No Shadow of Turning... Thank God! (A Five Minute Friday post.)

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In hopes that you read my last post and then promptly, like me, unplugged and stepped away from screens, you will not be surprised that I didn't make it to the Twitter party for long last night! 

This is Five Minute Friday... and our One Word Prompt is: TURN! 

{GO}

I see the Word... and immediately think of how there is just really no shadow of turning with God. 

Like, ever.

God is ever faithful... ever true.  
He is our plumb line... our Cornerstone...
our sure and firm foundation... 

And if when everything else in life may be shifting and shaking... if it feels as though the sun is hiding and darkness is fast approaching... when it seems as though a straight path is not anywhere to be found and all you see before you are twists and turns... 

Rest assured... 
He holds steady and true...
and He holds you... 
right smack in the palm
of His nail-scarred hands!

While everything else around you may be changing...
He will. not. change.

"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes]." James 1:17 Amplified

I love how this verse reads in The Voice:

"Every good gift bestowed, every perfect gift received comes to us from above, courtesy of the Father of lights. He is consistent. He won’t change His mind or play tricks in the shadows." James 1:17 The Voice

He won't play tricks in the shadows!

It's just not in His nature!

The Bible tells us that even when (when --not if!) we walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, He walks with us! 

He never leaves us in the dark!

I'm reading a new book (insert gasp and shocked face emoji, I know!) by Lisa Bevere called Adamant and in it, she talks of this... of how God doesn't change.  She writes:

"God doesn't change. He doesn't need to change.  He is committed. He is all in. His response to us is based on who he is rather than who we are or are not." Adamant, p52

You see, He knows who --and Whose-- we are.
While you and I may forget this,
He never does!

I was talking the other day with a friend about the unfortunate truth of how we always grow the most thanks to the hard seasons of life... of change... of finding that the risk of remaining the same ('tight in the bud'), as Anais Nin said, is more painful than the risk it takes to change ('bloom'). 

Our roots go deeper in those winter seasons when it seems that it is just death and laying things down all around us and within us.  

I know for me and my life, it's been the seasons of Silence that have drawn me closer to be able to hear... and what I always hear are His Promises of how He will never leave or forsake us... of how He is always for us, coming towards us, and how His Love always wins!

In her book Adamant, Lisa Bevere goes on to say that "...the winning combination has always been love and obedience. Love empowers us to obey. God longed to lavish us with unfailing love, not overwhelm us with a list of impossible laws."

In the midst of change, often times our flesh longs for the Laws, though! We find comfort somehow in the rules... the lists of do's and don'ts, but we know a better way! 

We are grafted in and are now a part of a better covenant! 

The rules and lists never did offer us the truth of being held and beloved and accepted anyway.  They simply pointed us to our need for something --for SomeONE-- better!

He is that SomeONE...

and His promise of how every good and perfect gift comes from Him and how there is no shadow of turning... of how He remains the same... even if or when everything else may be shifting, well - it brings so much peace!

For me, in this season of change all around us, 

we are being reminded again and again

that there is beauty in

laying things down in obedience...

--that there is Peace that truly does 

surpass all understanding...

--that we are

held!

We are being reminded that while anything

or everything can change in a moment... 

nothing will ever change in how

He loves us and holds us close... 

in how He provides for us and

opens wide the windows of heaven

to lavish us with Love,

forever and always! 

No thing can ever change that Truth!

{STOP}

So we turn our eyes and our hearts
and our hopes toward Heaven... 
and we pour out our praise.

So often, this stirs up an image of us looking skyward.
But let us not forget that Heaven
is both here and now, AND not yet. 
Let us not forget that Heaven
--and Christ, Himself--
dwells within us and is all around us
and so yes --look up... 
but also look in and all around...

Remember that if everything seems
unsure or clouded with shadows and uncertainty,
His Promise is that He will never turn...
He remains that same... 
And He is the Light of the World, 
and He will light the way!

The Five Minute Friday community is the best gathering of Flashmob writers around!  We wait for the one-word prompt and we throw caution and hesitation and editing to the wind, and we let our fingers fly and our feelings feel and we just wait and see what flows out in five minutes (or so! Because, grace!) and we hit Publish without second-guessing or backspacing! 

Linking up with Kate Motaung and the #fmfparty Community today.  Five Minute Fridays give 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 "TURN"

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

I'm also linking up with the lovely writer communities linked below:

Crystal Twaddell for #FreshMarketFriday

Kelly Balarie for #RaRaLinkUp

Barbie Swihart for #Glimpsesofhisbeauty

Jennifer Dukes Lee for #TellHisStory

LORI SCHUMAKER FOR #MOMENTSOFHOPE

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