When All You Can Do is Accept... A Five Minute Friday post.

aka Just Let Him Love You!

Guess who we FINALLY got to meet this week? Yep... Lil' Miss! 
She was OH SO WORTH THE WAIT, y'all!

But I digress. 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 of: ACCEPT

{GO}

I know... I promise you I will try to pace myself with all things Baby but you've got to know that she is at the forefront of --well, everything, right now!

When I saw the prompt this week, my instant flashback was of course of this precious newbie, snuggled safely in arms... softly kissed as she is drawn near, simply accepting the warmth and security and love being poured out and prayed in to her --all while she was blissfully at rest!

My next thought was of this phrase that I can't seem to let go of! I pray it on Sunday mornings over our congregation, and I say it in texts and emails as I encourage friends and family who are going through all kinds of hard... it is this:

Just Let Him Love You!

(As if you could stop Him!)

When What You Need is a Circling Around and Hedging In... Support: A Five Minute Friday post.

(We are STILL WAITING for the arrival of Lil' Miss... 'Any day now' has become our mantra!)

But as we wait... I will write. 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 of: SUPPORT

{GO}

I can't even promise you anything here because already, just in the waiting, I have talked about how we are longing for the arrival of Lil' Miss and I've talked about the journey we are on with our only Girlie and while that is nothing new, (read: I have always talked about her in this little corner of the interwebs!) I hear it may get MUCH WORSE once she (finally) gives me this grand baby to dote on and talk about!

In fact, while the Lord gave me a tough topic to tackle as a series here, I am leaning more and more into the idea of doing that one a little later in the Winter, and doing a Mimi-related 31 Days series full of yummy baby pictures and prayers and such because: Hello Lil Miss! (and helping new Mama and sleepless nights and life adjustments and making room!)

And yet... the first thing that comes to mind when I see the word prompt, 'Support' is the amazing gift of Circling Around and Hedging In that has happened during these nine months (and counting!) for our girlie and for us!

Expectations

(An excerpt from my sermon a couple of weeks ago.)

It was a couple of weeks ago... at the tail end of our long, hard summer when the Lord began lovingly questioning me about my expectations and what I had been allowing to build up around them.

He started to talk with me about the difference between expectations based on past experiences versus expectations based on HOPE and TRUST!

Obviously, He prefers one over the other!

Expectation is defined as a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future. It can be either good or bad. 

But Hope...
  Hope is always FOR...
    ...always positive!

Eric Reeder defines Hope this way: 

“Hope is the unconditional assurance that Fathers’ goodness prevails and it becomes the force of boldness in life.”

Imagine what could happen if we combined our expectations with Hope?

If They're Gonna Know Us By Our Love... We Have Work To Do - A Five Minute Friday post.

I finally made it to the party for a bit last night and it felt good, and right, and a little like home! (If you are a writer and are looking for Community, check out #fmfparty on Twitter on Thursday nights!)

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 of: WORK

{GO}

I see the word prompt and my first thought is, "Well - we have a lot of that to do!"

I think of this world and how broken and divided it can be... how broken and divided it is.  I think of the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John:

"This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:35 The Message

I think of how I wish this was true... of how I wish that 'they' could look at the Church at large and see by the way we love each other and Him that we are, in fact, His! 

That we are representing Him well in the earth!

What We Learned This Summer...

It is time yet again for Emily Freeman's quarterly link-up on What We Learned, and it's still my favorite! It gives me opportunity to reflect back over a few months at a time and process more fully what God is teaching me! (I'd love for you to join in, too!) The last few months held a lot of Hard and Heavy --but aren't those the seasons that teach us the most? We'll mix in some Light and Lovely, too! 

Here we go:

***
12 Random Things I Have Learned this summer... 

This is the 2017 Summer (June - August) edition

Are You My Neighbor? A Five Minute Friday post.

I keep saying it - because it is true... I miss y'all and I miss the tribe over at Five Minute Friday! I have hopes that with the arrival of Fall and routine, I will find myself back in this chair, consistently writing. But let's be honest... the arrival of Lil' Miss can be any day now -- so let's keep it real! I love you and miss you, sweet readers! I miss the processing for myself that tends to happen as I tap out words here... but Life is full and changing (Hello, granddaughter!) so I won't make promises I can't keep. But I will tell you this: I THINK of sitting here and I PRAY for you way more often that it may appear in this season. but Imma try to shrink the gap and meet you here on a regular basis again, starting today with this one word prompt.

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 of: NEIGHBOR

{GO}
My first thoughts go to two different states in our Union... and then to the Word of God.  

I think of Charlottesville and I think of Houston... and then I think of how the Bible tells us again and again that we are called to LOVE!  To Love our neighbors as well as we love ourselves and for some, that is a high call and for others --well, sometimes we don't really love ourselves the way we are called to either, right?

My next thought flashes to the Dr. Seuss book "Are You My Mother?" but I see it written out as "Are You My Neighbor?" because - really, in this call to love - we are called to recognize and remember that we are FAMILY... 

All of us - Family! - created in His image, bearing His name, and oh how we are supposed to be following His lead...