"I'm redeeming your BELIEFS about time."

On 1/6/23, I had a dream that the Lord handed me a pocket watch. He said, “I’m giving you this.” I asked “Why?” He said, “Because I’m redeeming the time.”

Then on 2/15/23, God told me, “I’m redeeming your BELIEFS about time.” I immediately knew he was speaking of mindsets around how long things take, the way I have to strive to “fit everything in”, etc. I knew in his voice that He was confronting deep held beliefs about time that I didn’t consciously know I’d adopted and inviting me to re-write those mindsets from His truth and perspective.

He highlighted that this is an invitation for many in this season and went on:

“Where you used to see constriction, you’ll learn to see the open door.”

“Where you used to strive to ‘fit it all in’, I’m showing you how to steward the moments you used to write off as too insignificant to matter.”

“Where you thought you had no time for Sabbath, I’m calling you to the audacious path of rest.”

“Where you assumed timelines, I’m teaching you how to walk in the cadence of the unique season in which you find your feet.”

God brought this dream and word to my remembrance this week. He brought me back to Genesis. He reminded me of how from the very outset, Adam had a job: Walk with God, tend the Garden and extend it with Eve as they multiplied and subdued the earth.

Then the Lord reminded me of how Adam’s disobedience shifted his lived reality from a place of stewardship to toil. Then God something I hadn’t considered, “It was only when toil was introduced that ‘I don’t have enough time’ became a concept.” This mindset of scarcity is the byproduct of toil brought on by Adam and Eve’s disobedience and self-reliance.

I don’t mean to imply that we have time for everything. Psalms 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” Remembering that our days are limited is meant to spur us on in seeking and living from the wisdom of God. And the wisdom of God teaches us how to live according Kingdom realities right here on earth.

The goal isn’t to “do it all.” I have such a strong sense that God is revealing in us ways in which we’ve been unknowingly shaped by toil – even and especially in the kingdom – so that He can bring us back to the Garden and teach us the simplicity of stewardship again.

Yesterday as I was walking to our RV park’s laundry room with a list in my head but worship on my lips, I had a vision. The Lord showed me how he was transforming my concept of time. In the first part, I was standing in front of a moving belt (like in a distribution or manufacturing facility). Time was going by on the belt and I was hurriedly boxing and stacking the moments of my life, trying to organize them just as the belt would move and I’d be doing the same thing all over again. I was trying to manage the moments even as they slipped through my fingers like water.

But in the second part of the vision, a moment would come into my hands (which were facing up in openness and surrender) and I’d bounce my hands up in worship, offering that moment to God like the little boy giving his lunch to Jesus to feed the hungry masses. (See Matthew 14:13-21. The boy likely didn’t know how his lunch would be multiplied but he knew enough to know his lunch was better in the hands of Jesus than his own.) As I’d bounce that moment up in praise and offering to the Lord, the offering burst into a swirl of color and sparkles that expanded as it went up and out. I could see the grace, beauty and supply released when time is consecrated as an offering to the One who created time yet lives above it. I sensed the joy of simply giving Him everything.

As we lean into the new season, many of us are experiencing tension in the way we see and steward time. Keeping proper alignment with God first, tending to family, stewarding resources and being faithful in our kingdom assignments often while also stepping out into great unknowns. It can feel stretching and maybe even disorienting. But I feel the invitation of God to simply offer God what is in our hands. To make time to walk in the Garden with Him as he teaches us what tending looks like without the lie of toil. And to receive a new mantle for seeing time as a kingdom resource that is stewarded from a place of rest as we listen and allow Him to orient our days according to His wisdom.

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” 2 Corinthians 9:8

“So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:7-9

“Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached loves perfection.” 1 John 4:18

“God will continually revitalize you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:13 TPT

Also Hebrews 4:9-11