been healed there will always be something of the past obstructing your view. You can’t fathom what God is doing because His ways always confound the wise and are intentionally inconvenient, still they never waiver from being good and perfect.

Here’s a truth; You can only wait on what is already determined as yours and that only comes by a word from God - everything else is a matter of hope and while hope is not a bad thing, this letter is to tell you You are never waiting on God, He’s been waiting on you all along.

Wherever you are in your life with Christ I encourage you to ask God to remind you of His word to you. Ask Him for the strength to surrender and the strength to do the hard yet necessary things as He brings your life into alignment with His perfect will. Ask Him to restore whatever was abandoned, naively traded, lost, or damaged in your life. Know that I pray His spirit of wisdom be with you and new beginnings for you in every area.

The wait is weighty because the gift is valued even more.

Grace & Peace,

LORI LaChelle

Tomorrow’s Walk Today’s Treasure

Dear reader,

It is currently after sunset and as I sit here, in my chair, contemplating what to share with you I am also thinking about the details of tomorrow. I find it interesting that with all the tomorrows I’ve been blessed to touch, there have been no two alike. This means I can know about tomorrow, but cannot know it fully until I am there experiencing it. By the time I settle in, it will have already begun drifting into yesterday.

This is much like the soul that does not yet know its desperate need for God. Unaware that He is the only source of life, blindly keeping Him at a tomorrow’s distance from the heart. This position is close enough to appear familiar to those who have not entered into intimacy with God, and yet it is known as deathly distant by those who find their home in Him.

Knowing about I AM is not the same as knowing Him just as knowing the stats of every MLB player doesn’t mean you are in a close relationship with them. You might be able to say you know God, but would His testimony be that you know Him? Being aware of God can point you in the direction of hope, but it is not enough to live in the freedom and authority we have in Jesus. Knowing about God may even be enough for you to believe unto salvation, but it is not enough to enjoy the abundant life Christ came to give us.

We should make it a practice to walk daily with and by His Holy Spirit because as time changes so do your needs and so does His desired self-expression. How you wanted to engage with those you loved when you were 14 has evolved over time as you have discovered more about yourself and how you want to experience the world. What you knew about the Lord before has to be built upon and your capacity for Him has to increase because it is quite possible to have known someone at one stage of your life and know them no longer in the current stage. ‘To know’ is a declaration of intimacy and intimacy is living and growing.

So, today and every day hereafter I urge you to draw closer than you ever have before to the Father’s heart. Do not get comfortable or complacent with your knowledge of our infinite God, nor with your prayer life, nor with your ability to simply sit in His presence and be, but rather put forth the effort to know Him more. Where you seek you will find and where your treasure is there you will discover the truth of your heart.

The most amazing thing happens when you walk in intimacy with God our Father; you begin to see yourself and the world around you through His eyes and this changes everything for the better.

Take His offered hand and never let it go.

Grace & Peace,

Lori LaChelle