What If You Believed... A Five Minute Friday post.

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After last weeks' Word Prompt and post on the Ocean, well-- we were packing last night to head for the water!

Our One Word Prompt this week is IF. This is Five Minute Friday! 
Let's go...

{GO}

I see the prompt and think, wow --that is just wide open! We could go ANYWHERE with that word!

So I stop and pray...

Because, as is always the case here, I don't really want to just share my words as much as I want to share His heart... so I slow and I still and I ask Him, "What do you want me to say?"

And I wait...

When the Ocean Beckons You Out... a Five Minute Friday post.

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I had a friend stop by last night and --well, I'm pretty sure you and I both are getting tired of the excuses of why I keep missing out on the gathering on Twitter! My best explanation right now is: Summer! One day soon, I will make it back! 

Our One Word Prompt this week is OCEAN,  which just so happens to be one of my very favorite destinations and that friend I mentioned above? Yeah - we talked about the ocean and how we can't wait to get back there together! This is Five Minute Friday! Let's go...

{GO}

I have long had this love affair with the ocean.

I just can't get over it... how it beckons me to come closer... to sit and listen... to watch the mesmerizing rhythm of the tide pushing and pulling and how it reminds me that I am oh so small... and yet, oh so loved and held and protected!

It's so romantic... when it's warm and sunny and the kites are flying and the kids are playing in the waves... and when it's stormy and windy and the rains are coming at you sideways and threaten to blow you off course. 

Either way... 
I will take to the ocean
and lean into the Lord... 

Restoring Our Impression of Father... A Five Minute Friday post.

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As this Father's Day weekend approaches, I know many are feeling all kinds of feels.  
The Good, the bad, and the ugly... right?

For many, Father's Day is a chance to celebrate an amazing Dad. For many others, however, this 'holiday' can stir up hard feelings, anger, resentment, old wounds, and fresh scars.  

Some experience a sense of loss because their father is no longer here... or at least 'there' (active and available in their every day lives), while others experience gratitude for the memories - both past and ones still being made.

Many of our single Moms pull the weight of mother and father and they deserve to be celebrated and prayed for this weekend as well!

I shared a bit over at LifeLetterCafe this week about that, but with our One Word Prompt this week being RESTORE, I am pretty sure we are going to go there today!  This is Five Minute Friday!

{GO}

I think back to when I was a baby Christian. 

I'm not sure why other than I remember a strange feeling rising up within me whenever I would hear anyone pray out loud.

It was a whole new concept to me --to pray out in the open to a God who couldn't be seen.

But it was more than that.

The community that I was plugged into as a new believer was one who often referred to God as Father. 

In prayer, it would be "Father God, this" and "Father God, that..." and while I liked my Dad just fine, this made me uncomfortable.

His Hands... a tribute to Fatherhood

An Ode to Fatherhood, inspired by my husband.

 

It was his hands that first held me... 

that first cupped my face and caressed my shoulders.

It was his hands that first loved me.

 

It's his hands that still, every day, 

gently guide me and strongly urge me forward.

It's his hands that help me up, 

pull me close, and push me on.

 

His hands have held on tight, 

and at times, let go loosely.

His hands are rarely, rarely ever clenched.

They always wide open, palms up, 

ready to praise, ready to pray...

Ready to practice what he preaches every day...

***

In honor of My Honey and Father's Day, I've updated a little piece written right here about four years ago and I am hanging out over at LifeLetterCafe. 

I'd love to have you join me over there and comment on that post about a man (or two) who has helped to father and shape you! Let's honor the men (and all the single Mama's... amen?) who we will celebrate on Sunday!

Come on over and jump in HERE!

Happy Father's Day
to everyone who has poured into me
and who flow from the Father's heart!

I'm Gonna Fly Again... A Five Minute Friday post.

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The only thing I can tell you is every year in June I get a call to sub for my old Bunco group... And every year I say yes, please! So that is where I was on Thursday... one day soon I will make it back to the tribal gathering on Twitter on Thursday nights (aka #fmfparty) -at least that is my hope and intention! Until then, let's write!

Our One Word this week is FLY!  This is Five Minute Friday!

{GO}

Fly... I see the word and I laugh because, yes! 
Yes... I want to do just that!

On a plane... sure...
but in general, in life... 
I want to soar.

I'm a dreamer and an artist and I am constantly standing up taller in who I am and how He has made me and I can promise you that when you discover and remember your true identity, operating in and out of that, --well... there is just nothing better!

As I've mentioned (too many times, probably!), we are in an In-Between season and things are still slow and silent.  This is mostly restful and so much grace, but every once in awhile around the edges, one can begin to question if we'll be invited out to fly again.

Return to What You Know For Sure... - A Five Minute Friday post.

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I know... I missed it again! But if it makes you feel any better, I didn't have ANY screens in front of me Thursday! I was battling a migraine and even though my heart was sitting in this chair, connecting with my tribe --my head was bossing me around in darker spaces, wanting to be horizontal and quiet.  I'm feeling MUCH better today... so here I sit, windows wide open, sunshine streaming in, coffee by my side (of course!) and ready to write! Let's go!

Our One Word this week is RETURN!  This is Five Minute Friday!

{GO}

Listen, sweet readers...

It's not like this is new news, but My Honey and I?
We are in a season of waiting... of living and lingering in the In-Between. 

I wrote about it a couple of times over the last few weeks... And while we have been gifted Great Peace, living in the middle, in the Not-Anymore-but-Not-Yet spaces, 
--it's not my favorite!

It would be easy --it may even feel more productive-- to give in to worry. To let our minds wander and our hearts get out of rhythm... to allow worry and doubt and fear to sneak right (back) in.  BUT... What God is asking of us in this season of waiting is to simply Return to What We Know For Sure!