Get Your Fill... Five Minute Friday

I have been painting all. day. long. (I blame The Nester... wait? "Blame" or "Thank"?  Mostly Thank!)  Still - I couldn't not come hang out on Twitter for a bit on the evening of the kick-off of Five Minute Fridays' new host home over at Heading Home (Kate Motaung's blog!)

It was hopping and oh so fun, even though I am exhausted, ya'll!  So - here goes: 

Five Minute Friday - Our Word Prompt is: FILL

{GO}

I have been slowing down and laying back a bit more than is normal for me but it is all part of the gracious way the Lord has been reminding me, over and over, again and again, of how much I need to let Him fill me!

How I can go and go and do and do and even sit and 'be' but if I am not coming to Him, and waiting for Him to refresh me... I can oh so quickly move out of Pouring Out of an Overflow to simply Burning Out on Empty!


We've all done that, right? Pushed too far, taken on too much, pressed right on through just in order to get All. The. Things. Done.  

But when we approach life that way... or any project, really - we miss out on the blessing of doing it WITH Him! He desires to partner WITH us... to fill us up even when we are pouring out.  I believe He wants us to leak out wherever we go, but it's hard to leak out when you are bone dry and running on fumes.  

Here's where it can get tricky though, because I didn't KNOW I was running on fumes! It didn't feel like it.  My head was above water. I enjoy some down time and keep a pretty flexible schedule.  But I was finding myself simply going through the motions. God wants us to live an ABUNDANT life... not just a Good Enough one.  He wants to lavish His Love upon us... He is passionately pursuing us and we can be playing hard to get without even knowing it... or ever meaning to, really!

For years, the Lord has been waking me up at a specific time in the middle of the night.  It's become our date nights and usually I look forward to them. I realized that it had been quite some time since He had done that and I told Him casually that I missed it!  He surprised me when He said He missed it too!  I had asked Him to stop for a season because I was tired and I felt like I needed sleep.  

He was graciously waiting for me to remember!

While I know He pursues me... I also know that His hearts' desire is that I would pursue Him too!  He desires with desire to be with us.  I don't know about you, but sometimes I need to remember this! Sometimes I want to be the one that comes knocking on the door of His heart first... I want to crawl up into His lap and love on Him without Him always having to wake me up or interrupt my days. 

I want Him to never feel like an interruption. I want Him to always feel like my priority!

So in this season, I am approaching life slower... with less drive maybe, but with more focus. On Him... I am (re)learning how to Fill up on Him before I move on to the rest of my Bossy List of Things To Do!  I am rediscovering our Secret Place.

{STOP}

I believe that as I spend time with God there, in the Secret Place... He will refill and refresh and send me out as a World Changer*!

I have good days, when this is easy... and harder days when I long for the structure and routine and fight the temptation to rush through my time with Him.  I am learning to be thankful for a flexible open schedule that allows me the time He is asking of me! 

What about you?  How do you get to your Secret Place with Him?  How does He fill you up?

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 "FILL"


Oh ...the fine print: if you don't know what FMF is!  Five Minute Fridays have been hosted by Lisa Jo Baker.  This week we start gathering over at Kate Motaung's.  FMF is open to anyone, so to learn more about it - and to jump in yourself (the more the merrier!) or just to find a linky to see what everyone is writing about today - click HERE!  The idea is to simply write... for Five Minutes flat... no editing, no deep thinking - or at least REthinking, no spell check - just write! Let it flow! We all write using a prompt that Lisa posts at 10pm Thursday night (EST.)  I'm loving the community of amazing bloggers and the creativity that flows from these magical Five Minutes!


* - I listened to a message by Banning Libscher on iBethel this morning and it confirmed and stirred up so much of what God has been speaking to me!