Receive - A return to the Five Minute Friday Post

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This is a Five Minute Friday post... It has been a long, long while since I have played along with this practice, this community... but I am hoping to get back to some sort of consistency in sitting in this chair and typing words together... In case you are new - or like me, may have forgotten -  Five Minute Friday posts are when I set a timer and free-write for five minutes flat. Sometimes 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! I'm out of practice in all things writing but here I sit... leaning in, and getting back to some old practices!  Here we go!

Today, our one-word prompt is: RECEIVE

{GO!} 

Receive...

I see the word prompt and immediately remember doing a post on this word years and years ago... maybe around Christmas time.  I am also reminded that it has been WAY too long since I have sat in this space and tapped on keys to reveal my heart.

I stepped away from the Blogging World a while ago. It was a slow fade for me... 

Going back to work after decades of staying home and being in ministry was an adjustment... many of you (if you are still around!) remember my Honey and I helped to plant a brand new church and it was AMAZING... it was so great --until it wasn't. We didn't see that coming because --well, because we started it ourselves and we knew what we wanted and what we didn't want --so when it began to transform into things we did not want we weren't quite sure how to slow it down or course-correct it.  We lost our voice and eventually had to lay it all down and step away.  In that season, I stepped a bit further back from this place... holding my thoughts and my words closer to my chest.  

Then job loss and uncertainty crept in...

Next politics and political correctness swirled up into a storm all around us and then finally the blow of a global pandemic.  I lost my rhythm and routine in writing all the things! I didn't take notice that writing is more for ME than it is for any of you... it is how I process and how I hear from the Lord!

But as 'writer' slipped out of my bio and the practice fell off to the side, I pressed into God... I embraced change and surrendered to a season of silence, and I found healing... no - I received healing... but I stayed quiet. 

I felt called to a season of Intercession and many of the things I was being called to pray for were not exactly popular and definitely not very social media friendly.

So over the past handful of years, in my absence, I have felt things brewing and changing... I have received grace and healing and extended it outward, too! 

I have learned a whole new industry in my day job with constant learning going on to implement new programs and new platforms. I am currently taking classes to become a licensed Real Estate Broker.  

I have also found ridiculous joy in being a Mimi! My all-grown-up girlie is doing incredibly well and we are so proud of her and her Lil' Miss (who is already FIVE, if you can believe it!)

If I am honest -which I am that... as you all know!- I have felt tired.  A bit wrung out and weary... but I know that God has been with me in all of the twists and turns and I know that He has plans and purposes in every one of them. 

Curveballs and Blind Corners are not my favorites. I like it best when He lets me in on what He is up to and when I can see a bit ahead. I am a fan of my comfort zones. But if you have been around this corner of the internet much at all, you know He is the Boss of me and He OFTEN - I mean, read: ALL the TIME!?? - calls me out of those comfy cozy spaces into a wide-open place full of stretching and new adventures. 

He has caused me to wake up at 3am for much of the past couple of years to pray. He has plans and He has given me a glimpse here and there and I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that His plans are GOOD... and they are for my/our good.  So I choose to Trust Him.

Where else would we go, right?

Friend, maybe this is you too? Maybe you have gone through a season of feeling a bit overwhelmed, disconnected, out of sync*, or just felt too tired to press through or go on... 

Can I tell you something?  Everything we need to live a life of joy and grace and goodness --He has already provided! We simply (or not so simply!) just need to receive it!

I am still a Faith girl... it's in my bones and my very makeup now... I cannot escape it.  But I also have had seasons of tragic loss, doubt, and many many unanswered prayers. (At least they were not answered in the way I was praying for them to be!)

Still, I know down deep, without question:
God is good...

He is faithful!

(He can't NOT be!

It's WHO He IS!)

As I pray into what 2023 holds for me --for us... I feel a hint of Hope stirring yet again and I believe that while many will be blindsided and shell-shocked --there is a remnant who said Yes to praying... who said Yes to believing (-help my unbelief, right?)... and who said Yes to God - no matter what. 

{STOP!}

And I believe in Dry Bones coming together... 

I believe in Resurrection Power and in Supernatural Healing...

I believe we will see the Goodness of God in the land of the Living. 

I believe this year brings us to the Fullness of Time

and I believe the payoff for 'no matter what' is fast approaching!

100%, I believe and I receive!

In Jesus' Name!

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In full disclosure - I was using an online timer and I am pretty sure it was not accurate!  Next time I will use my phone!

Until next time, let's remember to:

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 "RECEIVE"!

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

The FMF lowdown:

We write our hearts out around One Word 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.  It's been a LONG time since I've hung out here, but this is 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... Join in!