​






















Stuck.

Caught in a place you never intended. In limbo. Not moving anytime soon.

This describes my writing, at the moment.

My blog is close to flat-lining. Again. I have a sinister delight in seeing the last blip in the screen as my page insights dwindle down to 0. It won’t be long before I hear the Code Blue ring out in my brain. Do I let it die or do I resuscitate?

Unlike a human whose life is intrinsically precious because God deems it to be, my blog must prove its reason to exist.

Why is it here?

What will it offer?

When will that happen?

Writing for me is part of my job. It is an itch I occasionally scratch. It provides organization to random thoughts. Writing forces me to reason coherently on paper, and often that’s a very tedious process for me.

I guess I’m keeping my blog on life support. This could go on indefinitely or I could pull the plug and witness its last breaths while I heave a sigh of relief. Because if I’m honest, maintaining a blog and website and figuring out social media presence is a burden I’m not convinced I need to commit to for the long haul.

There are SO MANY good blogs out there. Excellent writers who have thrown themselves fully into the care and feeding of their blogs/websites who seem to rise with the sun as the bakers do and produce yummy goodness from their lightning fingers and offer up fresh baked wisdom on a weekly basis. I applaud you all!

So why do I continue?

I suppose a better question is for whom do I continue? Like each blip you hear on a heart monitor offers a sign of life, a sound of hope, to everyone in that hospital room, each post is a sign of life to me, the person who reads it, and to God.

I can’t tell you how often I have been ready to quit this thing when someone feels the need to offer a shot of encouragement in the process of writing/blogging. ARGG!

And……thank you.

And then there’s this from Psalm 43:5  “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” (NASB)

I can’t seem to shake this call to write, kind of like stepping in a gooey piece of bubble gum on a hot summer’s day. I’m stuck with it ‘cause it’s stuck on me.

So for now I’ll continue to keep the thing alive. Begrudgingly, maybe.

But here’s the deal: if you’re willing will you shoot up a simple prayer for me? A prayer for direction and focus? I’d be so grateful.

I’m happy to do the same for you.

We’re in this together it seems. 

********************
This post is brought to you by Five Minute Friday - a community of writers who pen their thoughts for five minutes on the the prompt of the the week. 

Five Minute Friday is a community of writers who write for five minutes on the word of the week provided by our faithful leader, Kate Motaung. We post our results HERE. Take a peek and share your comments. We appreciate it!
****************************************

She explains the situation. It’s not a pretty picture. They can only take what they can carry and there’s no certain future for them when they get there. They would be the foreigners there. She’d understand completely if they wanted to stay.

No, no! They wanted to go with her. They both loved her. These past ten years were good. Who knew that it would be too much for the men? But the women remained. And they would tough it out together.

She was grateful for their love and support, but they were going from the frying pan into the fire. She couldn’t support herself, let alone two more.

“Here’s the deal. I have no future to give you. I know of no one else who could. You would do well to stay put with your families and your gods and everything else you’re familiar with.”

Say your good-byes and get a move on. It’s a long way back to the home you once knew when life was full and all was well with the world.

One embraces her bestowing tear soaked kisses upon her cheek.

​The other falls at her feet, holding on for dear life.

/stop/

The parting has come. One slowly picks up her bag, tenderly expressing her love and gratefulness. She had decided. She turns, back toward home.  

The other’s embrace strengthens on Naomi.

Ruth won’t let go.

Not for the world.

Not for all the gods in Moab.

In the ten years she’d been in her husband’s family, Ruth’s heart had turned from the idolatry of her homeland, toward Yahweh of Israel.

She had been loved in a way she hadn’t thought possible.

Nothing would keep her from living with the only one left who could tell her more.

And nothing would keep her from dying in a place where this God was worshiped, this God of Truth Ruth had come to love.
********************************
​You'll also find me at Fresh Market Friday Link-up. Check it out!

Before you read this post you must understand that it was written at 12:30 A.M. as a five minute free writing  response the the word prompt from Five Minute Friday. Though it may  sound a bit like rambling,  I think I come around to a certain coherent point at the end. 
​
*********************************
​go......

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Avoiding the obvious requires great skill.

Denying what your eyes are telling you.

Ignoring what your ears are hearing.

Ask me what I think about the weather and I will tell you why I chose cereal rather than eggs for breakfast. Ridiculous, but I gave you an answer.

Give me a minute and I’ll give you a reason worthy of any major newspaper’s front page.

Why?

Because there is no longer a need for discernment in reporting the news. People can make up whatever pleases themselves and if they find just one person who agrees with them, that makes it good.

GOOD?!

What is good?

Nobody knows. Not anymore.

Truly, the only good that has been or ever will be is God.

He is the Source of all goodness. Goodness exists because He does.

/stop/

God is good.

God is other.

Perfect. Holy. Whole. Light. Life.

Only the fool laughs at the concept of God.

Only the mocker would bite the Hand that feeds him.

Only the redeemed would gladly dispossess everything they have to possess what comes only from Almighty God.

Put that headline on the front page news and make the world wonder.
 
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
​Romans 12:2 (NASB)

​
​

Let it go.

Whatever you are holding on to so tightly that’s holding you back, you must release it. When you do, you free yourself.

I found out that God had much bigger plans for me than I would ever have had for myself after I let go of my precious dreams.  They weren’t bad, just not as good as God can make.

Desires to perform were underlying motivations for my involvements in life. But they caused me much inner strife and discontentment. It wasn’t until I released them and fully surrendered them to the Lord that I gained the peace and contentment of a soul satisfied with her God.

A released hand is open to receive and to give.

A tight-fisted grip closes off any flow of grace or mercy or love.

I think that’s one reason why we are invited to praise the Lord with hands upraised.
Open.

Reaching.

Hopeful.

Ready for the touch from our Good God.

Ephesians 3:20-21  “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him {be} the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” (NASB)

~~~~~~~~~
Read more posts on the prompt for this week at Five Minute Friday Link-up. 

​Psalm 61:4 Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.

Settle for… nothing but God’s best.

Settle down….. abide in peace where you are.

Settle into… a routine that brings you closer to God.

Settle.

The word has a touch of home. A taste of joy. A view of the undersides of God’s wings. Be still my heart so I can hear His.

To be drawn into the joyful contentment of God’s presence is a delight we are allowed to experience in this life. Just a hint of what awaits us when we pass from this world to the next.

Moving, transfers, relocation, all bump and jostle the happy hunkered down feeling I long to live in. Just when I’m feeling at ease driving around a place it seems that we begin again in a new unfamiliar place.

As followers Christ we are called to traverse terrain we wouldn’t normally go. Ministry does that and we are all called into ministry as followers of Jesus.

My particular call is to come alongside my pastor-husband and support him as he shepherds our little flock. Whatever the Lord provides for me in that situation settles me, as long as it come from Him. That doesn’t mean it’s not full of surprises, or stretches my abilities, or teeters me on the very brink of my comfort zone.

As long as I know that I am in the will and calling of God, I’m in THE BEST place on earth!

/stop/

In this life the Lord will build our endurance going higher up for a peek at heavenly vistas, unattainable at the lowlands.

He will escort us to the dark caverns of suffering to show us where the priceless jewels of faith are mined.

I take great comfort and encouragement in the testimonies of those who have run their race with endurance to the very end. Those who have trusted God wholly and found Him wholly true.

I am grateful for your life as you discover the blessings endowed to anyone who wholeheartedly lives life for Jesus, to the glory of His Name. 

~~~~~~~~

This thought on the word, 'settle,' is brought to you by the writer's community at Five Minute Friday and...... me. Try it, you'll like it! Set the timer for five minutes on Friday and write from the heart. Share it with the group.  If you write a little longer or can't get to it until Monday......that's okay, too.