When Silence is Adding to the Noise in Your Head... a Five Minute Friday post

I have not been able to make it to the party on Twitter for a LONG time... (I accidentally started a Thursday night Bible Study - ironically going through Lisa-Jo's We Saved You A Seat.) . Still - it will wrap up in a few more weeks and I can't wait to get back to the Tribe!

But until then, I will still play along in this little corner and over at the Link Up!  Here we go: 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 of: SILENCE

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I know... with all my talking about and putting into practice  REST, and with the season of life as an Empty Nester, and with the fact that I am an introvert, one would assume that Silence is my jam. (I know... but I can't stop saying it.)

And it IS!
Normally... I love me some Silence...

A little slow and quiet space to soak and to unwind... 
to think and to pray... 
to recenter and refocus and 
to re-calibrate my heart to the rhythm of His.

It is my jam...

But then there are the times when the Silence is simply adding to the Noise in your head and for the love, Peace is elusive and the quiet can feel maddening, right?

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY TWENTY NINE

Stories of Hope, Joy and Transition!

***

No Fear In Love...

I love this song... and if there is any anthem I want to sing over Lil' Miss, it is this one!

"Stir in me a love that's deep

A love that's wide, a love that's sweet

And help me Lord to never keep it to myself

And if my heart should dimly burn

And if my feet should fail to run

Call my name and I will come right back to You

Cause there's no fear in love

There's no fear in love..."

Go ahead... turn up the volume and let this song wash over you! 

(I encourage you to listen to the song before we pray!)

Let's pray:

Father God... 

We thank You that there is no fear in love. 

We thank You that even when worry and doubt

and unbelief and confusion begin to

whisper lies to our hearts,

we know Your Truth whispers

louder and sinks in deeper. 

We thank You that You call our name...

As we transition to Mama's and Mimi's,

the enemy throws all kinds of unknowns

that attempt to sow fear

--sometimes out in the open, 

and sometimes quietly,

almost undetected.

The cry of our heart is that

Love will chase away fear,

and faith will rise up

and take root in our hearts... 

and in the heart of this

precious new Little One, too!

We pray for peace...

and we pray for boldness and brave.

We believe they can go hand in hand!

We pray that we will not keep

Your Name or Your Love a secret

but we will shout it out from the rooftops

and whisper it soft as we are

rocking this gift (back!) to sleep!

Lord, we really DO just want

to stay close to You!

Help us to keep it

that simple!

We thank You, Jesus

for how you cast out all fear, 

for You are Perfect Love!

(1 John 4:18)

Holy Spirit, we thank You

that You are constantly interceding on our behalf

and that You reveal all truth.

When fear sneaks in,

he tells us lies that are easy to believe.

But You rush in...

You sing over us.

Help us to lean in and listen closely!

May we hear the sounds of Heaven

and the Voice of our Beloved,

as the answers to our prayers are released!

Amen!

***

"I wanna stay close to You

It's really that simple

I wanna stay close to You

Just as simple as this song

I wanna stay close to You

It's really that simple

I wanna stay close to You

My whole life long."

THAT is my prayer... for myself, for my Girlie and Lil' Miss... and for you too, sweet reader!

And lastly, a picture just for fun:

Can you EVEN with her adorableness?  
#Gah! #Swoon #TotesAdorbs #Preshie

Can you believe we are already almost DONE?  Tomorrow we will dig in to the topic of Healthy Boundaries a little further! No matter WHAT season you are in or what role you have... we ALL need to remember the vital importance of setting and respecting boundaries! I hope you'll join in on the conversation!

Today is Day Twenty Nine of 31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi! If you click over to the official 'Home page' for this series HERE, you can catch up! You will find links for each days' postings, added daily throughout the month. If you'd prefer to have them delivered right to you, I invite you to enter your email address to the right ('Subscribe Here') and subscribe to the blog. That way, once a week, each post is delivered to your inbox in a single email over the weekend and you'll be sure not to miss a thing!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY TWENTY ONE

Stories of Hope, Joy and Transition!

***

Hello there, Sabbath Rest!

We are so ready for you!

"...we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing."  Ephesians 2:10 The Message

"For we are the product of His hand, heaven’s poetry etched on lives, created in the Anointed, Jesus, to accomplish the good works God arranged long ago."  Ephesians 2:10 The Voice

Can you even? Gah! We love her so much!

Why is it when we look at newborns and babes, we can see so clearly that we are His masterpieces... each one, individually created with such love and beauty --and yet when we look in the mirror or around us at -uh, 'taller' peers, it's harder to see and remember?

Father G (Gregory Boyle) recently gave a talk in our City and he said this:

"You are exactly what God had in mind when God made you!" 

Man... what would happen if we would simply believe this?

We'll be back tomorrow with A Song and A Prayer!
Until then, let's remember to:

Today is Day Twenty One of 31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi! If you click over to the official 'Home page' for this series HERE, you can catch up! You will find links for each days' postings, added daily throughout the month. If you'd prefer to have them delivered right to you, I invite you to enter your email address to the right ('Subscribe Here') and subscribe to the blog. That way, once a week, each post is delivered to your inbox in a single email over the weekend and you'll be sure not to miss a thing!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY SEVENTEEN

This is Day Seventeen in our 31 Days series: Going from Mama to Mimi - Stories of Hope, Joy, & Transition...

Becoming Papa & Mimi...

Maybe it was not even a conversation or a thought... 

Maybe you simply went by what your kids called your own parents... 

Or maybe you picked out a name but it came out differently --but oh so perfectly, spilling from your own grand babies lips once they could talk.

Maybe you didn't like "Grandpa" or "Grandma" because --gah! We're just not that old... (yet!) 

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY SIXTEEN

This is Day Sixteen in our 31 Days series: Going from Mama to Mimi - Stories of Hope, Joy, & Transition...

Growing a Baby AND a Mom!

How many of you remember that nine months can seem to take FOREVER? (Especially that last month or two, right?)

It takes a long time to grow a baby... 
    and just as long to grow a Mama, too!

There is so much going on in the process and passing of nine months... so many changes and shifts and adjustments made --both physically, and emotionally!

No matter how the nine months began --a long awaited for announcement or a surprised shock of new news... no matter how ready or not ready we may think we are-- it takes every moment of growing Baby in the womb, to begin to grow Mama in the wonder.

Whether you are Type A and have color-coded plans, or you are more of a laid back, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type... the time it takes for God to form and fashion this new baby is also used to form and fashion the new Mama you are growing into!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY SIX - STORY... a Five Minute Friday post.

This is Day Six of the #Write31Days series, but we are playing along with the #fmfparty community! Here we go: 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 of: STORY

{GO}

Because... PERFECT, right? I mean... come on!

Because you can't really talk about Family and not talk about Story.  

All the while, when we think we are writing our Story... adding in characters and creating scenes to be remembered long after the last page is read, the reality is that
God is the Author of our Story!

He is the One writing it down, and we remember this oh so clearly when we find ourselves rolling with the twists and turns that we would have never penciled in ourselves.

But God...
    (I mean, right?)

I mean --some of the hardest and most unexpected plot twists of my life have led me down the BEST story lines!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi... DAY FIVE

This is Day Five in our 31 Days series: Going from Mama to Mimi - Stories of Hope, Joy, & Transition...

Grace! Grace!

Yesterday we talked a bit about Getting the News... whether it was all joy and celebration, or a little tainted with confusion and fear.

So of course today we will tackle a bit about:
Grace!
  Oh how we all need it --in any given situation!  

It seems when new life is being formed in us, --physically or spiritually speaking, we need it even more!

I'm not sure about you and your story --but I know for me, when I got the news that we were expecting our own baby, I felt elated and terrified at the same exact moment.

Because, who feels confident and ready and fully capable from the very beginning? 

Maybe some people.  
But not me.

It did me well to remember this when we got the news of becoming Papa and Mimi earlier this year!

31 Days of Going From Mama to Mimi - DAY FOUR

This is Day Four in our 31 Days series: Going from Mama to Mimi - Stories of Hope, Joy, & Transition...

Getting the News!!!

Sometimes this is super exciting and the timing seems perfect and it's something you have been longing for or maybe even hinting at --the whole wanting to be a Mimi thing! 

Sometimes getting the news feels like it is long overdue and something you had almost given up hope for... College took years and then finding the right mate and then careers and life unfolding...

And sometimes it is news that you were in no way expecting... you weren't ready for it... weren't prepared... hadn't even thought to hope for it quite yet.

But at all times, no matter what the surrounding situation,
Life is Gift and the Giver is Good!

We fell in to that last category of not expecting or being prepared for the news... 

When All You Can Do is Accept... A Five Minute Friday post.

aka Just Let Him Love You!

Guess who we FINALLY got to meet this week? Yep... Lil' Miss! 
She was OH SO WORTH THE WAIT, y'all!

But I digress. Here we go: 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 of: ACCEPT

{GO}

I know... I promise you I will try to pace myself with all things Baby but you've got to know that she is at the forefront of --well, everything, right now!

When I saw the prompt this week, my instant flashback was of course of this precious newbie, snuggled safely in arms... softly kissed as she is drawn near, simply accepting the warmth and security and love being poured out and prayed in to her --all while she was blissfully at rest!

My next thought was of this phrase that I can't seem to let go of! I pray it on Sunday mornings over our congregation, and I say it in texts and emails as I encourage friends and family who are going through all kinds of hard... it is this:

Just Let Him Love You!

(As if you could stop Him!)

When What You Need is a Circling Around and Hedging In... Support: A Five Minute Friday post.

(We are STILL WAITING for the arrival of Lil' Miss... 'Any day now' has become our mantra!)

But as we wait... I will write. Here we go: 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 of: SUPPORT

{GO}

I can't even promise you anything here because already, just in the waiting, I have talked about how we are longing for the arrival of Lil' Miss and I've talked about the journey we are on with our only Girlie and while that is nothing new, (read: I have always talked about her in this little corner of the interwebs!) I hear it may get MUCH WORSE once she (finally) gives me this grand baby to dote on and talk about!

In fact, while the Lord gave me a tough topic to tackle as a series here, I am leaning more and more into the idea of doing that one a little later in the Winter, and doing a Mimi-related 31 Days series full of yummy baby pictures and prayers and such because: Hello Lil Miss! (and helping new Mama and sleepless nights and life adjustments and making room!)

And yet... the first thing that comes to mind when I see the word prompt, 'Support' is the amazing gift of Circling Around and Hedging In that has happened during these nine months (and counting!) for our girlie and for us!

Expectations

(An excerpt from my sermon a couple of weeks ago.)

It was a couple of weeks ago... at the tail end of our long, hard summer when the Lord began lovingly questioning me about my expectations and what I had been allowing to build up around them.

He started to talk with me about the difference between expectations based on past experiences versus expectations based on HOPE and TRUST!

Obviously, He prefers one over the other!

Expectation is defined as a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future. It can be either good or bad. 

But Hope...
  Hope is always FOR...
    ...always positive!

Eric Reeder defines Hope this way: 

“Hope is the unconditional assurance that Fathers’ goodness prevails and it becomes the force of boldness in life.”

Imagine what could happen if we combined our expectations with Hope?

If They're Gonna Know Us By Our Love... We Have Work To Do - A Five Minute Friday post.

I finally made it to the party for a bit last night and it felt good, and right, and a little like home! (If you are a writer and are looking for Community, check out #fmfparty on Twitter on Thursday nights!)

Here we go: 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 of: WORK

{GO}

I see the word prompt and my first thought is, "Well - we have a lot of that to do!"

I think of this world and how broken and divided it can be... how broken and divided it is.  I think of the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John:

"This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:35 The Message

I think of how I wish this was true... of how I wish that 'they' could look at the Church at large and see by the way we love each other and Him that we are, in fact, His! 

That we are representing Him well in the earth!

What We Learned This Summer...

It is time yet again for Emily Freeman's quarterly link-up on What We Learned, and it's still my favorite! It gives me opportunity to reflect back over a few months at a time and process more fully what God is teaching me! (I'd love for you to join in, too!) The last few months held a lot of Hard and Heavy --but aren't those the seasons that teach us the most? We'll mix in some Light and Lovely, too! 

Here we go:

***
12 Random Things I Have Learned this summer... 

This is the 2017 Summer (June - August) edition

Are You My Neighbor? A Five Minute Friday post.

I keep saying it - because it is true... I miss y'all and I miss the tribe over at Five Minute Friday! I have hopes that with the arrival of Fall and routine, I will find myself back in this chair, consistently writing. But let's be honest... the arrival of Lil' Miss can be any day now -- so let's keep it real! I love you and miss you, sweet readers! I miss the processing for myself that tends to happen as I tap out words here... but Life is full and changing (Hello, granddaughter!) so I won't make promises I can't keep. But I will tell you this: I THINK of sitting here and I PRAY for you way more often that it may appear in this season. but Imma try to shrink the gap and meet you here on a regular basis again, starting today with this one word prompt.

Here we go: 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 of: NEIGHBOR

{GO}
My first thoughts go to two different states in our Union... and then to the Word of God.  

I think of Charlottesville and I think of Houston... and then I think of how the Bible tells us again and again that we are called to LOVE!  To Love our neighbors as well as we love ourselves and for some, that is a high call and for others --well, sometimes we don't really love ourselves the way we are called to either, right?

My next thought flashes to the Dr. Seuss book "Are You My Mother?" but I see it written out as "Are You My Neighbor?" because - really, in this call to love - we are called to recognize and remember that we are FAMILY... 

All of us - Family! - created in His image, bearing His name, and oh how we are supposed to be following His lead...

Oh, How There is a Place For You: An Ode to Evelyn Rose - A Five Minute Friday post.

I know... it's once again been forever. Life, man. You know?  But I can spare five minutes and I need to find a rhythm that puts me back in this chair and while this One Word Prompt could go heavy and deal with the hard, Imma keep it Light and Happy, y'all!

Here we go:

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 of: PLACE

{GO}

 Oh babies!!!

No matter what is going on in the world at large, or even in our world right here at home... there is something about babies that stirs up Hope and Life and Joy and oh - how we need that!

Right?  All of us, I think, are in need of a little bundle of Hope and Life and Joy right about now!

And while we didn't plan for you, Lil Miss... while you are somewhat of a surprise to us all --God knew exactly what He was doing when He breathed life into you and began to fashion and form you in your Mama's womb!

And don't think for one hot second that you were ever not wanted... You are a gift and oh how we are making room for you - in our hearts and in our homes and yes... in our hopes and lives and joy, too.

We have yet to look you full on in the eyes (soon, baby... soon!) but you have already captured our hearts and you are oh so very loved, dear one!

You Inspire A Sacrifice of Praise - a Five Minute Friday post.

I am finally sitting in the chair (again)... so let's do this.

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 of: INSPIRE

{GO}

I'm still feeling a little unsteady on my feet, but the ground is where it is supposed to be once again and oh my, how I have been avoiding this chair. 

Sitting here... tapping out words that spill from my heart, unedited and unrefrained...

But I'm here. Sitting in the chair. Breathless at how Inspiration is all around us --if we will but focus our eyes and open our hearts.  (#preachingtomyownselfhere!)

My first thought at seeing our Word Prompt is from an older worship song... and the line that now undoes me is about how He inspires songs of praise. 

As morning dawns and evenings fades You inspire songs of praise That rise from earth to touch Your heart and glorify Your Name

And oh, how He does! He DOES inspire songs of praise... He always has, ever since I came to know Him. I love to worship and while I am 'normal' and have gone through hard times in the past, I have never had the mere thought of singing praises cause me to want to just sit it out and be silent quite so strongly.

Enter: The Sacrifice of Praise.