Five Minute Friday - Again

It's Friday and you know what that means....Five Minute Friday! Join in and take 5 minutes to write about a chosen prompt and connect to a community of writers.

Their shoes are in front of the door again. There is toothpaste in the sink and wet towels on the bathroom floor again. "Turn out the light!", "Stop teasing your brother!" and "Close the front door!" are phrases I find myself saying again and again.

Then I hear their giggles as they are watching the same show they have seen a million times and I am again reminded how blessed I am that my home is filled with scattered shoes and wet towels and that there are precious little ones to care for, love and remind over and over again.

And I am sure God feels the same way about me. How often does He have to remind me to pick up my unrighteousness, repent of it and lay it at His feet to receive mercy and grace. How many times to have to be rebuked about my forgetfulness to pray or read His Word or stop my incessant worrying already! Again and again He gently pulls me close and whispers the same things, "You are forgiven", "You are loved" and "You need to change". But, He does it so gently and lovingly.

I believe that just as I am thankful to have my children to daily love and see grow again and again, He is that much more thankful that I am His child.

HelloMornings

I have an unhealthy love affair with sleep and my bed. I enjoy sleeping and napping so much that I sometimes count the hours until I can sleep again as soon as I wake up in the morning!

But, I also have a strong desire to be close to the Lord, be in good health and be a present wife for my husband and Momma for my kiddos. So, I am joining the HelloMornings Challenge !

This encouraging group of women band together for 13 weeks to be committed to rising early, spending time in God's Word and in prayer, exercising and planning out the day all before your family wakes for the day. It is a great way to get serious about making the day count by getting the morning started right.

Won't you join me?

Dive - Five Minute Friday

Five Minute Fridays are back!! Join me in taking five minutes to write about a designated weekly topic. I love the opportunity to just take a few minutes to write without thinking too much about it. It pushes my creativity and helps me stretch out of my comfort zone.

This week's topic: DIVE

I can remember standing on the edge of the pool. Arching my body, clasping my hands, pointing my toes and   closing my eyes, I bend my knees. And I wait. I am holding my breath, but I don't realize it. I can hear my heart beating in my ears.

I am trying to make sure everything is perfect before I release my body and dive into the water and it paralyzes me. I can not move. I love the water, the splash and the feeling of knowing I executed the dive, but it is the letting go that I struggle with every time. I want to make sure everything is right and it hinders me for enjoying the thrill of the dive.

So many times that is the way it is in my spiritual life, too. I know that taking the steps toward doing what God wants me to do is exciting and I love being in His will, but I find myself standing on the edge of knowing I need to dive in, but I want it to be right and perfect and I forget that sometimes just letting go is worth it.      

  

OneWord - BOLD

When I first read my friend, Julie's blog post about OneWord365, I instantly felt anxious. I wanted to participate, but what if I picked the wrong word? Or the same word as someone else? Or, what if I couldn't pick a word? It felt like too much pressure for just one word. I felt like my whole year hung on this one word and what if I messed it up somehow?

I anxiously started praying, which was actually more like babbling about what my word should be. Hope? I felt like I had picked that a few years ago and that the year had been hopeless. Purpose? Was I going to have to tap into my inner Rick Warren (do I even have an inner Rick Warren??) to find out what that would mean for my life? Ugh! See, the pressure I was putting on myself!

So, I went to the OneWord365 blog and read a few of the posts about choosing my word. I was less anxious, but still unsure about what my word should be. Was I overthinking it? Would I finally choose a word, but then it would be so late in the month, year, that it wouldn't matter??

Then, yesterday as I sat quietly in the living room next to my husband as he typed away on the laptop, I started thinking about how I wanted to live this year, what I wanted to see God do and what I would need to do to help myself and my family achieve the God-sized goals He has for us this year and I heard Him whisper.....BOLD.

     Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (KJV)

I want to be BOLD in my witness to others. I want to be BOLD in my faith. I want to pray BOLD prayers for myself, my family, my friends, the world! I want to live a life that reflects God doing BIG and BOLD miracles for me and my family!

I am now energized when I think about my word, about this year and about what God is going to do as I come BOLDLY to His throne of grace and obtain His mercy and grace.

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:31 (NIV)

Just as the disciples and apostles in Acts prayed BOLDly and God moved, I know He will do the BOLD things in me this year!

*My BOLD button was made by Melanie. Check out her blog and link up to her post, too!