Hidden in the Rock... a Five Minute Friday post.

Oh how I have missed y'all! 

Summer. Am I right? 
But here's the thing: I haven't even left town or been doing anything super fun. I have been writing less over the past month, working on Resting - in more ways than one, and giving myself a bit of grace for the summer.  

But I have missed hanging out on Twitter on Thursday nights with my tribe from Five Minute Fridays!  As I mentioned recently, the heart of this tribe still beats strong and if you lean in and listen close, you will hear it. You will find encouragement and support and you will hear the faint whisperings of, "You can do this! You are a writer! You are not alone..."  And, honestly, who doesn't need that reminder every once in awhile --read: every Thursday night?

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

{GO}

I know what it's like to be hidden.  To be shelved, set aside, pushed back, to hunker down and to be told to wait.

It's not fun. That is what it is: not fun - but oh so necessary!

Created to Create... How to Live Beyond the Fear of Failure

So I have been, I suppose, summering a bit this week.  Less inside and staring at screens (Amen!) and more outside, relaxing in shade! (Hallelujah!)

Still, the Lord is always speaking and while we have been experiencing large gaps of silence -He and I--, one of the things He has been whispering soft to me is about how we see Success and Failure, and how that often puts a stop to our creativity!

In classic Five Minute Friday form... (Even though I am almost a week late!) We’ll start this post like this, raw and unedited:

The One Word Prompt for the FMF this week is: CREATE

{GO}

I have had The Undoing by Steffany Gretzinger on repeat for weeks now.  

You know how there are some songs or entire albums that seem to release a sound or a message that is so needed in certain seasons? Well... that.

Specifically, it has been (Come) "Out of Hiding"... 

This song, y'all. It lives up to the album title because truly, it undoes me, every. single. time. 

It has me at the first line:

"Come out of hiding. You're safe here with Me..." 

How To Build A {New} Life: Take Notice of the Light

"Rest isn't inactivity. Rest, to me, is a place of total trust."   ~Bill Johnson

So good, right? And that is where I have been lately (and why I am not sitting in this chair quite as much!)

Still - you know how I love freewriting and my Five Minute Friday tribe... and also this: God showed up and showed off in such a unique way this week, I couldn't NOT write about it... even if just for five minutes!

The One Word Prompt for the FMF this week is: BUILD

{GO}

I don't know how many of you may know or remember that my One Word for 2016 is Change.  Let's just keep that in mind as we move forward here today.

Change.

I have dreaded it... I have fought it hard, only to lean in in surrender and learn to anticipate it, drenched in hope.

I have preached it time and time again --how kicking against it is fruitless but how embracing it with arms wide open makes for a harvest of goodness.

But I have not always lived it.

I am still learning...

For months now, I have noticed an unusual amount of Dragonfly sightings.  So much so that I have told both my girlie and my Honey that I need to look into what they mean. But I get home and I forget all about it.

There is an abundance of them surrounding me - sometimes one at a time in a parking lot or in flight around my car. Sometimes I find --wait for it, a 'beauty' (group) of them along a walk down through the Canyon or up around the orchards. But never have I encountered them like I did a few days ago!

On Monday, change came at us full force and stormy... a bit unsteady and spinning.

The Importance of Protecting Your Marriage...

It has been over a week since I have sat in this chair, staring at this screen, and tried to find words.  Lately, He's calling me to Silence and the flow of writing is slower, shall we say. Because of that, and because He is still calling me to a 'glorious lack of productivity' (His words... not yet mine!) I am linking up with all the places, so this post will graciously be --or at least start!-- in classic Five Minute Friday form.

I have missed you, but it turns out that God didn't want me to just WRITE about Rest. He wasn't asking me to just remind you guys again and again, but He was wanting me to literally slow and stop and actually do the work of entering in to His Rest for a time! 

How many know and can attest that sometimes it really IS work to enter in?

It was like a little mini refresher course of what I learned during my Summer of Silence and there is freedom in remembering that social media or the internet is not the boss of us!

In my Resting... He is reminding me of the importance of protecting the relationships that mean the most to us - and to Him (...and how we best go about doing that!)

I'll give you a hint: it includes expressing thankfulness, speaking life, and knowing (and remembering) who you really are! 

This enables you to bring your best self to the table!