When Hope Arises Slowly... A Five Minute Friday post

I missed the #fmfparty again... We have had a week of getting up earlier and full days and it's been great - but when my All Growed Up Girlie stops by to hang out and cuddle while watching West Wing... well, enough said, yes?

Still - I am here now, so let's do this thing! We are nearing the 'official launch day' of our new church... so you know Hope is arising slowly for us as excitement is building! Let's start the timer and see what comes out!

This is Five Minute Friday (- a five minute timed free write) and our One Word Prompt for the day is: Hope

{GO}

When Hope arises slowly, you can feel it swelling from deep inside... how it shifts and turns and changes... how whatever is next is full of adventure and promise and blessings just waiting to be discovered!

We spent years wandering and wondering.  Years.  We wanted a home, someplace to give and to get... a place that had a purpose that focused first and foremost on Him. On His Presence. Anything else is extra. 



We longed for family and for a gathering who would sing of how good our God is and who would know it deep down in their bones and live it out loud in their every day lives.

We wanted a place of freedom... where gifts and art and love flowed freely and where nothing was held inside walls but it all leaked out wherever we went.

This was our hearts cry, but after years... we sort of stopped hoping. We didn't mean to. It just happened.

Oh sure - we tried to settle, to squeeze in, to make ourselves fit.  We did that time and time again, until we didn't. We didn't fit, and we couldn't settle, and we stopped squeezing our way in.

So when we were asked, completely out of the blue, to walk into the great unknown, --well, hesitancy had been our long time companion but hope was awakened and was rising... and we said yes. To be honest, we said yes quickly and with little prayer - not because we are reckless like that but because it was so clearly God that we were not saying No!

That was weeks ago and we have now laid a foundation. We have spent Sunday after Sunday letting people know what we are about (His Presence) and what we believe (His Word). This Sunday we will 'officially launch' - honestly, whatever that means!  

We are hoping it doesn't mean much! 
I mean, we are not planning on doing much if anything different! 

Our doors and hearts are open wide and we are inviting the neighborhood over on Sunday. 

And Hope is rising slowly, building, filling up, spilling over, rushing down... making way for the King and His Kingdom.

{STOP}

Thank you, sweet readers, for all of the prayers as we venture in to these uncharted waters of church planting. We mailed out postcards to the surrounding area and plan a little ice cream social after service to celebrate and get to know our neighbors and we can not wait to meet and love on who God leads to join us at Dad's House! 

As I was praying this week, He whispered to my heart a word that brought hope. He said, "I will draw them in.  Some will be what you expect. Some will be kindred hearts but others will be searching and seeking and I will give you My supernatural ability to LOVE. It will be My love through you! Yield to Me."  

Isn't that what He wants to do with each of us... through each of us?  

Let's let hope arise, and let's yield to Him... 

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 "HOPE"

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