Sacramento Part II - " California, The Beloved"

I wanted you to digest all that good stuff first, so here's the 2nd part of our trip to Sacramento. Honestly, when we first pulled up to the capitol, neither of us had anything on our hearts or minds....but as soon as we asked the Holy Spirit, revelation began to come quickly...

As we were leaving the grounds of the capitol lawn, I spotted another tree that rather caught my eye - it was smallish in size, with little round purple colored leaves. I pointed it out to Teruah and said " that tree is prophetic - it means something..." As we got closer, this was the plaque fastened to the tree: (see pic)....THUNDERCLOUD....I asked God to release the clouds that have the rains of Heaven stored up in them...they are heavy with rain and are positioned over CA! We got into the car, preparing to leave and get back on the interstate, but as we drove the length of the street passing the capitol building, I felt as though I needed to read out some declarations from scripture. Song of Solomon again was the place I felt led to go to.

The Great Seal of California embedded in the pavement in front of the capitol steps had really caught my attention - namely, the woman on it, dressed in Roman soldier attire, in full armor, carrying a spear. I had no idea who this woman might (in reality) be - but I felt as though she were representing California as a whole. What I saw there was a woman who (either because of willfulness or out of necessity) had become completely self-sufficient. Had taken on the role of both male and female - who had made her own way, and was her own protector...a self sufficiency that was not godly...The Lord began to show me that He Himself was wooing this "woman" - California. He led me to read from Song of Solomon 1:1-7, 2:10-17, 8:5-7 Dark, but lovely...draw me and I will run after you...Arise my Love, my beautiful one and come away...My beloved is mine and I am His...Set me as a seal upon your heart... All these the Lord spoke over California. He also had me read from Hosea chapter 2 - I encourage you to read this from verse 1 all the way through, it is a powerful chapter, however the focus of the chapter was on verses 14-23 " Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope...And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal,' for I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more...And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in FAITHFULNESS. And you shall know the Lord..." this is just a portion from that chapter. Finally, I was led to go back to Song of Solomon 8:5 - which says, "Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved?!"

The passion which I felt the Lord speaking over California was enormous. I have to admit to being slightly surprised by His mercy and His love. I guess I was thinking to myself more along the lines of "repent and be saved!!" But God said, "Yes, I want California - she IS Mine and I am passionate over her!" And we all know it's useless to argue with a man in love! God is wooing this state - by His mercy, by His kindness (that leads to repentance), and She will come up from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved! No more self sufficiency! We ended up driving around the capitol blocks 5 times in total, asking God to remarry California.

(I found out later that the woman on the seal is indeed a Roman symbol - it is "Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom" and if interested you can read more about the state seal at this site : http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/seals/ca_seal.htm )

Pretty much the rest of the way out of town and down to the San Francisco Bay Area, we worshipped - and it was as if every song played was a love song being sung for California - confirming what we had just heard and declared. The Holy Spirit really was the DJ!

In closing :

I do not claim to be any sort of historian, but I decided that it might be good to look up what the name "Sacramento" meant. As it happened, I didn't find a lot of information, but good ol' wikipedia had a few answers. This is what I found :
In either 1799 or 1808, the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga discovered and named the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River after the Spanish term for 'sacrament;' specifically, after "the Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ", referring to the Roman Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist...Sacramento is named for Holy COMMUNION!

And on that note, I leave you - pondering the ways of God who is first and foremost a lover and a friend. Get to know Him - you won't regret it, I promise!

Up next? San Diego!!