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Day Eleven of the Forty Days of Teshuvah

Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li

September/Elul
It’s the eleventh today
We are meeting early again
No time for delay

The work is serious
No time for games
Every seed He shows me
Has a specific name

The kingdom He said
Begins when we repent
He keeps bringing this up
He won’t budge or relent

I don’t completely understand
But I’m following all of His orders
The tall and the short
Expanding my borders

© laurette laster September 11, 2019

An appointed time, a call to prepare. A mo’ed or mo’edim, a set time, a kairos, a time for eternal purpose with the purpose of God clearly felt, but still unknown. A desire so deep I can’t articulate, but so near I sense Him. Feelings of the heavenly realm wrapping around us like righteousness that can’t be shaken or penetrated by the world. A time for renewing our vows.

Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li

Felt like a drought in a thirsting soul, calling like hunger pangs, etched in our innermost being, calling out to the God of our salvation. Crying out as a lost child, bleating as the wayward sheep about to fall off the cliff; but knowing somewhere the answer will come. Why? Because Love always answers.

“As the crowds emerged from the village, Jesus said to his disciples, “Why would you say, ‘The harvest is another four months away’? Look at all the people coming—now is harvest time! Their hearts are like vast fields of ripened grain—ready for a harvest.”
‭‭John‬ ‭4:35‬ ‭TPT‬‬

[“Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li” is a phrase often quoted in reference to love and Judaism, and it is a quote from the Song of Songs, written by the wise King Solomon. It translates to “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” But what is the meaning behind it? Why is this specific passage such an iconic symbol of love?

The meaning behind the passage starts in an unexpected place. The first letters of each of the words of “Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li” spell out Elul, in Hebrew, the month before the high holidays, a time of repentance and self examination. What does that have to do with love though?

As it turns out, a lot. The love referred to in this passage is that of our relationship with God, a compassionate relationship, full of understanding and forgiveness, a love that understands that life is a work in progress, and nobody is perfect from the start. The month of Elul gives us a chance to re-focus our attention and ensure that we are making progress in the right direction, towards letting the bit of God within us shine out in a beautiful way.” Quoted from Israel-catalog.com]

Elul, the seventh month, was first recognized, and used while in Babylonian captivity. What a blessing to hold deep in their hearts. A wayward people longing for their God and their land. And God…

And what a wonderful loving, long suffering God.. Exodus 34:6-7

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette

(Excerpt from Now the Tenth)

Tonight over dinner
He ask something strange
If I had ever considered
The depth of change

Time for equipment
Set the plow for deep
My Teshuvah Date
I’ll need extra sleep

© laurette laster September 10, 2019

“For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you [in favor], and you shall be cultivated and sown.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36:9‬ ‭AMP‬‬

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette

There is no place
I’d rather be
Than beside the One
Who first loved me

Called and summoned
Invitation of return
So long gone
Hardened to yearn

Thirsting and waiting
Unquenchable desire
Christ alone
Hearts love, life supplier

No other place
I long to be
Than bedside the One
Who first loved me

© laurette laster September 6, 2022

Have you been gone so long, you’ve forgotten? Have you tired of thirsting, and given up? Have you decided it won’t work? Have you?

May I encourage and challenge you? Will you believe once more? Will you agree like Esther?, if I perish I perish, but I must go and meet The King, for my people.

Like the woman pushing through the crowd, can faith speak again, cause you to rise up, and to believe, if I can but touch the hem…

The King is available, The King is in the field.

Make your condition known to Him, show Him the enemy attacking and advancing against you and your family. Run to the One who first loved you. Reach out and Run to Him! He is there, and waiting!

“But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate love you had for Me at the beginning. Think about how far you have fallen! Repent and do the works of love you did at first.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:4‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Teshuvah- the Return- the Appointed Time!

Run to Him!

Ani l’dodi v‘dodi li

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette

Day 9 of 40 Days of Teshuvah

Season of Return- my favorite time of the year!

return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day];”

September/Elul
Today is nine
He said our work schedule
Is right on time

We rise early
Then meet and go
If it weren’t for my Lord
I wouldn’t know

So much to learn
About deadly weeds
I didn’t realize the danger
Or know about seeds

He’s begun teaching me
About multiplication
Good or bad
And soil saturation

Words have power
Check the seeds sown
Once in the ground
What is planted is grown

He speaks in parables
While explaining this stuff
Is my Teshuvah Date
Making this rough

He said it is given to me
The mysteries To know
We have much more work
Before we can sow

© laurette laster Sept. 2019

Hard work on a hot day causes us to sweat. It is then we truly appreciate the cool breeze against our skin…

Don’t miss your appointment. Preparing fallow ground is hard work, but harvest brings untold joy! The apostle Paul reminds us;

“The harvest you reap reveals the seed that you planted. If you plant the corrupt seeds of self-life into this natural realm, you can expect a harvest of corruption.
These are the roots we are digging up, plowing under, burning and destroying.

And then we are free and taught by His Spirit what to plant. We are free from the dead, and can choose our new and future crops-

If you plant the good seeds of Spirit-life you will reap beautiful fruits that grow from the everlasting life of the Spirit. And don’t allow yourselves to be weary in planting good seeds, for the season of reaping the wonderful harvest you’ve planted is coming!”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:8-9‬ ‭TPT‬‬

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette

Welcome to Day 7
40 Days of Teshuvah

Face to face encounter. Abiding in the Vine! By Invitation only!

“Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li”

A set time, a season of deep introspection, an appointment, an invitation, a calling, to be set apart with The Lord.

Appointment in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary is defined as: an agreement to be present at a specified time and place.

Each year, by God’s design, we are summoned (invited) at a set time, a specified date, for an engagement, a rendezvous, an arrangement, by invitation only, to a meeting place…

Intercession; asking for God’s great mercy to triumph over judgement by the blood, for His people!

These appointed times are known in Hebrew as
Mo’eds and Mo’edims. Appointed or Set times.

September/Elul 7
Today is the seventh
Time to get real
He said we’ll bring joy to Heaven

He said repentance
Is joy to their ears
Who is He talking about
What do they hear

In the field today
We dug up roots
I’m so glad we had shovels
And I wore my boots

Much harder now
Than I imagined at first
Wow this work
Can make a girl thirst

I’ll rest good tonight
After all this hard work
He said we’d meet tomorrow
Down by the brook

© laurette laster Sept 6, 2019

In 2019, the Lord began the season of Teshuvah, giving me a poem each day. Each Teshuvah season is very precious to me, but this one was especially precious to me. The Lord met me, and taught me, and explained the process, using very practical analogies. Hard Work! Gardening, and the hard physical labor of clearing and preparing my field.

Showing how physical points and defines the spiritual. He explained, while detailing topics of work clothes, garden and field tools, heat, thirst, sore muscles, blisters, tears of sadness and joy along with excitement, and yes complete exhaustion.

Always with the promise that He would see me the next morning to assist and teach more.

Face to Face.

Jesus told His disciples, the fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are few.

Trained and taught by The Lord of the Harvest, through His word, ensures our own field produces fruit that lasts. He then sends us to teach and help others. Ground conditions are crucial to harvest, and to our assignments, but often overlooked.

His people are called to tend His field, have dominion and become fruitful.

John 15: 16
“You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as presenting all that I AM], He may give it to you.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:16‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

Seek the Lord while He may be found.

Amplified Bible
Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call on Him [for salvation] while He is near.

To change a nation we must reconcile (and teach and train) His people back to The Lord of the harvest. His field, His harvest!!

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette

Hello September

Change

Change holds wonders
All it’s own
God makes clear
To those His own

Prepare for new
Ripening of harvest
Change ushers in
Nearest, oft appears farthest

© laurette laster September 2022

When normal is shaken, I hear The Lord saying, the best is still yet to come, and closer than we realize. The seasons, the months, the days, the weather, they all train us to prepare for change, not fear, not dread, but a call to prepare.

In a universe so marvelously created, we see and know without a doubt, God is All Powerful, All Sovereign, All Knowing, and His word endures…
Forever!

Change is beautiful when embraced, and only a heart that has loved can break.

Embrace the change,
We are built for this,
Blessings, Laurette

“He will be standing firm like a flourishing tree planted by God’s design, deeply rooted by the brooks of bliss, bearing fruit in every season of life. He is never dry, never fainting, ever blessed, ever prosperous.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭TPT‬‬

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette

Teshuvah. My favorite time of the year.

Elul 3, 5782
August 30, 2022

Moses, ‘returned’ up the mountain, summoned by God, to meet with Him. Moses knew the purpose of this visit. Moses said, perhaps I can atone for your sin and God will pardon your sin of idolatry. The newly delivered nation of Israel, impatient and ignoring the command, quickly reverted back to idolatry.

Moses dealt with their sin, he did not make light of their sin. Moses called for and demanded alliance to God, through repentance. The wicked and rebellious were put to death, by their brothers.

Acknowledging the seriousness of their sin, Moses, reminded God of their identity, and chose to stand for them. Moses reminded God, He chose to bring them out. Deuteronomy 32-33

May we never cease to understand the value of repentance……….
The foundation of Christianity is repentance (Teshuvah, Shuv, Re-Turn). Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God.

Teshuvah, a season, an appointed time, an invitation to come back, return and live.

Gentle Rains
(Excerpt)

Soften the hearts
With Your tender touch
Gentle rain coming down
Teshuvah season don’t rush

In repentance
Turning back to You
Rain is the blessing
To bring in the new

Harvest is sure
O the fruit we shall yield
Because our Master Gardner
Is watering our field.

“The old Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.” If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant.”

Wisdom from Oswald Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette

Teshuvah! My favorite time of the year.

The return.
The second set of tablets.
A new and deeper understanding, sharing in the work of carving out the tablets. Presenting to Jehovah God, blank stones. Not for God to write something new on them, rather to rewrite His original plan.

Presenting our heart and mind to God, understanding we are forgiven and redeemed, allowing Him through His word to reprove, transform and renew our covenant. A renewal of our vows.

Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li”

Day 2
2nd of Elul 5782
August 29, 2022

Required to return with two freshly carved stones. A new set of stones, freshly chiseled, eagerly awaiting the finger of The Great I Am to etch, engrave, carve, to form by cutting. Leaving a definite and intelligent, intelligible mark, deep incisions. Two stones. Ten words. An eternal mark.

An invitation and a responsibility to partner with, and become one with God cuts deep.

The first sign of a deep incision was from Adam’s side, the second cutting was on our Lord’s body.

The King is in the Field, and readily available to His people.

Legal U Turn
As You Go
(Excerpt)

Pay attention to the signs
Along the paths you walk.
Some are smooth and pleasing,
Others hard as rock.

Pay attention to the scenery,
As you go along your way,
There are many, many signs,
speaking, as if to say.

Yes this is the way,
Or do not venture here.
Others seemingly shouting;
Run, take cover, danger is near.

While we must be able
To discern as we travel,
Wisdom first in the heart,
As the mind works to unravel.

Thoughts locked down,
Unable to bend,
Will create a life
That has to mend.

© laurette laster August 2018

““This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.””
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31:33-34‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Don’t miss your appointment. God has carved out and appointed sacred times to meet with us.

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette

And I’m excited…

The extreme heat and drought in northern Texas, caused leaves to fall before their time. Leaves have cascaded like fall, in the middle of our summer season, leaving lawns covered in dead leaves, or can we say dead works.

Lack of needed water has caused the trees to act and adjust. To ensure life for the root system, the trees adapted. Survival requires the tree to take back, then cut off the supply of nutrients to the leaves. So, drought conditions cause trees to respond. The nature of the tree changed to adhere conditions surrounding it. The tree became preemptive for survival.

I see truth and prophetic timing in this.

Intense thirst, causesd by lack of water, causes one to become oblivious to things around us. We let go of lesser or insignificant (leaves) things. We repent, we thirst, we hunger, we seek for the heart and nature of God. And, with our heart (root or inner man) we instinctively know to withdraw, cutting off what draws or takes away from us, that hinders our serving the Living God. Root season is serious business.

Teshuvah is upon us, the heat and the drought has caused us to (thirst) bow. We will be found humbled, waiting, but jubilantly expecting, thirsting for the Lord as a parched desert.

My favorite time of year.

The season of TESHUVAH, forty days of repentance and metanoia is going to be deep.

And I’m excited…

Autumn’s Glory

As I begin to witness
The changing of colors
I am now more convinced
This can be like no other

Set on seeing and enjoying
Natures magnificent turn
God’s glorious splendor
Causes hearts to yearn

What is it about this rich tapestry
Autumn’s intriguing panoramic change
That creates a welling up deep within
As trees and design begin to rearrange

Autumn’s colors bold and robust
Make their seasonal appearance
But how can something that is dying
Spark feelings of depth and perseverance

Watching the trees stand tall
Year after year and in season
To continue with the markings
Drawn to understand the reason

Are there lessons I can learn
Truths yet to be discovered
Can I actually understand
Watch in awe what is about to be uncovered

Oh yes I can learn from these trees
Truths that are mighty and deep
The seasons our Lord requires
For maturity and growth in order to reap

Leaves have nutrients supplies of food
The tree needs to prepare
To guard and feed her roots
For winters cold to bear

Having given of their nourishment
Leaves cut off are now descending
God looks down with everlasting joy
Lessons learned now unending

Repentance in the changing heart
Acknowledge His glorious concern
Oh marvelous sight, view from heaven
Christ witnesses His loved ones learn

© laurette laster © 2019 Nov

Blessings, Laurette

Blessed is the man or woman who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.
They shall be like a tree…

“What delight comes to the one who follows God’s ways! He won’t walk in step with the wicked, nor share the sinner’s way, nor be found sitting in the scorner’s seat. He will be standing firm like a flourishing tree planted by God’s design, deeply rooted by the brooks of bliss, bearing fruit in every season of life. He is never dry, never fainting, ever blessed, ever prosperous.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭1:1, 3‬ ‭TPT‬‬

“I long to drink of you, O God, to drink deeply from the streams of pleasure flowing from your presence. My longings overwhelm me for more of you! My soul thirsts, pants, and longs for the living God. I want to come and see the face of God.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭42:1-2‬ ‭TPT‬‬

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me, Laurette.

Day 49
Counting the Omer
Shavuot
Feasts of Weeks
Harvest
First Fruits

“Honey bees flitting
Joyfully feed
Seed time and harvest
Blossoms; Taste and see”

“Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55:2‬ ‭TLV‬‬

It is so close, the excitement mounting, or was it fear of the unknown? What will happen, why has He brought us here? He has protected us, kept us, planned for us to meet. Brought us out with signs and wonders, with the provisions, exactly as He swore to Abraham, true to His word. Why all this fuss? Did they remember? Had the 430 years of slavery and hardship dulled their memories? Had anyone kept the hope alive? Joseph left instructions to take his bones, saying when the Lord “visits” you be sure you take my bones. Did anyone remember? They took Joseph’s bones when they left Egypt, an empty tomb, evidence the children of Israel were not coming back to Egypt. Yes they remembered.

This meeting day planned long before they actually met. We have evidence seasons continue, so do His Feast Days. They are eternal, forever, mo’eds, appointments, to be remembered, rehearsed; rehearsals;

rehearsed, as if…

Tonight at sundown, day 49 begins. Tomorrow at sundown is the memorial of THE BIG DAY, or the first BIG DAY. We know there was another BIGGER DAY! I believe every year amazing covenants are available, His gift! reminding us I have not forgotten. Have you?

The memorial, when a covenant was offered. The Hand of Jehovah offered to a people, to a people He loves and is responsible for. If we knew we had an appointment, for a real encounter with Adonai and heard His heart; would we quickly obey or forget and turn away?

Elderberry Blossoms

Elderberry blossoms
True to His word
The rain maketh it bud
Isaiah prophesied as he heard

“Honey bees flitting
Joyfully feed
Seed time and harvest
Blossoms; Taste and see”

The Lord is good
Evidence assures
Only believe
The heart secures

© laurette laster June 4 2022

“For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without having watered the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to sow and bread to eat,

so My word will be that goes out from My mouth.

It will not return to Me in vain, but will accomplish what I intend, and will succeed in what I sent it for. Instead of the thorn bush, a cypress will come up, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will come up, and it will be a memorial to Adonai, as an everlasting sign that will never be cut off.””
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55:10-11, 13‬ ‭TLV‬

I feel the excitement, do you?

HIS WORD WILL NOT RETURN VOID, or barren or unfruitful. It did, it is, and it will produce.

Behold I do a new thing…

““Do not remember former things, nor consider things of the past. Here I am, doing a new thing; Now it is springing up— do you not know about it? I will surely make a way in the desert, rivers in the wasteland. the people I formed for Myself, so they might declare My praise.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43:18-19, 21‬ ‭TLV‬‬

God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord cause His countenance to rise upon you and give you Shalom.

Until next time, thank you for listening with me. Laurette