Dear __________,

Dear _________,

I don't know how else to relay this message to you other than through this blog post because I simply don't know who you are. Maybe I know you better than I think I do, maybe you are more than one person, or maybe you live on the other side of the ocean. Either way, I want to share with you something that the Lord showed me in a very sweet moment with him that I think is for you, too. Maybe you will find a meaning in it that goes deeper or in a different direction than the one I found, but I pray that you would allow the Lord to show himself to you regardless. I know that for me, my heart has been branded.

As I was talking to the Lord on my way to take a final exam yesterday, my prayer sounded something like this... "Lord, I could pray about so many things right now. I could ask for help on a test or answers to all of these questions in my life, or I could request a word from you concerning the state of my heart; but I would just like for you to show me what is on YOUR heart today. What do you want to say to me without me having to ask?"

The Lord gave me this vision…

It was what looked like a scene from the movie The Impossible. A huge tsunami had come ashore and was rapidly clearing the streets of every unrooted thing. Out of nowhere, I noticed a vine hanging down from the top of the skyline that I was able to grip onto in order to keep from being swept away. The torrent seemed to last for hours and I became frightened that nothing besides myself would remain at the end of the day. There was no one left as far as I could see who had kept their head above the water. I was convinced that I had been left the sole survivor of an unexpected disaster. Slowly, the water began to recede and and I saw that there were, in fact, a few things left standing in the middle of the road. Some of them were people, but other things were simply pillars that I had not seen standing there before. They had been covered by the flood, but had either managed to root themselves in the street or find vines of their own to cling to.

This is what the Lord said: Hold onto me as the flood waters rise; cling to me with everything you have. Every thing that is not worthy of remaining will be swept away, but the few things that prove themselves to be rooted will remain. You will not be left on your own, simply hold on and allow me to finish my process. I know it looks like nothing is going to be left standing at the end of the day, but you cannot see what I see. You don't see the refinement that is happening beneath the flood waters.

I can't explain to you in words how deeply this spoke to me in my present season. The magnitude of this revelation in my heart is something that will only ever be known between my Father and I, and that's okay. Whoever you are reading this that needed to hear these words from the Lord, take them and etch them into your very being. Hold onto them and don't let go of them for anything. I am praying for you even now that you would cling to the vine, grow your roots down deep, and be found stronger at the end of this season.