July 3, 2023
MUSIC - A Five Minute Friday post
June 2, 2023
QUICK - A Five Minute Friday post
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{GO!}
It happens so quickly... Life passing by... Days turning into years... we Blink and milestones have come and gone.
We want to slow. down. time.
Just take a breath and give us a minute...
Honestly, I can't wait until we are no longer bound to it --- this clock and this system that keeps us busy and distracted and pulls us down like Gravity when what our souls were made for -- what they long for is an escape into Eternity... longing for all the time in heaven, for all the good things (read: NOT 'things'!) that await us!
February 26, 2023
ASSUME - A Five Minute Friday post
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{GO!}
My eyes see the One Word Prompt and my heart is already mid-sentence before I even open the screen to write.
Oh - Assumptions... how they can boss us around!
I believe Assumptions and Ascribing Intent are two of the biggest tools of our enemy.
I know?! I feel the hugeness of that statement too and I wonder for just a moment if I am being dramatic... if I am overstating this thought.
So I slow... even as the timer ticks away... and I ask the Lord if I am on the right track here...
"Lord, what happens when we assume... when we write a story in our own mind in a flash with absolutely no facts or background... what is it that happens in our hearts?"
Immediately I felt His answer...
February 4, 2023
May He be Harder to Ignore... a Five Minute Friday post
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My practice in the old days was to see the One Word Prompt and immediately ask the Lord what He wanted to say. That is something I am most definitely NOT out of practice in doing. I ask Him these things all the time, and normally He is quick to speak!
He has opinions, friends... and He's not shy about them if we will only ask!
And that is when it hits me: We have heard it countless times - how Jesus is a gentleman and He will not push Himself on us. He pursues us with a passion and focus that should take our breath away. It should leave us weak in the knees and stunned at His selfless, all-encompassing love for us.
A "These are the Days of..." Post
I dipped my toe back into the Blogging World last month with my return to participating in the Five Minute Friday community. I had hoped to find an easy rhythm finding myself back in the saddle again. But we know, ... don't we? I mean - we know now that - at least in this season - any kind of 'easy rhythm' seems really difficult to find!
January 15, 2023
Receive - A return to the Five Minute Friday Post
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Today, our one-word prompt is: RECEIVE
{GO!}
Receive...
I see the word prompt and immediately remember doing a post on this word years and years ago... maybe around Christmas time. I am also reminded that it has been WAY too long since I have sat in this space and tapped on keys to reveal my heart.
I stepped away from the Blogging World a while ago. It was a slow fade for me...
Receive...
January 1, 2023
Our Annual Prophetic Post for the New Year - 2023 Edition
Happy New Year, Sweet Readers!
Honestly - I didn't mean to be gone for nearly an entire year! I wrote a post last week and didn't get too into all the why's of why I was absent here but let me say this - it was not intentional! I didn't decide to walk away from blogging, from writing, from connecting in this space... Life just sort of crowded it out and I felt a call for a season to hold many things closer to my chest. I was called (--am still called, really!) to a more intense season of intercession. Between that, regular life, plugging back into church/ministry, a part-time job and schooling, and - of course - being a Mimi, Blogging got pushed to the side.December 24, 2022
Merry Christmas Eve!
How did LITERALLY almost an entire YEAR go by here?
I knew I was feeling called to more quiet... less sharing of all my thoughts so publicly.
My, how I have missed it!
January 1, 2022
Our Annual Prophetic Post for the New Year - 2022 Edition!
Happy New Year, Sweet Readers!
We made it through and here we are: January 1, 2022!December 31, 2021
Releasing 2021 and Leaning in to 2022! (A One Word 365 post)
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Maybe you are not aware of the movement that is OneWord365... or maybe you are in the know and already have fully embraced your Word for 2022! I didn't write much in 2021 about my One Word and to be honest, I kind of forgot all about it for months at a time... but as I said, as I have been reflecting over this (past - almost!) year, I can see how it was always close at hand!
I've been doing this OneWord365 project for many years and yet, each December, I pray into what He may have for me and ask Him to lead my Word to me. (And --usually-- I argue and second-guess! It's fine. It's all part of my charm!)
My OneWord last year was RELEASE!
It was sort of a Do-Over word because I had picked "Releasing" about seven or eight years earlier. If you remember, I sort of argued with God about His choice because - you know - out of ALL the words...? Why use one so similar to something I'd already walked with? But I got confirmation after confirmation and when I allowed myself to sit still long enough to listen, I realized there were things I still hadn't let go of in 2021... things that were holding me back!
"Release" also showed up in laying things down (again) like old hurts and expectations, insecurities and doubts, but also releasing things like our small group and old traditions... It meant good things too, like releasing Hope and Peace into OH SO MANY anxious and stressful situations throughout the year, and releasing the false hope of trying to control or persuade something or someone into believing differently!
So... I'm so thankful I took a few moments to look over 2021 to see where or if Release showed up - because, well - it seems (even though technically I am NOT 'lighter'!) I feel much lighter going in to 2022! Less weighed down... less held back --by myself and by others! When I moved on and began praying about my NEXT Word for 2022, I asked the Lord to give me a Word that would stick with me all year long and would bring in me - if I was willing - a lasting change!
Enter the stirrings of Power and Strength!
December 27, 2021
Wrapping Up James... An Official The End to our Year-long Series!
So whether you ready every single entry, or you just clicked over to read now and then --I hope you gleaned some wisdom and insight and hope while you were here! I hope it stirred you up and inspired you to dig into the Word and read in a few different translations, too! I will leave the Intro page with links to each post in the series up for another month or two - and then I will be taking it down, with plans to upload it to Amazon for purchase! My hope is to upload the James study as well as the Colossians study (possibly along with a few other 31 Days Devotional series, too!)
Am I planning on writing another series in 2022? I'm not. I am praying into adding a second Podcast in 2022 and I'm just not sure I will have the time or bandwidth to take on a series AND a podcast! (But - again... you know how it is with me! I'm not the boss of me so if God tells me to do it - I'll be here in this space, tapping away at these keys!)
December 16, 2021
Wanderers Retrieved, Sins Covered... - The Book of James Bible Series
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You guys!??! Today is our last official post in this year-long 2021 James Series! Man, I hope you have been with me all through the year! If not, I encourage you to click on the Series Intro page (at the end of this post) and scroll to the bottom, where you can read each post from the whole series! I will be taking this off the blog early in the New Year with intentions of making it available on Amazon in late Winter or early Spring! But I'm getting ahead of myself! Today - we dive into the final two verses! (Then we may have one more post to sort of wrap it all up before the end of the year! Maybe. Because - you know... the Holidays!)
But today's verses are JAMES CHAPTER 5, VERSES 19-20!
"Finally, as members of God’s beloved family, we must go after the one who wanders from the truth and bring him back. For the one who restores the sinning believer back to God from the error of his way, gives back to his soul life from the dead, and covers over countless sins b) their demonstration of love!" (The Passion Translation)
I know... the whole study was leading up to this! We MUST go after the one who wanders from the truth and bring him back. In the Greek translation of this verse it means, "save his soul from death."
Yes. That.
Let's do that!
Here's the thing -- we have to know when someone wanders from the truth. And even before that, we have to know and remember that there is One Truth that we can wander away from!
I know...!? This wreaks of accountability! (Gasp!)
December 2, 2021
Want Tremendous Power? Pray for One Another... - The Book of James Bible Series
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Happy Holidays, Sweet Readers! Can you even believe it is DECEMBER? I mean - DECEMBER? Where did this year go? Anyway... we are nearing the end of the year as well as the end of our series here. So without further ado, let's get right to the Word:
TODAY'S VERSES ARE JAMES CHAPTER 5, VERSES 16-18!
"Confess and acknowledge how you have offended one another and then pray for one another to be instantly healed, for tremendous power is released through the passionate, heartfelt prayer of a godly believer!
Elijah was a man with human frailties, just like all of us, but he prayed and received supernatural answers. He actually shut the heavens over the land so there would be no rain for three and a half years! Then he prayed again and the skies opened up over the land so that the rain came again and produced the harvest." (The Passion Translation)
I mean... I think we all want 'tremendous power' - at least when it comes to our prayers, right?
Brace yourself, friends... here we get James being all James-like again, explaining that in order to tap into that tremendous power, there are a couple of steps BEFOREHAND that we need to take! This one is tricky because NONE of us like doing it! (We keep it real around here!)
November 18, 2021
Prayer to be Reckoned with... - The Book of James Bible Series
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Hello, friends! We are back with another installment of our James series! Today we are going over just two little verses, but --you guys!-- they are PACKED full! Let's get right to it:
TODAY'S VERSES ARE JAMES CHAPTER 5, VERSES 13-15!
"Are there any believers in your fellowship suffering great hardship and distress? Encourage them to pray! Are there happy, cheerful ones among you? Encourage them to sing out their praises! Are there any sick among you? Then ask the elders of the church to come and pray over the sick and anoint them with oil in the name of our Lord. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick and the Lord will raise them up, and if they have committed sins they will be forgiven." (The Passion Translation)
'Are there any believers... suffering great hardship and distress?'
This is rhetorical, right? I mean, the answer is always yes...
November 4, 2021
Now is the Time for High Hopes and Patience... - The Book of James Bible Series
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Happy November, Y'all! Can you even believe that we are this close to all the end-of-year Holidays and festivities? I was talking with a friend just the other day sharing about how this year has seemed to slip right by while we have been holding our collective breath, waiting... for healing, for hope, for a breakthrough, or overcoming... While much of our 'normal' lives may have been pushed to the side or put on pause, Time -in fact- did not slow!
This also means we are nearing the end of our study, reading through the book of James together through 2021! Let's continue with Chapter 5...
TODAY'S VERSES ARE JAMES CHAPTER 5, VERSES 7-12!
"Meanwhile, brothers and sisters, we must be patient and filled with expectation as we wait for the appearing of the Lord. Think about the farmer who has to patiently wait for the earth’s harvest as it ripens because of the early and latter rains. So you also, keep your hopes high and be patient, for the presence of the Lord is drawing closer. Since each of you are part of God’s family never complain or grumble about each other so that judgment will not come on you, for the true Judge is near and very ready to appear!
My brothers and sisters, take the prophets as your mentors. They have prophesied in the name of the Lord and it brought them great sufferings, yet they patiently endured. We honor them as our heroes because they remained faithful even while enduring great sufferings. And you have heard of all that Job went through and we can now see that the Lord ultimately treated him with wonderful kindness, revealing how tenderhearted he really is!
Above all we must be those who never need to verify our speech as truthful by swearing by the heavens or the earth or any other oath. But instead we must be so full of integrity that our “Yes” or “No” is convincing enough and we do not stumble into hypocrisy." (The Passion Translation)
Oh man, this portion is PACKED full of goodness!
October 23, 2021
Listen for the Cries for Justice - The Book of James Bible Series
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Hello, Sweet Readers! I bet you thought I forgot about you! Or gave up... but look - here we are, nearing the end of October and we are digging into Chapter FIVE!!! We've almost made it! We can do this!
I hope you have been getting a lot out of going through this Book ever so slowly this year. Verse by verse, precept upon precept... I hope things have both encouraged and challenged you, as they have me! Who's ready for chapter five?
TODAY'S VERSES ARE JAMES CHAPTER 5, VERSES 1-6!
WE BEGIN BY READING OUR VERSES TOGETHER HERE FROM THE PASSION TRANSLATION BIBLE:
"Listen all you who are rich, for it’s time to weep and howl over the misery that will overtake you! Your riches lie rotting, your fine clothing eaten by moths, and your gold and silver are corroded as a witness against you. You have hoarded up treasure for the last days but it will become a fire to burn your flesh. Listen! Can’t you hear the cries of the laborers over the wages you fraudulently held back from those who worked for you? The cries for justice of those you’ve cheated have reached the ears of the Lord of armies!
You have indulged yourselves with every luxury and pleasure this world offers, but you’re only stuffing your heart full for a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered good and innocent people who had no power to defend themselves." (The Passion Translation)
Oh yeah... James can be - uh - a bit much!
James again calls out to the wealthy and tells them it's time now to weep and howl over the misery that will overtake them. Fun times. The Aramaic word for misery here can refer to demonic torment. Again... super fun.