Take It to the Queen

Have you ever experienced a scent of the Holy Spirit?

Sometimes He comes to us as a smell. Roses, wildflowers, incense…what ever speaks to our hearts.

What are the ways you encounter God in your life?

I once experienced a unique scent of apples. As I was ascending the stairs of our home I was stopped by this overwhelming sweet smell.

I felt in my heart this was The Lord. I then felt led to this scripture verse: “”Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 17:8.

I felt this was a message for me about God’s saving care and protection, which was something I had been praying about.

And it was. However, as are the things of God, time reveals greater depth.

Not long after this, in a hurried step out the door for a family event one evening, I grabbed my partial dinner out of the refrigerator : an apple. Seeing it had a bruise, I exchanged it. However I stopped in my tracks as I felt these words, breathed into me:

“Do you feel it is ruined because of the bruise?”

I was still for a moment.. thinking of how to answer this.

Then I felt The Lord shining His loving light into my heart, showing me- myself.

“You feel you are no good because of a bruise.”

These words were deeply convicting as I experienced The Truth within them.

The light from this truth exposed the lie I had been holding on to about myself. While holding … an apple … The symbol for the lie of our humanity.

This took place while I was in the midst of an inner healing journey, and it was a pivitol moment.

I asked The Lord to heal me of this. “Lord, help me to see myself as you do.”

I recalled the smell of apples, and the scripture. Who am I? The Apple of His eye. What does this mean?

There have been some biblical interpretations relating the “apple” to the pupil, which lets in light for sight. Because of this important role, the eyelid covers it quickly in the least possible danger for protection. It also refers to being the part of an intense living gaze of an eye, as being very special to someone.

And then I understood … I am loved much further beyond the bruise.

All of this shows Gods protective closeness and great love He has for us. We are loved beyond our understanding! We are “in God’s sight chosen and precious” 1 Peter 2:4 . And how profound to think about being in His eyes.

Do you believe that you are loved? Do you believe you are the apple of His eye? You are!

The song of the apple continued after this.

A little time had passed in which one day I was feeling led by The Holy Spirit to look at a children’s book we have in our home : “Take it to the Queen: A Tale of Hope” by: Josephine Nobisso. I felt there was something I was supposed to see in it.

And there was. The story is about a thriving village whose people are put to trial by great sufferings that befall them. In desperation the people turn to the queen with an offering, with the hope she will advocate for them to the king, who can restore them .

The only offering that remains after a famine is… a rotting apple. With a wormhole.

She takes it to her son, who regards it and passes it to his father. From there the story reads : “The king halved the fruit, and carved away its decaying flesh. He removed its worm, and peeled its blemished skin. He then returned it to the prince, who sliced the offering into wafer- thin wedges. With her own hands, the queen arranged the fruit on a golden platter.”

It then tells us: “The prince himself urged his father to accept the request of so tender a mother” and the apple had then been changed into a “delectable delight”.

After reading this, I understood.

What pertains to Jesus , pertains to Mary His Mother. If we are the apple of His eye, we are also to hers. If we are under His guardianship, we are also under hers.

I knew it was time to become more pro-active about giving my wounds to the Blessed Mother for God to heal. I am now very intentional about handing her my “bruised apples”. And sometimes by the bushel.

What are your bruises? A sickness ? A past wound or injury? Sinfulness or frailty? Give it to the queen!

She advocates for our healing by joining her merits to our cause, on ours and her behalf. What a good mother.

She is the New Eve, , making new what was realized in the first apple.

It is an old Christmas tradition in many homes to hang apples on the tree, or ball ornaments derived from an apple shape. This is in remembrance of our origin. It is also tradition to hang cookie ornaments to remind us of the sweetness of our redemption. If you do this, as you hang those ornaments remember who you are in His sight!

And remember the goodness and saving help of Our Mother.

Dear Mother in Heaven, please take my bruised apples. Take my wounds and advocate for my healing . Present them to your Son so that I can be made new. Prepare my heart to receive Him Amen

Have a most Blessed Christmas and may His joy fill you this season!

Becoming New

Hello to all, I am very excited to begin this blog which has come about through inspiration by the Holy Spirit.

Life is a journey, filled with ups and downs in which God meets us. Many times the “downs” are not truly down, but opportunities to grow deeply into Him. We are being made new! ” Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Advent is a time of re-birth, as we are being born into a new liturgical year, and are at work with changing our hearts to receive all that God desires for us.

When I awoke on the first Sunday of Advent and was in prayer, I saw a vision in my mind of a tiny baby duck, all by himself on the ground . He was curled up and covered in a membrane – the slimy substance of new birth, right from the egg. He slowly began to stretch out his left leg, as a first sign of the coming steps. I later realized the deep significance of seeing this on the New Year’s Day of our Church calendar.

I felt The Lord showing me, I am being made new. But my brothers and sisters, this is not just a message for me. The Lord desires for all of us to be made new in Him. Through this process, we may pass through the “slimy membrane” of re-birth. This could be in the form of sufferings or the pain of breaking sinful patterns that block His intimacy with us and our capacity to love.

But as the scriptures tell us, He has breathed life into us: “then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7 . He continues to breathe on us through His Holy Spirit. As our eyes are opened , we encounter Him personally, which changes us forever. We begin to understand how much we are loved.

I look forward to sharing future blog posts with you, and the time we spend together savoring the sweetness of the love He has for each one of us.