Welcome to the new website! Make no mistake..The Silver is completely on purpose! The Lord has such a unique relationship with each of His children. When you have spent much time with Him at all He begins to develop ways to communicate with you…and much we can see in patterns. For me some of His ways have remained consistent. However, some ways in my past with Him have not repeated themselves. I am still learning that each season has NEW ways of discovery that He longs for us..that our relationship would grow deeper and fuller and that we would not become too comfortable in our relationship with Him. There is always MORE!

This past  year He made His way to my heart through a never ending flood of Love Letters…whether it was feathers painted in the sky or constant heart shaped beauties in my secret walks with Him…and even animals such as foxes, roadrunners, turtles, etc…He was speaking to me in more of a visual way. Nothing is by chance…all is planned out beautifully by our Savior. I have learned not to take for granted the seemingly random happenings. For many times I have dug into His word because of it to find a hidden message from Him.

As the year 2013 closed, I had much to seek Him for. Have you ever been in a season you thought you could not survive? One of paramount burdens and sorrows coupled with ecstatic moments of love at the same time as you watch Him move in the lives of those you are ministering to? I guess you could say this was my kind of year in 2013. So needless to say, I was desperate to know His heart for 2014. Desperate for His promises to know He still had a work for me to do. The past year truly was a most difficult one and if I can be honest…full of trials and deep sorrow. While much beauty occurred in ministry…it was alongside a few devastating  moments as well. Yet as I spoke with Him I asked Him to give me a color that represented this new season. For He had begun again the resounding scripture in Isaiah 43: Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. All the other times in the past years He would begin giving this verse when a CHANGE was on the horizon. And to tell you the truth this change was a welcome one for I truly was in a wilderness and desert. Anyone else?

As I shared this past weekend with a sweet church congregation, the truth is had I not known Christ intimately I would have melted under the mountain of sorrows and broken heart of 2013.  Even in that knowledge and history I found myself fighting to remember His truth and fighting to believe it. For the enemy had hit in my most vulnerable places and seemed to lame me for a season. Months went by without even the ability to sing… I had begun to wonder if I ever would again. In His mercy He took me to His word and showed me the prophets of old and I felt His whispers as He reminded me of the burden of the cross. David and his desperation as he hid from Saul whom he once served and loved and had fellowship with once upon a time and even Jeremiah as he wept while faithfully giving truth to a people who would never hear. Esther who was called in a critical time to speak truth to the King or her people would be killed, and even Job who lost everything merely because the Lord honored his righteousness as the enemy roamed to devour the Saints. So in this God reminded me That while I would weep for a season…I would need to choose to follow Him regardless of broken dreams and loss of that which I knew. I want you to understand even though my faith in Him is strong…I found myself in a place I could not seem to pray out of.  I was battle weary. Yet God reminded me of His word that He would fight for me and for me to simply be still and watch the salvation of the Lord. The sorrow was so deep it filled my days and consumed my mind. For over a year this was day in and day out. It met me when I woke each morning and it put me to bed each evening. Thankfully the most tender person helping me daily was my husband who continually encouraged me and reminded me of my calling, my gifts, and my talents. His words and patience in my trial was nothing less than the way Christ is with us as we mourn. When the world wonders why we can’t pull ourselves up by the bootstraps….Christ knows grief has a long process. Death of any kind will take time and patience before healing can occur.

The Lord began to ask me to re-position myself for a new assignment. I felt my heart lift a bit with joy as I realized the year of struggle was also birthing something new. Knowing the Lord as I do, I knew He would not waste the tears but would then use each one fully for others. I have a much better understanding for those grieving and have a renewed passion to love the lame. I also have many lessons for the body of Christ that I believe will help us win souls better to Him. For His vision for church and fellowship is not mere casual nods but a grabbing of hand to wallow in the pit with those struggling. To fight for one another and guard one another from the enemy. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Whatever it takes…

I was led to ask the Lord for a color to represent 2014 and my new season with Him. Quietly I would ask him daily…”Lord, resurrect me..bring me out of this brand new.” I did not expect such a quick answer but it was instant as it flew out of my mouth…I heard Him say..SILVER! This is your Silver year. So quickly I jumped up and began researching the color Silver in the Word for it’s biblical meaning. Here are some beautiful things about silver:

• Redemption (OH YES!)
• Even to Redeem the time…(PRAISE THE LORD!!!!)
• Silver speaks of the coins used to pay for Christ’s Life. Jesus paid the price for our redemption. He is our Kinsman Redeemer: like Boaz to Ruth (HOW PRECIOUS IS THAT!)

There are other passages and such regarding Silver in the Word as well. Silver is often used to barter or trade…so friends I am trading in the old year…for the new one! There is also a beautiful silver thread that runs through the life of Joseph and we know God’s plan through the pits and prisons led him to destiny! Know what I mean? Yet God also takes what Satan meant for evil and uses it for GOOD! Thus a new magazine full of poetic devotionals…a new book I wrote with the Lord for women, and a new music single where God speaks to the broken of heart! He has repositioned me to look hard at Isaiah 61 and ask myself am I putting my footsteps in His footprints.  God had to allure me to the wilderness and speak tenderly to me (Hosea 2)..He had to allow me to be broken to now have full compassion for the broken hearted! To have New Eyes for the church! (He gives the vineyards in the wilderness) To see the need of many! For this was the purpose of the brokenness! (To turn the Valley of Achor into a door of hope!) The travesty is not being broken..the real travesty would be doing nothing with it! Never learning from it! Growing from it! Using it!

As the year of 2013 is behind so is much of DQK, our outreach segment. The Drama Queen Magazine will be a focal point to reach many with the gospel and hope of Christ. Plans are underway for the next several special editions scheduled for the 2014 year. I am focused in 2014 on writing and speaking that which Christ gives me. Whether He writes on this new online devotional journey From My Closet to Yours (Click FOLLOW to get all the devotional posts), sends His message through music and melody, or by sending it to the marketplace through our Drama Queen Magazine..this is a new season. Through the writing we have also launched a From My Heart to Yours Collection of metal and canvas art that will encourage others to look to Christ. The items will be available online as well as in select stores.They will be made available in our online store in a matter of days.

I crossed the threshold of sorrow this past weekend as I shared the Seeds in the Valley (you can listen under audio messages on the home page) in the morning church service that ministered to many broken hearts. The tears I witnesses glistened with a magnificent beauty caught by a redeeming God..who has promised to REDEEM the time..for me and for others.

If you are in a valley…cling to Christ..and remember this:

Those who go out weeping,
    carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
    carrying sheaves with them.

Psalm 126:6

and then simply Be Still…as your Resurrection unfolds..

Love Much,

Shelly