{Five Minute Friday | Haven}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {HAVEN}. I am a day late to the party, but I made it. Woo!

Ready? GO.

Haven. A place of refuge and shelter where you feel protected. It's some place you return to at the end of a long, weary day or during a particularly difficult season. It's quiet, perhaps, and offers a place to rest. When one seeks cover in her haven, she leaves feeling refreshed and encouraged, comforted. There's only one place like this for me.

Psalm 91 explains it perfectly. "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him."

Yes. Just, yes.

And, though there is nothing wrong with my initial explanation, over time, I've changed my mind about something. Do you see it, there in verse one? One four-letter-word. Live. See, God isn't someone I merely return to at the end of the day or when I find myself in a pinch. He's much more than that. My place with God -- it's where I live. Where I abide, dwell, stay, exist. With Him, in Him.

May I encourage you, sweet friends? We don't have to take a step without Him. Not one. He will never leave you without cover, without refuge, without the protection of His shadow. He is faithful. In Him, we have all that we need.

Stop.

{Five Minute Friday | Cheer}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {CHEER}. I am a day late to the party, but I made it. Woo!

Ready? GO.

Dear Christians,
Why don’t we cheer for each other? Why is it ever-so-difficult to celebrate and cheer the successes of people we are supposed to love? It seems like, instead of cheering and celebrating, we compare and feel threatened. Have you ever been to a high school sports event where a parent only cheers for his/her kid? I know you have! It's awful.
It has to stop. The comparison. The exhausting competition. The ridiculous drive to succeed at the expense of someone else or perhaps lots of someones. Scripture says the world will know we (the Church) belong to Christ because of the way we love one another. Maybe we don't love each other well when we refuse to cheer. Maybe we don't love each other well when we make it all about our success without celebrating the success of others. How I wish we all understood that one person’s success doesn’t disqualify us from our own. One person's effectiveness doesn't diminish our effectiveness.

Besides, aren’t we all on the same team? Yes, we are. Be a big-picture kind of person who realizes there’s room for all of us to walk the path God’s asking us to walk and do the thing God has gifted us to do. In the end, isn't it better if we are all effectively influencing people for Jesus? And If I can do something to help you along the way, then why wouldn’t I? Let’s be Christians who are gospel-minded. Let’s cheer each other on like crazy. Yes, let's.

Stop.

{Five Minute Friday | Grow}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {GROW}. I am a day late to the party, but I made it. Woo!

Ready? GO.

Just a few weeks ago, dandelions had overtaken our front yard. Seriously. It was bad. My husband, hoping to be thrifty, researched DIY solutions. The most promising solution: pull the weed up by the root. I'm going out on a limb here in saying whoever suggested this as a solution didn't have a hundred dandelions growing in their grass. If you're wondering, we skipped the process of uprooting them all. One pass of the lawn mower and they were gone! But, they can still grow because the root remains. So, I was thinking.

 We all grow throughout our lives. Growth means there's life, breath. Trees lose their leaves and regrow them each spring. Long after we stop growing tall, we still have the capacity for growth - we get smarter, stronger, more mature in our patterns of thinking.  Yeah, it's good to keep growing. I don't want to stop growing, but I want to grow in the right direction. There's something I can do about that, you know? See, what goes on beneath the surface hugely affects what's visible above the surface. Likewise, what goes on above the surface can either encourage or hinder healthy growth. There is verse after verse of Scripture that applies, but here are two of my favorites:

Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will be strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7

Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. Ephesians 3:17

When you are rooted in Him, growth will be in the right direction. Why? That's easy. He's trustworthy. He's good. He makes it His business to grow us into something beautiful for His glory. And, He is ever so patient as He tends to my heart. For that I am grateful.

Stop.

{Five Minute Friday | Miss}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {MISS}. I am a day late to the party, but I made it. Woo!

Ready? GO.

Is there anyone else out there who loves a good plan? Yeah, me too. Sometimes, though, things happen that I couldn't have planned. Hiccups. Bumps in the road. Difficult seasons. Transitions. In those times, I find myself often looking up asking, "Is this part of the plan?" or "Lord, can we get past this point as quickly as possible?" There's something about the hard spots that make me want to rush through. It's like a head-down-running-as-fast-as-you-can kind of feeling.

Thankfully, the Lord is patient, and He taught me that I was asking the wrong questions in those moments. I learned that a better question was "Lord, What do you want me to see that I'm not seeing? What am I missing?" Yeah, that's the better question.

It's not that I stop praying for a change of scene or a swift resolution to the challenge at hand. I believe our conversations with God should be honest. But, Here's the thing: if we trust He's always working on our behalf, then we have to believe there's always something in every season that will be for our benefit. And because I know that He is good, and He's trustworthy, I don't want to miss the thing He has for me. I don't want to miss what He's doing or saying because I have my head down running toward the next thing as fast as I can. Besides, He always delivers on His promise to use everything for my good and His glory. You know what the best piece is? Lean in a bit so you don't miss this. You can always count on Him to reveal more of Himself, something more about His character, or about His love. And isn't knowing Him worth any momentary, light affliction? Yes, I'd say that it is. That's certainly not something I'm willing to miss. I don't ever want to miss Him.

Stop.