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***
Happy Saturday, friends!
I hope this weekend offers you rest and recovery... and a little fun and family time, too! I am still recovering and while the improvements in vision are slower than I'd like --the improvements are happening and so I'm limiting screen time and resting when I feel the need... I had my one week post-op follow up and the healing is happening, and the doctor took me off all restrictions! This is great news... however, I will say - that was on Thursday afternoon and between Thursday night and Friday morning, I may have overdone it with my freedom! So I'm laying low today and resting well! But first... because, Y'all know how words build up and need to flow... we're gonna sit here and see what happens!
This is a Five Minute Friday post... which simply means I set a timer
and free write for five minutes flat on the one-word prompt: INFLUENCE
{GO!}
When I see the word, I reflect back over a few conversations I had recently with my Only Girlie who is now All Grown Up and a Lil Mama herself.
Here's the Deal:
When they are little, we are well aware.
We are intentional about being a good influence on them as they grow. These gifts in flesh and blood who at any and every new stage tend to stretch us and test us and cause us to grow right alongside them!
But this is a reminder that we all need:
All of us are influenced by others...
and all of us are doing the influencing...
-whether we are conscious of it or not!
-We are either a good influence or a bad one!
I know how often the word "Intentional" is being thrown around right now. It seems it is a Buzzword and it's often overused.
However, I can't say for you --but for me?
I want to be Intentional in wielding my Influence for good!
***
Hello There, Sweet Readers!
Here we are... mid-January already and I am on the other side of both eye surgeries. One was an instant miraculous success, the other is slower in healing and clearing up - but we are believing that both eyes will give clear vision and many of the 'issues' I battled the last few years will be no more! This explains the quiet hush around here as it is taking time for my eyes to heal and adjust and work together! But Y'all know how I love the FMF Community... so, here we go:
This is a Five Minute Friday post... which simply means I set a timer
and free write for five minutes flat on the one-word prompt: BETTER
{GO!}
When I see the One Word Prompt, "Better"
--of course, immediately I think of my sight...
my vision --both physical and spiritual!
I think of how it feels like we've been WAITING
and waiting and waiting for Better to arrive!
I am on the other side of eye surgeries and as I mentioned above, the first surgery was quite miraculous. It was easier than they anticipated and the sight was closer to 20/20 within hours of being post-surgery than it ever had been before. The second surgery (done on 1/10) was a lot harder, longer, more complicated than they anticipated, and when I removed the bandage, the vision was extremely blurry and the concern was that the surgery either didn't work or the lens had shifted. (Note - this was MY fear concern... not that we had any warning that this could be true.) My Honey likes to say that as easy as the first surgery was, the second surgery was a Battle!
I laugh whenever he says this because he says it like maybe I was not aware. Oh, I was aware. I was awake and aware the whole time.
Listen, if 2018 had a theme song... this would be it:
***
Hello there, friends!
After revealing the Prophetic Phrase and Book in the Bible I felt the Lord was highlighting for 2019, I mentioned it would be a bit quieter around here as I healed from a couple of eye surgeries.
As I am healing and praying and purposing to spend some time in the book of Colossians this year, I felt the Lord nudge me to do something new around this little corner of the interwebs!
Enter, a new series:
Twice a month (-ish... because you know me and how life can go!), we will read a verse or two of Colossians together and ponder the Truth the apostle Paul wrote out for us... (and for the believers in Colossae, sure!)
The goal is to go slow... to encourage some Community in the Comment section for you all to participate in as well, and to get through the entire book, a few verses at a time, by the end of the year!
***
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Sweet Readers!
I don't know about you, but I know for me --for us, we are SO READY for a brand new year and a clean slate and a fresh start! As much as I had high hopes for 2018... man, he was rough on us! I mean - sure... there were some gifts and grace mixed in, but overall - we will not be sad or sorry to say Good riddance! Bye Felicia! G'bye now! You can move along!
Here we are... January 1st... the Old has passed and the New is set before us, blank spaces and wide open opportunities just waiting for us to step out and step into... we are ready! We feel it in our weary burdened hearts, and in the hope that is stirring up from deep within!
New Years Day has dawned softly for me the same way for years and years now. I spend the first hours as light breaks over the hills and turns everything pink and filled with glory and hope, soaking up some quiet time with the Lord. Sure - most days start out this way with me and Him - but on this day, my intentions are clearer and my ears and heart are tuned in to hear --not only for me, but I believe for all of us who are willing to lean in a bit closer to God.
I spend some time reflecting over the last year... looking at the highs and lows and letting Him show me how He has been by my side through all of them. I pray into what my hopes are for the year ahead of us and then I pray and ask what HIS hopes are, too!
I ask the Lord for a word or phrase that will speak prophetically over the coming year. I also ask Him to lead me to a book in the Bible that He wants to be highlighted throughout the year.
They tend to go hand in hand...
He's pretty smart that way!
(according to stats, anyway!)
***
I hadn't really planned on doing a Year in Review post because --well, because I haven't really been as active on the blog as in years' past, and I'm allowing myself short sessions in front of a screen, pre-surgery!
And also because some of MY favorite posts didn't get much traffic or comments at all. Yet, it's always interesting for me to look back and see which posts created the most views or interaction. I will say I miss the olden days of Blogging when the comment sections were full(er) and filled with community and back and forth conversation! I so value when you take the time to add a comment - short or long. It's such an encouraging reminder that these words we tap out here matter... and they make a difference!
So - without further ado,
here are the TOP TEN posts of 2018:
***
It's nearing the end of the year and if you've hung out around here in late December or early January, then you know that we do a few Annual posts...
* One is the post where I discuss All the Books... I already wrote that one and you can find it HERE.
* Another one is usually posted on January 1st or 2nd, and that is a Prophetic post revealing a Word (or phrase) and a Book in the Bible that I feel the Lord is highlighting for the year to come! This post comes after spending the first few hours of the New Year alone and cuddled in close, asking Him for His heart for what is to come. (So that will come soon!)
* And then there is this OneWord365 project that we have done for several years and counting now! (This is that post!)
Listen, here's the deal:
2018 has been so full of Heavy and Hard (even more so than 2017... which was pretty terrible, if you recall!) and somehow I completely forgot about my OneWord...
Well, it seems it forgot about me, too!
Or at least that is how I felt
when I went back to look it up!
***
With only a handful of days left until Christmas, I hope and pray you are all done with all the madness and chaos... but I know chances are good that at least some of you are running around down to the last possible moment!
As Advent winds down, and our waiting is met with the fulfillment cries of a newborn King, this is our final Five Minute Friday link up of the year!
Here we go:
This is a Five Minute Friday post... which simply means I set a timer
and free write for five minutes flat on the one-word prompt: WITH
{GO!}
With Christmas being literally just days away...
of course, my mind and my heart go immediately
to the verse in Matthew 1 where we are told
that Jesus will be born and
His name shall be Immanuel,
God with us.
God WITH us...
I mean...
Come on!
After all the waiting...
the lamenting and longing through Advent
(and through those 400+ years of silence!)
God promises that He is about to
break through the darkness and
break through the dawn
and He is coming to cram Himself
into flesh and blood and
He will be known as Emmanuel
--which means, 'God with us'!
And all of Creation heaves a sigh of relief...
Because -even before we knew Him...
we've missed Him!
