Joy Unfolding: Messages for the Guarded Heart

By Cathay Reta

The messages in this book were written over several months to a handful of women living in different parts of the world, experiencing diverse and unique situations. They are personal and direct. At the same time, the words reach across the universe to speak to a multitude of individuals. Their relevance bear out the age-old wisdom of storytellers and writers which states that the more specific and personal a story is, the more universal it is. What resonates with one soul also touches many others in the same intensity and life-giving force, reminding us that we are all connected.

Sometimes messages can only be heard indirectly. Sometimes when we read what was written to someone else, we relax and can listen more freely. Before you know it, the words have slipped past the guards at our hearts and we begin to feel them tug at us, suggesting that this expression of God's love is for us, too. That's why this book is for you, with hopes that it might inspire and encourage you in your life's journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543988314

Book preview

Joy Unfolding, Messages for the Guarded Heart

©2018 Cathay Reta. All Rights Reserved.

Published in the USA

ISBN 978-1-54398-831-4

www.cathayreta.com

[e-mail]

Cover Photo by Peter Casas

About This Book

The messages in this book were written over several months to a handful of dear friends, sisters in the Lord. I was drawn to encourage them, to share God’s love with them. At times, I felt embarrassed. Some words were very personal; I felt like I was eavesdropping on what God was saying to them; as though I was intruding on their intimate moments.

Yet in the end, I came to know that these words were for me as much as anyone. They were a way for my Lord God to get beyond the crossed arms that have so involuntarily guarded my heart. While giving me these words for others, he was also wooing me to trust him more fully, and to know his love in a deeper way.

Ever so gentle, ever so kind, when the book was finished he told me a secret. He told me that this wondrous love that I have experienced has come from within. My Lord was never held at bay by guards at my heart’s door. Why? Because he was already inside! His whispers of love come from the inside. He invited me to open the door and meet him in the doorway of this inner secret chamber – where joy begins to unfold.

I pray these messages will touch your heart, too. I pray that joy will rise and overtake you with all the glory and the colors of a peacock strutting about to display his beauty because he knows he’s got something special. May you know you’ve got something special, too. Your beauty and glory are indeed something to strut about.

I am especially thankful for those for whom these words were originally written:  Linda Davaz, Jane Decker, Kathleen Horstmeyer, Tanuja Kemnitz, Audrey Kurtz, Christina Smith, and Marjorie Winters.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Journeys

The Train is Coming

Journey with Me

A Glorious Day

Jealousy

Pack Your Bags

Then Shall Grace Abound

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Over the Bumpy Road

Embrace Your Boldness

Where Are You Going?

Come Away with Me

A Cold Wind Blows

A Special Road

Chapter 2: Joy

Skip, Jump, Play

Lift Up Your Hands

May I Have This Dance?

The Sacrifice of Praise

Discovery

Your Youth is a Joy

Yes! I Say Yes!

The Music of Nature

Give of the Little Things

You Make Me Smile

The Dance of My Beloved

Chapter 3: Trust

Trust is a Gift

Feel the Brokenness

You Are My Little One

Fight No More

Make My Love Known

I Long to See Your Beauty

Your Tears

You Can Trust Me

I Know You

Decluttering

Hold Fast

Come in from the Back Field

A Safe Place

Designed for Greatness

Chapter 4: Rest and Renewal

Safely Sheltered from Harm

My Hand is Stretched Out

There is No Other

Draw Close. Lean In

Rest in Me

Walk with Me in the Moonlight

Drink of Me

Sleep Now

A Secret Place

Nothing Can Separate Us

Sit with Me

Uncover Your Heart

Let Me Bring You Home

Wonderful and Marvelous

Chapter 5: Hope

Let Hope Dance Freely

Irrepressible Hope

Treasures Waiting for You

The Seed Grows

Hidden Away

The Prize is Yours

Mark the Days

I Love You Still

Through the Corridor

Chase the Butterfly

From the Early Morning

Follow Me

Resurrected Hope

Rise Up. Let’s Go!

Run and Catch the Wind

Chapter 6: Faith

Faith

Let Faith Arise

Lift Your Voice and Shout

Thanksgiving

The Journey of Faith

Redemption

Always

Faith to Faith

Wait with Me

Now Let It Go

Chapter 7: Trailblazing

Let My Love Fill You

A Hurricane is Blowing

You are Adventurous

Stand Strong in Might

Out of the Fog

Where Do You Run To?

Beyond the Faces of Men

Knowledge, Wisdom & Understanding

Live Your Dreams

Majesty and Wonder

Truth

Now and Forever

Chapter One

Journeys

The Train is Coming

My beloved, the train is coming. Listen. Soon you will hear the whistle sound. Rejoice my dear one, for the whistle is not a warning to you. No, the whistle is an invitation.

I call you to travel with me on this train. Take a seat and travel with me. Prepare yourself even now. Look down the tracks. Do you see? It comes quickly.

Step into our special car and sit with me at the table prepared for you. I know you have had many questions, and now it is time for those answers. They shall unfold before you in clarity and with the precious peace of heart that is so crucial in this hour. I have seen the hole that life’s disappointments have left in the midst of your heart. I have seen the emptiness waiting to be filled. You have waited patiently, longingly.

I say unto you now, come aboard. Sit with me while we roll through the valleys and over the mountains. Gaze out the window. Take it all in. Breathe in and out of your spirit. Relax.

Yea, now is time. Answers are at hand.

Come aboard.

Journey with Me

Journey with me, my daughter, my valiant one. Come and journey with me for I know the road ahead. I know the detours, the bumps, the resting places and the valleys. I know the places that will make you laugh, the places that will cause you sorrow. I will lead you carefully, tenderly. Come with me.

Truly you have been on a journey. I have been with you every step. It is not always the road I would have chosen for you, but I honor your choice. You decide where to set your foot, and I go with you.