Assessing My Current Status

When you schedule an initial free consultation with us, it’s time for getting to know each other and sussing out the issues you feel you need help with and our recommendations for ways to move forward.

One tool we like to use in this discovery phase is our fill-in-the-blank summary statement. I share it now in case you’d like to get insights into your own life. In brackets, I’ve included a few of the ways these spaces can be filled in.

Although I’m currently in a stage of [PARALYSIS, POVERTY, INJUSTICE, BITTERNESS, OPPRESSION, PTSD], I look forward to having more flow or justice in the area of my [MARRIAGE, OCCUPATION, STATUS, DESTINY, HOPES & DREAMS]. I blame the spirits of [DEVOURING, WELFARE, JEZEBEL, PYTHON, ABUSE, SELF-HATRED, COMPARISON, ADDICTION] for sabotaging my relationships with my [PARENT, EMPLOYER, COMMUNITY, SYSTEMS]. I sense God primarily through [VISIONS, DREAMS, SONGS, NATURE, NEWS, BOOKS]. He has given me everything I need for life and godliness, including [CREATIVITY, PERSEVERANCE, HOSPITALITY, JOY, INHERITANCE, BIRTHRIGHT, FAVOR, GRACE, FUNDS].

At the initial session, we also like to ask about your place within your family of origin, your spiritual walk, and whatever is bothering you about life. Some of you only know that something is wrong, and you aren’t thriving the way you should. It’s also helpful to point out the treasure — the good stuff — God has packed into your family line and you.

We can help you figure out the right questions, so the Lord can guide you to the right solutions. He and we are so glad to meet with you!

Grace for Unlocking Creative Destinies

By Susan Mitchell

As the strike by writers and actors in Hollywood and worldwide continues, the Lord is pouring outstanding grace over his creative people. Get ready! In solidarity, our blog has been frozen for a season, but we are moving forward now and seeing a dramatic shift in the destinies of our clients to regain birthrights stolen from their family lines, with a rise in prowess, favor, and access to divine tools, counsel, and encouragement.

“For, behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing [of birds] has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard [openly] in our land. The fig tree puts forth and ripens her green figs, and the vines are in blossom and give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away!” Song of Solomon 2:11-13 (AMPC)

A rowboat bobs on the edge of a dock, with kingdom in sight across an expanse of water. We know where we long to go…

In particular, for all of you who long to use myth and fantasy to reveal timeless truths about God and heavenly journeys that can only be told by story and metaphor—we urge you authors, filmmakers, composers, lyricists, poets to tell the Lord right now that you want to claim your whole birthright. In addition to hurdles from the secular world, the church itself has resisted and offered its own stumbling blocks, judging and sanitizing the workers who have been called to this field. We don’t agree with their judgment.

Some of you have struggled to bring forth the quality in your creation that you yearn for but that remains elusive. Kudos to you for still trying because you have the vision for what you are trying to land. Others of you were told that your early pieces were outstanding, but their debut or sequels were received with lukewarm approval and compensation by gatekeepers or audiences. Or maybe you just aren’t sure how to stop relying on your own strength and invite God into your creative process. There are discernible spiritual reasons for all of these issues, and you may need to do some work to address them.

Your heavenly father longs to orchestrate the pieces of your life to bring your kingdom assignments to fruition. He wants to propel you into the marketplace and establish you in the Zone where you feel the Father’s great and sustained approval, pride, and love in your artistic endeavor—as you are working! Let him recover the treasure, clear the obstacles, and place you squarely in the oasis of what he designed you for.

The True Self part of your heart holds all of these hopes and dreams. If you feel thwarted in any large or small way in your career, and you want help to see what is holding you back from the promised “abundant life,” please ask the Lord if he wants you to book an appointment with us.

Guardians Raise Objections!

By Susan Mitchell

We gotta love the prickly Guardian parts of our soul/heart, but they can create strife when their protective objections conflict with our current goal or purpose. This often happens when my husband is chauffeuring me somewhere: I’m totally at ease playing on my iPhone, but my Guardian suddenly emerges to shriek, Watch out! about a “dangerous” shadow movement out of the corner of my eye. Then hubby’s Guardian comes out in response to being startled into, well, nearly wrecking the car. Or, on occasions when I have gone to meet with a group I know and love, some Guardian gets alerted and irritated for who knows what reason and simply won’t calm down. I might even get into an argument with someone if I don’t resolve the trigger, choose a non-reactive path, or remove myself. 

A few Sundays ago I was looking forward to peaceful time with my church. Worship for many of us is one place that is usually safe from triggers, so this is often easy since Guardians are often lulled into a sense of safety by music. The worship team began singing “How Great Is Our God,” a lovely anthem I’d heard many times. The word pictures (“wraps himself in light” and “time is in his hands”) ignited my imaginative awe and sparked actual conversation with the Lord (“my heart will sing”). The Function, Emotion, and True Self parts of my heart were wholly engaged in appreciating the Lord and allowing their joy capacity to expand.

At the moment my Guardian did not seem to be “up,” which is not surprising. They can go dormant for months or years. They do not sequence time, so they can be completely desynchronized from a person’s overall timeline, unaware of past encounters or experiences that occurred between their creation and their seemingly random awakening to take a guard shift.

But on this occasion, when we hit the line “the Lion and the Lamb,” my Guardian woke up to declare the equivalent of, “Danger! Untrue! Words found nowhere in Scripture! Misquote of Isaiah 11:6, 'And the wolf will dwell with the lamb….’”

Guardians can really wreck a party, but my Function considered the artifact of the song and the accusation carefully and came up with a logical narrative counterpoint: “This song is about the reach, span, and range of God: age to age, beginning to end, Lion apex predator to slaughtered Lamb. He is great in encompassing it all, and Jesus stands in these two faces of himself in Revelation 5:5-6. It’s legit.”

Guardian, appreciating the logic, bought it and relaxed, letting the gate swing wide open for the rest of my heart to re-engage in the adoration of our great and glorious God. Whew.

A few takeaways —  

• Music is a good way to keep Guardians at peace. I believe King Saul used David’s harp-playing to keep the scary, loud evil spirits that were attached to his Guardian at bay.

• If a Guardian shows up unexpectedly, take some time to reply kindly with facts and with logic to suggest another way to view things. 

• If they keep intruding (not all Guardians are as compliant as mine was), it’s often helpful to affirm them: “Guardian, you are an important part of me, and I appreciate your help. However, I, Susan, could really use this time to soak and relax from the stresses of the last week. Is it okay if we continue this conversation later?”

• Of course, if this is a Guardian that simply will not be mollified, it might be time to schedule an appointment to do look deeper at the cause, so Jesus can be brought in to resolve and heal the underlying issue: www.estuarycourts.com/book

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

By Susan Mitchell

This year, we at Estuary Courts (Susan, Dorothy, and Darla) have shut down for the holiday and will be celebrating together a little later than everyone else in order to accommodate the schedules of the members of our family coming together from multiple places.

Dorothy has a perspective on the Christmas holiday that she published here: https://theparacleteshammer.com/2022/12/14/no-room-in-the-christmas-inn-for-jesus-by-dorothy-mitchell/

The end of that post is especially amazing as points to ponder, so I’m quoting it here, along with some photos of our home decorations:

For my own family, when we have asked how we can best represent Jesus in this season, he has replied that since the purpose of Christmas these days is to show love to one another, we should decorate to the degree that decorations support that effort—to display just enough to make one another feel warm, welcome, and comfortable, and not to stand out with a lack of decoration.

Now ask the Lord for your own instructions. Or make him a proposal and ask for his approval. Your choice!

We are welcome to celebrate [Jesus] anytime, whether in June, or September, or May, or October. You may celebrate him on Sukkot (for he tabernacled with us). You may celebrate him on Hannukah (for he is the light of the world). Or do you want to celebrate him 5-6 days before or after Rosh Hashanah, in accordance with the medieval reasoning for the December 25th date? Go for it! You are welcome to celebrate his conception, or his trimesters, or his birth. You are welcome to consider his stays in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Egypt on a five- or three-year cycle. (How I long to know what challenging experiences Mary and Joseph went through while on Mission Savior’s Toddlerhood: Escape from Herod – Emergency Staycation in Egypt!) You can speculate when and where the journey of the magi began and ended and celebrate their progress over the course of the year. You may imagine when the angel appeared to Mary. You have the opportunity to consider Jesus’ birth at every census, at every quest for reunion and rediscovering homeland, at every farm, at every hotel and inn, or with every new baby. You may even confront or redeem a relevant holiday of your own problematic pagan heritage. You are free to play it safe and free to take risks.

God bless us all as we wind up this 2022 year and praise his name for all the good he has wrought, including the hugely consequential birth of his son, the Immanuel Jesus Christ.

On Judging Angels: Case Study

By Susan Mitchell

This week, I had the opportunity to judge the angels appointed to me. Here’s what happened.

The first week in December, my sister Darla (in Charlotte, NC) and I (in Los Angeles, CA) were comparing notes on our Christmas holiday plans. When I realized she had no plans, and no one to spend them with, I invited her out for a visit. She preferred to drive (over 2400 miles!), so we concocted a road trip and enlisted my sister Sherry (in Dallas, TX) to join us. What we didn’t know is that the “snow bomb” was about to hit the Midwest and camp out for a period of time!

On the appointed day, Sherry and I flew separately to Nashville, TN, then joined up to fly on together to Charlotte, NC. We spent a couple of days with Darla (and my parents) before heading cross-country. Before we left, we prayed for blessings, travel mercies, and the appointment of angels to see us through.

Darla was a superb driver in her sporty RAV 4. Sherry entertained us with stories, questions, insights. I was the extra navigator and leader in an impromptu courts of heaven session for an ongoing family matter. Along the way, we stayed overnight with our brother Eric, his wife, and two aunts, and we stopped for lunch with Darla’s friends. We left Sherry with her family, and proceeded home.

The trip home was flawless, delightful—a rare opportunity to be together as traveling adults, sharing and practicing our faith. We saw just a bit of rain, with none of the incoming snow or ice. We stayed ahead of the inclement weather and found relatively inexpensive gas along the way, even in California.

Upon our arrival at my home, we judged our angels worthy, earnest, and serious about their task. We praised the Lord and applauded our angels for a wonderful, joyful, effective trip. I could feel the atmosphere vibrate with delight at the affirmation, as though we were all applauding each other, an echo chamber of praise for all.

Later, we reflected on the events of the year and the prayers that we prayed and the courts of heaven that we held for our families. We have seen much progress in situations that seemed impossible to resolve by our own strength at the outset of the year. The Lord's good verdicts will surely come to pass, and so far, we can say he has been faithful to give us signs and dreams that call our attention to his answers in further developments as they happen. “For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand” (Romans 13:11 ESV). Lord, come quickly!

Merry Christmas to all!