Oh, When We Long for an Easy Fix... a Five Minute Friday post.

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This year I have set a goal to write in this space more often. This is not a lofty goal... as I mentioned on January 1st, I only tapped out words here 5 or 6 times in 2020! Already - this goal has almost been met! Still... one of my favorite forms of writing here over the many years has been to participate with the Five Minute Friday community!

I have missed the free flow of a timed writing challenge --and even more so, I've missed the camaraderie of knowing we are not in this alone! Writing our heart out on a blank screen and hitting publish can feel oh so vulnerable and lonely... to be honest, I battled with that most of last year. It felt pointless... like it didn't really matter... But - it does matter! Even if I write these words and they only minister to me... they matter! So --let's get back into this routine!

This is a Five Minute Friday post... which simply means I set a timer and free-write for five minutes flat. I then add graphics and format a bit, but the actual writing stops (or at least is given an asterisk!) when my timer goes off! 

Today, our one-word prompt is: FIX

{GO!} 

Fix...

I see the prompt and immediately think, "Fix it, Jesus!"
(I mean, right?) 

No matter what we think is broken --in ourselves, our lives, our families, marriages, churches, country, world... whatever feels or looks or IS broken... we want it fixed! 

But if we are being totally honest... sometimes we don't really want the right fix... we want the EASY fix!  And, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but... Jesus? Yeah... He fixes things the correct way - going all the way down to the root. There are no shortcuts or quick-fixes with Him.  He's in it for the long haul and He sees the WHOLE thing from every vantage point!  

He's never in a rush... 

  It's not who He is or how He operates!

So while we long for an Easy fix, He longs for a Back-to-the-Original,-Never-Been-Broken fix... He longs, as He whispered to me softly on New Years' Day, Resurrection sometimes over Restoration.

When He first said that to me, it felt wrong... or  - well... different, anyway! I mean - He is our Restorer... and Restoration is in His wheel house.  It's what He does!

You know... the whole Better-Than-Before kind of Full Restoration!

He's done it in me... and I'm fairly certain He has done it in you, too!

But sometimes, something is so broken... so shattered... so completely lost or misguided or diseased... sometimes the best kind of restoration is actual Resurrection instead!  

Sometimes - the best way to fix something, is to let it die... to lay it down... to mourn the loss of it and prepare your heart to walk away.

Listen... we know that often times what looks dead to us, is not actually dead!  Here we are in the dead of winter when (normally, anyway!) the trees are barren and the land is cold and hard and it looks as if there is just no life... no green... no fruit to be found.

But God!

Right? Come on... 

BUT GOD!!!

I can't say for you what may look busted up and broken in your life... I don't know what in you or around you may look as if it is taking its' last breath... I know I can think of a few things in my life!  

And I also know this: But God!

I have learned to never count Him out. I've learned over several Heavy and Hard years to trust Him anyway... to stand on His Word and His Promises* and to put my Faith on the line.

Listen - even after countless unanswered prayers that felt like they were His Will, and many losses, and the laying precious things down, I'm a Faith Girl still!

I can't help it! It is in my DNA!

So I will stand... I will pray... I will wait... 

and I will go where He says to go

and I will say what He says to say

and I will do what He says to do...

And I will take my hands off

and wrap my head and heart around

letting go of the idea of an 'easy fix'. 

I will purpose in prayer

to ask Him to help me

want the eternal fix instead... 

the one that lasts beyond this world

and into the next!

{STOP!}

I believe He longs for that, too! 

He paid the price for us... 

He bought us back from the enemy

and all the brokenness this world inflicts.

He laid down His life, broken and bruised,

so we could pick up our pieces and live fully healed,

Restored and Resurrected!

Let's let Him in to all the shattered,

shadowed corners of our hearts... 

let's lay ourselves bare before Him

and allow Him full access to fix us

--to fix our circumstances, our brokennesss,

the only way He can! 

Something about Arise and Shine... 

  Something about New Life... 

    Something about Go and Sin No More... 

      Something about Revival & Kingdom & releasing Heaven on Earth!

Let's let Him fix us so we can be about our Fathers' business! 

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 "FIX"!

* - This marks my Five Minutes. Grace, please, as I finished my thought!

Photo's courtesy of Jukka Heinovirta via Unsplash

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!

We sit down at the mics and simply talk about real life! Check out a new episode, coming soon!  THE CHANGING OUR MINDS PODCAST is somewhat non-bloggy related and I co-host it with my all grown up Girlie, Kayelyn! We cover a lot of topics! 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!