You Are Never Alone... A Five Minute Friday post.

Three weeks in a row... and sadly that is some sort of record lately! My goal in January was to get back to writing twice a week... but this week was stealing all my words --at least the ones I would want to bleed out and hit publish for public consumption! Praise God we know not EVERYTHING is meant for the Internet, right?

Still - it felt great to be back in this chair, with this Tribe, ready to let our fingers fly as we follow His lead with the One Word prompt! Tonight, that word for Five Minute Friday is: INTENTIONAL! 

Let's do this!

{GO}

Intentional...
  Oh yes... let's be that! 

Let's be intentional
in how we spend our
hours... days... lives. 
Let's be present and invest
in those around us.
Let's keep our eyes
and heart open... 

I think Intentional 
is such a great goal...
I mean to be it... to do it...
but sometimes I forget!

Sometimes it feels like there's
not enough time, right? 

Say you feel it, too.



It feels like there is not enough
intention in my mind, 
not enough pouring out
and investing in my days...
it feels like the Mountain
in front of me is
too tall to climb... 
too wide to go around...

Maybe, with Jesus and a little Intention,
He's calling me to actually go through...


AROUND seems easier...
UP seems more expected...
but THROUGH can only be done
with Jesus, for sure!

I was chatting with a friend,
sipping on a coffee, as we went
for a lovely walk today.  
(We were being intentional!)

We were talking about how God
graciously (read:sarcastic font) 
puts the same Mountain in front of us, 
over and over and over again.  

We try to scale it real quick like
to get to the other side. 
But when the climb up
is steep and jagged,
we retreat and then 
we try to ignore it.

We deny it and attempt to
simply go around it.
We avoid it and lay blame
and we insist it's not there.

Oh that? 
That's not our Mountain.

As we try to unsee it and keep moving,
we begin to realize maybe
this is our Mountain after all.
Maybe we're the only one who is
in a battle that keeps spinning us around
and causing us to smack into the same thing
over and over and over again.

Maybe this Mountain is
the Common Denominator in our life
that won't stop chasing us down.
It shows up in different ways
but it will not fall down to the ground
until we actually face it head on!

The enemy whispers loud about how
everyone elses' mountains are mole hills.
Or how they all have it all together with
wide open spaces and friendly faces.
He tells us we can't do it
because we are all alone.

Here we are, wandering around
in the wilderness,
all alone and it's no wonder
we can't overcome.

Only we can... we have!
Because HE has.

I mean, right?
It's just that we forget...

Plus - that Mountain is tall... 
It obscures our vision
but we continue to try to
crane our necks and look around it
rather than intentionally just
dealing with it already!

Here is what I know...

I have skirted around issues
because it felt easier... 
Kinder, even. 
I have backed away from Mountains*
because I didn't think
they were mine to scale.

I have believed the lie
that I am alone...
all alone...
left on my own
to battle or to cave.

But here is what Father God
has been softly saying,
over and over and over again lately:

"You are NEVER Alone...
even when you think
you are only one...
there is always FOUR, 
because I go with you
wherever you go!"

{STOP}

Talk about reclaiming
some Moxie and some Might.
Talk about being Intentional
in the Process of the Fight.

Wherever you are --
whatever Mountain
you may be facing...
He may call you to climb it,
to go around it (although I highly doubt that one!)
or He may actually tell you to follow Him
and just walk right through it.

Whatever He asks of you... 
He goes with you to help you
accomplish the task at hand.
He has won the battle...
He fights for you, and with you,
beside you and over you.

And that Mountain that
just keeps showing up?
Ask Him where the root is... 
and pick up your weapons
and watch and see
how He will cause that
Mountain to crumble,
once and for all!

It's time!
It really is!

* = When my Five Minutes were up! Grace, please! 
Clearly I had to finish my thoughts!

Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today.  Five Minute Fridays gives us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click HERE to read what others have to say about: "INTENTIONAL"

The FMF lowdown: The gathering happens on Twitter on Thursday nights & then we write our hearts out & hit publish all over the interwebs on Thursday & Friday (& sometimes on Tuesdays!) It's where we encourage & uplift... where we share prayer requests & praise reports... where we talk food & friends & we find support & kindred hearts. It's where we are reminded that life is good & God is good & we're not alone... & then we all write for five minutes flat, a flash mob of wordsmiths letting our hearts & our fingers do the talking tapping & we hit publish before we can second guess it all away. We'd love to have you join us!

I'm also linking up with the lovely writer communities linked below:

Kelly Balarie for #RaRaLinkUp

Barbie Swihart for #Glimpsesofhisbeauty

Jennifer Dukes Lee for #TellHisStory

A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, THE LORD SPOKE TO ME AND THROUGH ME REGARDING SABBATH REST AND I TURNED MY 31 DAYS SERIES INTO AN EBOOK ON AMAZON.  IF YOU ARE FINDING YOURSELF IN NEED OF REST (WHICH --WHO ISN'T, REALLY?) CHECK OUT THIS SHORT, DAILY DEVOTIONAL  31 DAYS OF RESTING IN GOD ...IT'S EASIER/HARDER THAN YOU THINK!  

YOU CAN PURCHASE IT BY CLICKING HERE OR GRABBING IT FROM THE SIDE BAR TO THE RIGHT IF REST IS SOMETHING YOU KNOW YOU NEED, BUT JUST KEEP PUTTING OFF!