Five Minute Friday || Choose

Today, Lisa-Jo Baker and FMF. Click the image to read and see other's posts. There you'll find a list of those who have also shared.

Today's word prompt: choose

Now... let's write.

GO

They sit engrossed in whatever they're interested in at the moment.

All of a sudden her voice breaks the silence. "I'm hungry!" He pipes up, "Yea, me too."

A few minutes pass. He suggests they go get a bite to eat somewhere, a restaurant. He then asks, "What do you want to eat?" She speaks up and says, "You choose." He says, "I don't know what I want." She says she doesn't either. It's like a game of cat and mouse.

Our lives are like this too. We end up with what I commonly call: "Indecision constipation". We treat our relationship with God like this also. We sit in our cozy chair and get cheeky with God when He urges us to do His will. We pick and choose what we want to do to serve. We stay in our comfort zone not risking ourselves so we don't get hurt, like all the other times we've reached out.

This quote speaks volumes:

"Among the things you can give and still keep are your word, a smile and a grateful heart." - Zig Ziglar

A simple smile is contagious. It warms up a cold heart. Being grateful turns around a negative situation. Show God's love to everyone. You never know who will be blessed because they're having a bad day!

STOP

Lead Me To The Cross || The Sunday Community

Five Minute Friday || Fight

A new year. The first Friday. It's time to write my first 5 minute Friday post of the year.
Click image on the right to read Lisa-Jo's post and then check out other's posts.

It's a great community. We just write, unveiled and naked. Before your mind runs away with craze about writing naked... I'm not referring to your person being naked without clothing. I'm referring to writing unhindered, and open-minded. Strip off all the masks. Tear down all the walls. Be the real you. No more hiding. You'll receive lots of love in this community.

Today's prompt - Fight

GO

I don't give up without a fight. Fighting seems to come easily for me. As a child I was bullied. For whatever reason, I couldn't figure out. One day walking home from school some girls were walking behind me. They started in picking on me. I finally had enough.  I snapped. Just before we reached the corner where we separated to go our own way she hit me in the back of the head. I turned, grabbed her by the hair, and threw her to the ground and called her a choice word. I knew I was in trouble for saying it. But, I thought to myself, it was all worth it. Those girls never bothered me again. Because of my home life I was a frustrated child. Because of that frustration I turned into the bully. I started fighting other kids. The previous event gave me confidence in myself to stand up to others.

Fighting isn't always the answer. However, standing up for ourselves is a good fight. Because of my fighting I've been able to overcome the low self-esteem.

I believe those who bullied me saw how down trodden I was. It didn't that I had to wear glasses. People can be very cruel. Learning to mentally fight back helps to overcome those negative people. It took me a long time, but, I was able to overcome it.

Keep on fighting, don't give up!

STOP

The Sunday Community || Avdent-Love

This is the last of the Advent Sundays and Christmas is in four days. I pray that the love of God in Yeshua the Messiah blesses you and brings you great joy and happiness!

Merry Christmas - Καλά Χριστούγεννα - חג המולד שמח

I've included the Greek and Hebrew langauge.

• John 3:14-17:
  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
• Mark 12:30: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
• Psalm 18:1-3:
  I love you, Lord;
      you are my strength.
  The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
      my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
  He is my shield, the power that saves me,
      and my place of safety.
  I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
      and he saved me from my enemies.

Still Saturday : Solitude

Mark 6:31: Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.

The best thinking has been done in solitude.
The worst has been done in turmoil.
Thomas A. Edison

The Sunday Community || Avdent of {Rejoicing}

Zechariah 2:10 - The Lord says, “Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem, for I am coming to live among you.

Psalm 33:21 - In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.

Zephaniah 3:17 - For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."

Psalm 32:11 - So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!

Psalm 13:5-6 - But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.

In Zephaniah 3:17 He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. God loves us enough to rejoice over me with joyful song? Not just me, but all of you too. We should respect Him enough to do it in return. Worship Him! Praise God!

Behind The Scenes || Retrospect

We reflect. We like to look back. We like to look for those fun and happy moments in life. It's good to remember happy times.

One such happy time for me was during the Christmas Season. The year was 2009. Just before this happy time life was very turbulent. So, experiencing this happy time was very memorable for me.

That happy time was Christmas Eve. This image was the view God gave us on this beautiful, but cold day.

As the typical motorcyclist puts their two wheels in storage for the Winter we keep ours on the road.

Since the Northern Hemisphere is the cold season in December not many riders like the cold and rain. I'm one of them. However, there is gear to make cold and wet riding not so cold and wet.

On Christmas Eve in 2009 we geared up for a ride. I had to dress lots of layers because I did not have gear for riding in the cold and wet, yet. On our ride we ended up going to a local motorcycle gear store.

It was late in the afternoon. As we stood inside the store going through gear options for me I looked up and out the store front window. To my amazement and awe I saw this image. It looked astonishingly majestic and massively bigger than my camera lens would depict.

Right there on the storefront steps outside I praised and worshiped God! His creation of nature continually blows my mind. The colors filled my eyes in a way that made my heart sing.

There was only a short amount of time at sunset that affords this awesome kind of lighting for photography. I wanted to capture it before it was gone. I may have never seen such a sight again. Voila!

I look at this image frequently just to remember and be in awe of God's wondrous work in our lives. After such a scene there was no denying God and His love for me.

On that beautiful day my wonderful husband, +Paul M Edwards, bought me a great Winter riding suit so that I could enjoy my rides and not get wet and freeze.

I'm hoping on January 1st when we have our traditional New Year's Day ride that my ankle will be healed enough that I can ride. It will be cold. I'll be wearing my great and awesome gift. I miss riding! It's temporary, until my ankle heals.

I've joined up with +Crystal Stine and the Behind The Scenes Community. Click the below image to be transported over there and check out other's posts. Join in if you like. There's plenty of room for more stories.

My One Word for 2014

It's almost the end of 2013. Each year a community of us seek a word of encouragement from the Lord. That word is our theme word for the year. I also have a life verse associated with my word.

We are all at different levels of our spiritual maturity. We are all at different seasons of life. The word you get from the Lord will be specific to your season and level of maturity.

The word that came to me is: renew.

My life verse to go with it is:

Spend some time in prayer and in God's word and allow Him to give you yours.

Still Saturday | Advent Day 7

Five Minute Friday | Reflect

I'm linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday. Lisa-Jo posts that there will be a break for December while she travels to her beloved South Africa for Christmas. I wish her and her family safe travels and a wonderful Christmas. Thank you, +Lisa-Jo Baker for laying your heart bear as we all pour over your words. God is definitely using you for His purpose.

Today's prompt: Reflect.

I once read about naked writing. When I first read the words "naked writing' I was very curious about that.

GO

For years I had been living behind these protective walls I had built around my heart. I was very private and reserved about the true me. If anyone ever penetrated the secure walls they would learn things that they would not like. They would learn things that would cause them to be repulsed. They would see the real me. A tattered, broken and beaten to shreds heart. To me, it was very ugly. The things that caused such a disturbed heart would disturb those who saw it.

I was a rough and tough person who stood up to everyone. Even if there was no real reason to stand up to them.

I had to prove myself. The fights. Climbing trees. Jumping off the garage roof. Jumping off the top rail of a one lane bridge over a river that went through the town I lived in during high school.

To escape and be alone I would put on my jogging suit and just start running. I would run till I found myself in the middle of the country far from others. I turned around and went back to town. I knew I had to go back eventually.

I struggled with life. I got mixed messages when I was sexually and physically abused. That also included mental abuse. I did not know true love. My experience was tainted and toxic.

When God spoke to my tender heart at nine years old I listened intently. I wanted what He offered and pulled me to. For several years I searched for what God was telling me in my heart. I learned true love is from Him. The Christmas Story and the Resurrection Story express His true love. His love washes over me. I soak in His presence.

STOP

That's naked writing. So, I learned from reading a few articles. I'm still learning to be a naked writer. It's so freeing and empowering!

Today is day six on the advent calendar. We have 19 more days until Christmas. Happy Advent!

Memories | Behind The Scenes

It was August 12th, 2009. It was the perfect time for a walk through the park with +Hatsu Misa Takara & +Paul M Edwards.

Something had felt off during the past several months. Whatever it was just felt wrong.

One thing I could put my finger on was the struggling we were going through financially because Paul had lost his job. He started to focus on building his PC repair business. It seemed like he was gone all the time. It felt as if he was staying away to get away from home. It felt like he did not want to be near me anymore.

I recall walking through the park on this day. It felt nice to be walking by Paul's side and enjoying watching all the dogs running around us as the sun was setting. We rounded this one corner of the park and started up a small incline to walk between the trees. Just at edge of this wooded section Paul noticed a snake crossing our path. I felt something raised under my foot as I stepped. Then I heard Paul's voice say, "Oh, watch out, don't step on the snake." At that point I'd already finished my step and then turned around to look and see the garden snake slither into the shrubs.

Moments later we encountered this tree in the sunset. All the things that just occurred were part of a multifaceted miracle that we experienced.

The interesting thing about that tree? Something about ending an old life and starting a new one. Also, every single time after that day when we walked through that park I never saw that tree like that again. In fact, I couldn't even place the tree. I never saw it again.

The multifaceted miracle? Well, if you'd like you can read about it here.

I'm participating in +Crystal Stine's Behind the scenes link up today.

Still Sunday | Advent

Today marks the start of Advent. I will also be participating in The Sunday Community. Each Sunday I'll post for each advent Sunday. Here's my first Sunday image:

Romans 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The End | BEDN

Today in the Blog Every Day in November community it is the EOM. Which means, end of this meme for this year. So, today we are given the opportunity to write free for all. Post anything we like.

I've been writing blogs now for several years. I've written on a variety of topics. I enjoy themed style blogging with memes because it prompts me to focus on something specific. This is my first for doing an entire month long daily posting. I've been doing weekly themed posts. There's one in particular that I put aside while doing the BEDN postings. That one would be Five Minute Friday. It's a very awesome community. The host blogger has been posting a prompt word each week for everyone to simply write unplugged. Just write for five minutes on a chosen topic without editing. There's some very profound posts that come from FMF posts. There are others I've done over time. Some that have just stopped all of a sudden by the host for whatever reason. There was one that I rather enjoyed... called Then Sings My Soul Saturday.

I have been trying to improve my writing so that I can finish some books I've started and pretty much are in a state of writer's block. I am overwhelmed.

My husband, +Paul M Edwards, has told me that he sees an improvement in my writing this past few months.

Aside from writing I love photography. In some of my BEDN posts I mention this hobby. In the photography world there's constantly something and someone coming up with great things. This morning I just found a post on +Google+ that talks about a new way to teach and learn in the Art world. It is called Arcanum. It's the brain child of +Trey Ratcliff. He's not only a photographer, he's an artist. That's what his plan for Arcanum is. A way of teaching people any kind of art. I signed up this morning after reading through the information and watching a couple of videos about it.

I've loved photography since I was a small child. I remember asking my mother if I could use and have an old camera she didn't use anymore. I just feel like I come alive when I photograph life around me. Today, all my photography is done using my Android Samsung III mobile phone. I have installed numerous camera apps that do different functions. The latest app I installed is for long exposure imagery. That's one style I've never tried. I'm intrigued by it.

When I began using Google Plus I was introduced to a whole new world. One of the first things I connected with is photography where I found HDR [high dynamic range] photos. It led right to Trey Ratcliff. I'm so impressed by his work and all those who have learned from him. I'm inspired by all the awesome photo art that comes across my computer monitor.

For me, it is about finding God's beauty in everything and capturing it and immortalizing it in photos.

Christmas Presents | BEDN

I am a minimalist. My love language is quality time. I'd rather spend quality time as a gift. I'm not into material things. Material things don't make me happy.

Here's 12 things happy people do differently:

When I have #'s 1, 4 & 11 in place, the rest just falls in place.

The gift of time!

BEDN | The Great Outdoors

Today I will put two links here for previous posts that show how I experience the outdoors. Here they are:

• Working outdoors 
• A couple of hobbies

Here's some other images:

Can you guess what the location on any of these are? My husband, +Paul M Edwards, and I also like to go for walks with out wonder dog, +Hatsu Misa Takara.
There's lots of things to do. What are some ways you experience the great outdoors?

YES MOMENTS | BEDN

In the BEDN community today it's about our yes moments in life. I'll share a variety of quotes with you. Mostly images with powerful sayings or quotes on them that I came across perusing the web.

"Owning up to how we spend our hours gives us more control of our time, and ultimately, of our lives." by Laura Vanderkam

Everyone has preferences. Society does its best to impose on people.

 

  

I never walk alone, God is always with me.