That Thing I Do Now - Vol 91

Happy Weekend, dear readers!  I pray Spring is finding his way to you and flirting with you in all the best ways! This is how romantic he has been with me this week:

I know, right? It's like: 

Calm yourself down, Spring! I barely know you yet!

Anyway, featured today are posts by Chris Willard, Shawn Smucker, Lisa-Jo Baker, Shannan Martin, Deidra Riggs, Mary DeMuth, John Sowers, a post from right here... and - of course - a video to wrap it all up! 

Happy Reading! (Ya'll know to click on the authors' names below to read the entire post, yes?)

* This post by Chris Willard over at SplinterSong with The Best Pathway...

"After a few moments of prayer, I began my descent through the woods leading to Boars Hill. It is is by far one of my favorite stretches of English countryside to wander. The path meanders through dense forest trees, and breaks open at the end upon a grassy knoll where sheep graze. As I ran down the path, I noticed the trail wasn't always clear. At times, as I was running, the trail would almost seem to completely disappear but then suddenly I was on the path again, and it was as visible as can be.

At that moment the Holy Spirit spoke to my spirit as clear as if He were running along beside me, and said, "This is how I direct sometimes. Sometimes it is like it was the year before you moved to England. You can see the trail for a long distance ahead of you and you know exactly where you are going in plenty of time. Other times, it is not always so clear until you are right up on it.

"Sometimes my direction and leading are not so long-term in advance. At times, I show you the path right when you are on it, with little preparation. But there it is. Clear as day. The path is there. All along I have been leading you.""

* This one by Shawn Smucker with What They Never Tell You...
"There is something
no one tells you
while the guests are still there,
while the cake watches,
uncut,
while the rings still feel
unfamiliar,
slippery,
like something stuck between
your teeth.

What that thing is,
what no one tells you,
(during the toasts or the speeches
or the dancing)
is that you will need to
say those two words
again
and again

and again." 



* This post from Lisa-Jo Baker with 7 Ways for Women to Find Soul Friends... 
"I’m so hungry for conversation with someone who knows me and is interested in me beyond a witty tweet or Facebook update.

We talk for hours.

I didn’t realize how much I had been needing to say, to process out loud, until someone was willing to listen without rush or deadlines.

There are hurts I hadn’t stop to pay attention to. There are holes in my faith that I need someone to stand in alongside me. There are doubts I need someone to acknowledge.
One of the ways our world of the fast and furious Internet hurts us is that so often our schedules and attention spans don’t have enough time to give each other uninterrupted hours of conversation.

We will starve on a diet of conversations limited to 140 character tweets, text messages or Facebook quips.
We need soul food conversations. The kind that don’t cut you off because they have another meeting to run to. The kind that lingers.”



* This post by Shannan Martin over at Flower Patch Farmgirl with When Cupcakes Aren't in the Forecast... 
"All around us, life chews our friends and spits them out. These are souls that matter to us, not in a rah-rah, "love one another" sort of way. These aren't just our neighbors and they aren't "the least of these", they are wounded souls who stand before us as mirrors. We recognize ourselves. We realize, over shared space and spent time, all the ways we are wrong.

Our hearts are fused, so when theirs split open again, we're left clutching our chests and gasping for air.

When we moved to the city, there were days I dared to imagine true community with these people living hard, hard lives. We would help each other out, lend a hand, borrow cups of sugar or an egg. We'd look out for each other's kids while we beat back addiction and poverty and the tiresome bent of our hearts to wander. We would fight life together, celebrate together, share meals and pews, pile up on long snow days and run the streets in July. We would be the best kind of fusion.

There were days we tasted those things.
But from this vantage point, I don't think I had a clue about "true" community.

I probably still don't. " 


* This post from Deidra Riggs over at Incourage on What to Do with Accidental Fine People...
"Instead, when people ask us how we’re doing, we say, “I’m fine.” See? Accidental Fine People. We really don’t mean to be that way, but sometimes it happens.

So, that’s one thing.

But, the other thing is this:

Sometimes, we are not the Accidental Fine People. Sometimes, we are the friends of people who have accidentally cast themselves as fine people.

And sometimes, we accidentally take those people at their word, even when our gut tells us differently. We don’t see that person in church for a few weeks, or they don’t show up to book club for a couple of months in a row and we are tempted to let it slide, even though we feel a tug on the inside to give them a call or drop a card in the mail. Or, we do call them, and — even though we hear a catch in their voice when they tell us, “I’m fine. It’s all good.” — we are tempted to ignore the urge we have to drive over right then and stand on their front porch to look them in the eye and give them a heartfelt hug.

These are the things we were made for. We were made to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and that’s not just a metaphor.

It doesn’t always take a grand and complicated gesture to step in where an act of friendship is needed. Sometimes, all it takes is a few minutes to follow through on that little nagging feeling you have in your gut. Sure, your friend may be telling you she’s fine, and maybe she really is, but what could it hurt to Vox her with a prayer of encouragement, or to show up at her workplace with a single orange balloon, or whatever else your heart may be telling you to consider?"


*This post from Mary DeMuth with 3 Things to Do When You’re Mad at God...
"I’m not sure if this is a prayer request or just a State of Mary Address. Maybe both.

The Lord nudged me recently about my lack of reading the Word and praying. I do it, of course, but I’ve not been consistent. But instead of hearing His voice and yelling at myself for being “bad,” I decided to examine why.

I think I’m mad at God.

Not raging mad, not bitter mad, just generally mad. It’s sad to admit. But I think the general state of my career (after so much effort) and the straying of a relationship from Jesus has combined to make me pretty introspective and a little mad. Of course I know God didn’t cause a failed career, nor did He make a loved one turn from Him, but nonetheless that is where we are, and I have disappointment left in the aftermath.

Have you ever felt this way? I have a feeling I’m not alone."


* This post from John Sowers over at Storyline on How to Use Fear of Failure to Your Advantage...
"No one wants to look foolish.

No one likes rejection and failure. No one wants to fall off the slide. So we stay far away from it, in the feigned safety of our living room. We avoid the slide altogether. Stephen Pressfield adds, “Being paralyzed with fear is a good sign. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. The more scared we are of a calling, the more we know we have to do it.”

When we avoid fear, we miss life. Our fear is deeper than we have imagined. Sometimes we live every day overwhelmed. Sometimes we miss years of opportunity. But what we don’t understand, deep in our souls:

Sometimes we want to fail.

It’s our preemptive strike on fear.

If we never try to get to the finish line — we never have to face it."


* This one from right HERE with Small Wonders... Post-Easter Thoughts of "What Now?"
"Here we are... the day/(week) after Easter and the baskets are all strewn about, the eggs are found/deviled/consumed, the candy is gone and the Tomb is still empty.

After all the build up and anticipation, it's easy to feel the Monday blah's mixed with a holiday hangover and sit in the midst of returning to regular life and think,
"But now what?"

Even in that, we know we are not alone!

Surely the disciples and followers way back in the day wondered the same thing: "So, praise God and Hallelujah, He is Risen! But now what?

What we thought would happen, kind of didn't and we need time to regroup and re-center and re-evaluate not only what this Brand New Life offers us, but also what it asks of us!"

Lastly, we close This Thing up with a video each week, and sometimes it may be a worship song, or a funny, (or Jimmy Fallon! What?) but we like to end our time together here with a little something uplifting. Enjoy this testimony by Joanna Gaines:

                                        

Have a wonder-filled weekend, sweet friends... and remember, He wants to lead you and speak into your life! Lean in and listen for His Voice.