Familiar Spirits and No Longer a Victim... A Five Minute Friday post.

Tonight is the last night of our Ladies Bible study that I accidentally started on Thursday nights! The good news/bad news is that while we are finishing up in time for the holidays, my Honey and I are praying about starting up a new group in January... but we have not yet decided on an evening. (It's just that Thursdays now seem normal... but we shall see!)

For now... I'm just gonna quietly play along, last minute like, and sneak in under the radar on the One Word Prompt of FAMILIAR. (This is a Five Minute Friday post, which simply means I set a timer and free write for five minutes flat, add a few photos, and hit Publish!)

{GO}

Once again, I accidentally saw the word prompt and immediately didn't want to write.

In fact, I had decided again and again that I was just going to skip it this week.

And yet here I sit... and the sinking feeling of Familiar will not go away. 

So I breathe in deep and slow... exhale fully and feel that old familiar ache. 

That all too familiar issue... 

You know the one... it's splashed all over headlines and whispered about in workplaces and it is completely ignored at family reunions...

It's the #MeToo of our time and when I see the word Familiar... oh I know... it is.

It IS familiar...

A couple of weeks ago, Facebook suggested I 'friend' the neighbor kid who sexually abused me... 

When Excuses Fade Away and Truth Takes Over... a Five Minute Friday post.

Just a few more weeks before I can officially rejoin the Five Minute Friday Community of Flash Mob Writers who love to party it up over on the Twitter on Thursday nights! Until then, I'll just play along here and over at the Link Up!  Let's 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: EXCUSE

{GO}

I see the word, and I know what it means...
but I hope I can uncover something different
because, ...you know, ...excuses!

Gah! My mind goes immediately to exactly where I do not want it to go.

Avoidance and excuses are not Kingdom ways... 
And I want my life to reveal Kingdom in every area. 

Conflict is not my favorite and as I wrote last week,
we are a people of Peace.  

However,
Peace will not reside in the midst
of denial and excuses.  

...Oh but the enemy will.  

The enemy will reside right in the midst of those things
and make himself super cozy and at home there.

When Silence is Adding to the Noise in Your Head... a Five Minute Friday post

I have not been able to make it to the party on Twitter for a LONG time... (I accidentally started a Thursday night Bible Study - ironically going through Lisa-Jo's We Saved You A Seat.) . Still - it will wrap up in a few more weeks and I can't wait to get back to the Tribe!

But until then, I will still play along in this little corner and over at the Link Up!  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: SILENCE

{GO}

I know... with all my talking about and putting into practice  REST, and with the season of life as an Empty Nester, and with the fact that I am an introvert, one would assume that Silence is my jam. (I know... but I can't stop saying it.)

And it IS!
Normally... I love me some Silence...

A little slow and quiet space to soak and to unwind... 
to think and to pray... 
to recenter and refocus and 
to re-calibrate my heart to the rhythm of His.

It is my jam...

But then there are the times when the Silence is simply adding to the Noise in your head and for the love, Peace is elusive and the quiet can feel maddening, right?