Five Minute Friday - Favorite

     It is a question often asked, “What is your favorite verse?”  While an innocent question by nature, it is an almost impossible question to answer.  There. Are. So. Many.  And, because the Bible is living and active, the verses that touch my heart change based on what season I’m in and what I need to hear. 

     There are those verses however, that I cling to over and over again.  The ones that speak to the very core of who I am and what I need.  My favorites are the ones that I have read but then actually seen God prove Himself through.  When I find a verse in the Bible that is a promise that I desperately need for God to fulfill, I write it out, decorate it, and hang it up.  I read it as often as possible and pray that God would show me that it is true.  Sometimes, I am still surprised when He does follow through, when He proves, once again, to be faithful.  Always, does that verse then become more personal to me.  It is a reminder of God’s faithfulness, a reminder that He cares enough about me to listen and answer my prayers, a reminder that this hope I profess is real. 

     I suppose then, that I do have a few favorites, a few go to verses that bring me hope, joy, and faith.  Ephesians 3:16 is one such verse, “I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources, He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.” (NLT)  There have been those moments in time where I had no strength, none, and yet I was able to persevere.  My whole being knows that in those moments it was not me that did the sustaining, or the strengthening.  It had to be God.  If you are in the midst of a struggle, a time when you feel like putting one step in front of the other is way beyond reasonable, hear me say that He will provide.  He will strengthen you and He will be faithful.  Then, this verse can sink into your heart because you have seen the evidence for yourself. 

     Do you have a verse that has become your “favorite” because you have seen God prove Himself true through it?  

Five Minute Friday - Meet

Five Minute Friday - Meet

     Two months ago I would have insisted that to create and maintain a true friendship you would have to meet that person, in real life.  I would have told you that you couldn't know a person's heart through a screen.  There are very valid reasons for this position.  What that thought does not take into account is what happens when people, who are hungry for authenticity and realness, are brought together by God.  I have discussed #the4500 at length in several other posts.  I am aware that to the outside world it sounds just a wee bit crazy.  Okay, maybe a lot crazy.  Two months ago I would have agreed wholeheartedly.  But it's not.  Talking with these amazing women, reading their words, praying for them, being prayed for by them, sharing heartbreak and victory with them, has changed me.  It has made me more brave than I have been in years.  It has given me the courage to meet with two incredible women, in real life, who are willing to share life with me as well.  These women spread out all over the country have given me confidence, wisdom, and strength.  They have given me books to read, thoughts to ponder, and the encouragement to dream big.  The critical piece of this whole community is the real.  Not one woman has tried to be perfect.  Not one has shown themselves as having it all together.  Not one has made themselves better than another.  Each one of us has come just as we are and shared from our hearts.  We have crossed over the selfie boundary and shared videos so that we can hear and see each other.  We have texted, and messaged, and laughed and cried. All of this points to how needed this real version of life is to all of us.  All of to one extent or the other, is drowning in something.  Our hearts and minds long to hear that we are not alone, we are not crazy, and we might have ideas and thoughts that are worthy of being heard.  Every single person you meet - whether in real life - or on this whole new world of social media - has a struggle.  Every person has a need and a desire.  My hope is that we would start treating each other with more grace, more mercy, and more kindness.  Including ourselves.  

Five Minute Friday - Begin

     Begin.  That’s the gist of it all.  Begin.  Start.  Try.  Not, be perfect.  Not, succeed now.  Just, begin.  That’s what Five Minute Friday has done for me, it helped me to begin.  It gave me the freedom and the encouragement I needed to just begin.  Begin to my thoughts down in words.  Begin to allow others to read those thoughts.  Begin to do what my heart longed so to do.  And now that I have begun I can hardly stop.  Words stream through my head constantly.  The computer has become my friend.  I write now without the stress of how it might end.  Because the gist, the point, is to begin.  To start and let it come.  To try and then let come what may.

     What is it that you need to begin today?  Reading the book that speaks to your heart?  Writing that book that speaks to another’s heart?  Laundry?  Dinner?  A friendship?  Go ahead, begin.  Take that first step.  The saying goes that the first is the hardest step.  And so often it is.  Take it.  Go ahead.  Begin what seems impossible and then let it come as it will.  It won’t be all candy and roses.  But it will be.  And being is so much more fulfilling that watching and waiting and wondering.  Beginning and being is worth the risk.  And sometimes, in fact, often the result is beauty, and fulfillment, and joy that can never be replaced. 

Five Minute Friday - Finish

Finish is far too much like saying goodbye.  Maybe that is why I struggle to finish things.  I tell people I'm the idea person.  I have all sorts of great ideas. I have started some amazing projects.  Finished, not so much. Part of the problem is that I am never satisfied with the product.  Which is why Five Minute Friday is so liberating.  I have to finish.  I have to let it go.  It is a blessing.

Belong

    I drove into the entrance a little bit excited and a lot scared.  And completely in awe of the beauty surrounding me.  It was the beauty of the place that had brought me back.  My family had visited when I was a teenager and longed to return to the mountains.  I got my opportunity as summer staff at the camp we had visited.  Drove across the country for the chance.  But I was alone.  What awaited me?  Who awaited me? Would I find a place where I belonged?  People with whom I belonged?
     It is the desire of our hearts.  To belong.  To know and be known.  To be wanted.  We are desperate for it.  We do crazy things to try and obtain it.  And sometimes we find that place and those people.  What a rare and beautiful gift.  I found it in that place.  On that mountain, where the steeple lit up the night in striking colors.  Inside the rooms of a preschool where we passed the bean bags and drank untold amounts of apple juice.  Down the sidewalks where we walked, up and down,  and up and down, with a stroller that held six.
     There, in that place, people belonged.  Not because we were all the same.  Or because we thought the same.  But because we were in it together.  We shared the same experiences, the same goals, and the same terrible dining hall food.  And it brought us together.  Gave us a place where we all belonged.
   

Five Minute Friday - Exhale

Five Minute Friday - Where bloggers join together to write for five minutes about one topic.  A phenomenal community created by Lisa-Jo Baker at LisoJoBaker.com
Today's prompt: Exhale

     The phone rings.  My hands start to sake.  My heart rate shoots up.  I hold my breath.  Will this be okay?  Is this the call I've been dreading?  Is this where the dream falls apart?
     Breathe.  Exhale.  Let it out.  Deep breath in and back out.  Re-adjust.  Re-think.  Trust.
     God's got this.  No matter what this call holds, God's got this.  It will be okay.  Eventually.  And is there even really a reason to dread?  Nope.  Won't do me any good anyway.
     Breath. Relax. Exhale. Trust.

     And the phone call.  All good.  Nothing to dread.  Nothing to worry about.  Just a simple phone call.  And a great reminder to exhale and trust.

Lost

Five Minute Friday: Lost

     I’ve been lost.  Utterly and completely lost.  Not because we didn’t know where we were.  Not because we didn’t know how to get where we needed to be.  Lost because it was dark, the clouds shut out the moon and the stars, and we were on the side of a mountain.   We knew the way home, when we could see the path.  But we were all but blind.  I held onto a bug that glowed in the dark for as long as it could glow.  I searched desperately for anything that would show me the next step to take.  Finally, cold, hungry, and scared to get any further off the path, scared that I might fall, we stopped.  We set on a rock and waited.  There was simply nothing else to do.  So we waited for the light.

     I learned a lot that night.  I learned that I needed to be prepared for the journey.  A flashlight, a jacket, and a granola bar would have changed everything.  I learned that fighting fear is much easier when you are not alone.  I learned that while darkness may prevail for a time, light does return and shows you the way home. 

     While these lessons were born out of physical need, they have clear implications to our spiritual needs as well.  First, we need to be prepared for the journey.  We need the Armor of God.  Second, we are never alone.  Fear will come, but we always have trustworthy partner who will calm our fears.  Jesus promised He would be with us – even to the end of the age.  Third, God wins.  There will be darkness.  There will be seasons of life where we can’t find our way out.  Don’t give up.  The light is coming.  His mercies are new every morning.  God is bigger, brighter, and stronger than the darkness.  We can take comfort that He will never leave us lost.  If we seek Him, we will find Him and He will rescue us.

Five Minute Friday - On Monday

Every Friday hundreds of bloggers write for five minutes without over-analyzing or over-editing.  It's a chance to write what is on our hearts and not worry so much about how we write.  Lisa Jo Baker provides a prompt.  One word.  And we all give our thoughts.  I love Five Minute Friday.  I can spend hours reading other people's blogs and being astounded at the beautiful way they weave words together.  And, because the biggest rule is that you must read and comment on the blog before yours, I get the blessing of people reading my words and encouraging me.  This Friday, life got just a little too busy.  And Saturday.  And Sunday. Now it's Monday.  While I may be the last to post a link and no one may read and comment on my blog - I refuse to miss Five Minute Friday.  I crave the freedom and community it affords me.  So I will write.

Five Minute Friday - Prompt - Release

Oh, how beautiful this word sounds to me.  

Release my burdens.  
Let go.  
Unclench my fists.  
Relax my muscles. 
Breathe.  

The thought makes me feel lighter.  More joyful.  

But hands that have been clenched for too long release so slowly.  The joints and muscles have grown so stiff.  So used to clinging on to what lies inside.  And there is great fear in what might fall should they open.  

There are really only two choices though. Keep clenching and clinging and thus choke out joy and hope.  Or, release those things we can't really hold anyway and thus allow for joy and hope to rest gently on our outstretched hands.      

Five Minute Friday - Messenger

Messenger. 

One who brings a message. 

Messages can be life altering. They can bring hope and joy or devastation and sadness. Messages can be small and simple.  They can bring a smile to a face or tears to eyes.  Last night, as I read a message from a friend, I was reminded of how powerfully good human beings can be to each other.  In this instance, people came together and decided to be messengers. Spreading the message that one of their own needed help.  They spread it loud and clear. Their message was heard and received and in just over 48 hours the need of their friend was met in abundance.  It made me think that we all are really messengers.  And we choose to either bring more joy or more sadness.  More smiles or more anger.  The world would be changed if we all chose to share good messages.  If we made it our goal, our job, to inform the world that there is hope, there is a God who loves us, there is beauty, and there is good.  

Five Minute Friday - Hands

     Their hands lay gently on top of each other.  Beauty and grace, hard work and time, etched on each.  It's a picture of their hands but it reveals so much more.  It reveals not only how close they are, but of how alike they are.  They are mother and daughter but also friends.  Both have nurtured, both have provided, both have been the caretaker.  Both have listened, both have comforted, both have soothed.  Each has held the other's hand in joy and sorrow, celebration and grief.  Each has held the other's hand to support, to guide, to hold the other up.  Each has given all of their heart and all of their strength to the other.  Mother gave the daughter life.  The daughter held her mother's hand in death.  And now the joy and comfort come in knowing, someday, they will be together again and this time there will be no death, no tears, no pain. Only joy.

Five Minute Friday - Nothing

     Nothing.  Absolutely nothing is worth the energy and effort and emotion that worrying requires.  Nothing.  Nothing in the history of the world has ever been positively changed by worrying.  Nothing.  Ever.  Thinking through things logically, yes.  That has changed minds, held tongues, and given rise to some of the most beautiful stories, poetry and art ever created.  But worry, no.  Worry is thinking about things we either can't or won't change.  Worry is obsessing over what might happen.  Worry is brooding.  Worry doesn't involve action, or faith, or hope.  Worry creates sadness and hopelessness.  Worry causes our blood pressure to rise and our muscles to tense.  Nothing good comes from worry.  Now if I can only remember the truth of that when I start thinking of all the things I think are worth worrying about.

Close - Five Minute Friday

Close requires risk.  It means you are putting your heart out there to trust and care for another person.  It means that someone else now has the power to wound you.  But it also means that you allow someone else to encourage you, build you up, and enrich you.

Close requires work.  It means you spend time being physically close to someone.  It means you spend time talking to someone.  It means you forgive when you are hurt.  And it means asking for forgiveness when you are the one who has done the hurting.

Close requires giving and receiving.  It means that you give of your time, your energy, and your heart.  It means putting someone else's needs and wants above your own.  But you must also receive these same gifts. You have to allow others to give to you.  Which often means being humbled.

Close is a blessing.  Close is friendship and love.  Close is necessary.  God didn't design us to do this alone. He designed us to experience closeness with Himself and with others.  Spend some time today being close. Close to Him and close to those you love.

Five Minute Friday: Writer

The simple word writer stirs in me great longing and excitement and desire.  Being a writer is my dream.  Being a writer means that you can connect with people at an intimate level.  Being a writer means that you can communicate to others that which lies deep in your heart, that which is most important to you.  Being a writer means that you get to share with others what is most meaningful to you.  Being a writer means  that your words make an impact on people.  What a privilege.  What a blessing.  What a responsibility.  What a joy.

Join Five Minute Friday.
1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Be generous and leave an encouraging comment for the person who linked up before you. That’s the best part about this community.