When You Long for More... A Five Minute Friday post.

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Hello, Friends! I'm happy to report that I'm sitting in this chair, ready to tap out some words --but YOU GUYS!?!!??! THE SUN IS SHINING AND I SEE ZERO CLOUDS (read: NO IMPENDING SNOW!) in the sky!

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: MORE.

{GO!}

I see the word and I feel it down deep... 

the Longing for More... 

it's been a drawn-out season of waiting...

of hunkering down in the In Between.

For much of the past year or so, I've not really fought against the call to slow... to be silent... to give time and space to heal and to allow my soul room to breathe... as well as giving it room to re-focus, re-center, and re-emerge!

I've stated several times over the past couple of weeks that I feel as though I'm coming back to life again!

I see Hope around the Edges

and I hear the sing-songy-ness in my voice again

as I talk or speak or pray or laugh.  

I see a glimpse of myself and I think,

"Oh My! I have missed her!"

Over these days that turned to weeks,

and weeks that turned to months, 

(and months that turned to years!)

I've come to realize that an important part of the 

Waiting in the In-Between season

is meant to be a Gift!

The waiting is not just meant for 

Refreshing and Reviving...

for Sabbath and for Shifting...

It's partly that, of course!

But it's also meant to give you room to

decide what you really want... 

And not only that --but also room, 

as Emily P. Freeman talks about

in her new book, The Next Right Thing, 

to know what you want MOST!

Sometimes it takes time to know, or discover, or remember what it is that we are passionate about... what it is that we really want!  But that is just the first step, my friends!

The more important question follows next...

What is it that we want MORE or MOST?

I can't say for sure but at this moment, 

I'm not entirely sure what is next...

and I can't fully answer the

What I Want Most questions...

But even just allowing myself

the freedom to ask it is 

breathing life back into me!

I'm worth the asking...

What I want matters...

And I want for a lot of things*...

*Please don't read this as 'things', though!

I'm the least materialistic person you may meet...

I want a lot of Kingdom things... 

Healings, Miracles, Breakthroughs, 

Love, Joy, Peace, Justice, Unity

--and not (just) for me!

When you are longing for more... 

whether it be in your marriage or family... 

in your church or community...

in your career path or education...

in your faith or peace or just in your

everyday ordinary life, 

give yourself permission to slow and

to silence all the thoughts and opinions,

all the demands and expectations

for a time and to just breathe!

This will help your heart and your head

exhale, and you, too, just may begin

to feel Hope Arise around the Edges!

{STOP!}

I'm finding that it's okay to let yourself long for change... long for breakthrough... long for a new season or a new path or a new (insert whatever you may be longing for!)  And it's even okay if you don't have words for it yet.  Sometimes new things take time to manifest themselves into your hopes and dreams.  At first, they may be far off and out of focus and that's okay.  

I'm reading Emily's new book that I mentioned above. 

(Pre-order it and you will get some serious freebies, friends!)

It's based on her podcast of the same name and I knew already

that I would love it... and I knew that I needed it...

but I didn't realize how timely it would come to me

as I find myself coming back to life.

I was, it seems, frozen and incapable of making decisions last year... 

It felt as if we were stuck --but as I've mentioned, 

He assured us that we weren't stuck --we were Held! 

And now, as things are beginning to thaw and to awaken yet again,

Emily's words are giving me permission to lean into the longing...

and to ask the question of what do I want... 

and what do I want more... but ultimately, 

What do I want MOST?

  I'm finding... that is getting easier for me to answer!

What about you? How would you answer that question today?

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 "MORE"

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 about 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!

Photos courtesy of Unsplash via Despo Potamou

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

Crystal Twaddell for #FreshMarketFriday

Mary Geisen for #TellHisStory

Kelly Balarie for #RaRaLinkUp

Sue Donaldson for #LetsHaveCoffee

REMINDER! We'd love to have you join us around the table! Maybe somehow you don't know this, but we have our very own (somewhat non-blog-related) podcast called THE CHANGING OUR MINDS PODCAST! Karrilee and her all grown up Girlie, Kayelyn, co-host this podcast and talk about Oh So Many random things!  Faith plays a part, sure... but it is more like joining us for coffee as we catch up on the couch or sitting at the table! We talk about whatever is on our minds and often reveal things that we used to think we knew... but we've changed our minds! We'd love to have you join us at the Table or a comfy couch as we catch up over a cup of something yummy and share life together! We invite you to SUBSCRIBE here to have the Podcast sent to your preferred listening device so you won't miss a thing! Also, follow us on Facebook to join in on the conversations!