W2W Wednesday

What will I do differently this year than last?

I am working on trying to be braver and less inhibited in some areas of my life. This is not always easy, because over the years I've allowed circumstances and people to put me into a box, to keep me in the mold they have for me. I'd like to think I can change, and grow, and continue learning and becoming more than I already am. Becoming more who God wants me to be.

5 Minute Friday: Dive

Five minute freewrite on a Friday...join in! Click on the link below the graphic and read others' writings. Five minutes, timer set, let's go!

The word for today is . . . DIVE

.....so sink or swim....I'm divin' in......{whoa, oh, oh oh oh oh ohhhhh!}

Anyone who's ever heard Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Dive" will recognize that line. As soon as I saw the topic, in fact, that song started playing in my head, like a jukebox I can't turn off. 

Don't get me wrong, after nearly a year of moderate {major to me!} hearing loss, music is finally easier for me as my brain adjusts to renewed hearing and my body rebalances itself, hinging on a 4 milimeter piece of titanium in my ear.

But diving? Well, I can't.

I will learn more as I go, but for now, swimming is out for me. So would diving be, and any other water sports. Today, "diving" will be figurative, rather than literal diving in water.

I have been immersing myself in many things since the new year began: reading about ten books at once, studying about prayer for a Bible study I'm writing online (www.wivesoffaith.org), even reading the Bible through in one year with my ESV One-Year Bible.

Through these new habits and books and ideas, I'm immersing myself in what I believe God has called me to in this season of my life. I'm not sure exactly how to articulate it other than how I have, yet. It's like a cauldron in my brain, steaming and bubbling with all sorts of things.

I can only trust the One who holds the spoon, sloughing off the dross that surfaces, adding what He must to make it what He wants it to be.

{END}

Wow, that was interesting. Sometimes you just don't know how something will turn out till you write it  :)

Prayer

My other word for 2013 was given to me by my friend and Wives of Faith president: Prayer.

I am writing a Bible study on Prayer this year for Wives of Faith, and while it's beginning with some basic concepts, I think it will offer much to both new Christians as well as those who have been Christians a long time.

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Prayer. What is prayer? In its simplest form, prayer is talking to God and allowing Him to respond back to you.

Prayer has been around since the Garden of Eden, although you won’t find Adam and Eve “in prayer” then. They simply talked to God in the garden. (Genesis 3:8-9 and following.) Later in Genesis 4:26, we find an interesting sentence after the part of the geneaology where Adam and Eve become grandparents. The Bible states: ”At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord” (NIV).
(Didn’t take long, did it?)

I think the people called on the name of the Lord because they missed Him. They were far from Eden, and they realized they needed Him, and they missed having Him around.

 The point is this: We need God. Like the descendants of Adam and Eve, we need to call out to Him because we need Him. Praying to God is a way for us to acknowledge that we need Him in the middle of our busy, sometimes messy, often crazy lives.
Read the rest at Wives of Faith.

New Year, New Theme

Happy New Year! I found my theme, my One Word, for 2013.

I'll be blogging at my writing blog about it for the most part, but I wanted to link there from here.

My One Word for 2013: Dream

Dream.

OK, so this is a tough one for me. Because I'm not a dreamer.

Oh sure, when I was a teen, I dreamed of being a backup singer for Kathy Troccoli (I wanted her inimitable sense of style--plus her songs weren't too high), and I dreamed of writing a series of books like Little House on the Prairie or Anne of Green Gables.

Then I learned to make my dreams much, much smaller. Teacher, wife, mom of 2 girls.

Done, done, and done.

Not easily, and not always easily and with a bit of heartache, but . . . accomplished.

What's a reformed dreamer to do when her husband's next career takes her away from some of those accomplished dreams?

Well, she pouts, apparently. And she lets writing rejections and discouraging people get her down. She closes her eyes and heart to the people who are not discouraging, and she stops dreaming.

She heals. And the part of her she thought was dead is alive again, teaching again, healing.

But she's still afraid of rejection--the rejection of "We're sorry" or worse, nothing at all, to the words carved on the screen from her heart.

Enter 2013, themeless and "one word"-less.

Last summer, I went to a jewelry party, and I bought these bracelets for my girls. Somehow, though, I decided I needed one too, so I ordered three. The girls loved their little bracelets with the purple cords, lightweight and pretty.

Then I found mine, hidden in a drawer. And I knew. And I denied it.

But I knew.

I was afraid. Still am. Even now as I write this, knowing I need to share it for the handful of people who read this little blog in the corner of the blogosphere.

I had debated between "dream" and "prayer," because I will be writing a series of very basic, simple, hopefully inspired Bible studies at Wives of Faith on prayer this year. It sounds more lofty and holy to say "My word for 2013 is prayer."

And yet, here I am, with my tiny bracelet and my heart full of words to share, feeling fearful and afraid to dream.

As I read through the Bible this year, I have already started making notes, not only about prayer, but also about dreams. And I am following a writer I'd love to meet one day, as she inspires women to dream.

And I know I have people in my corner.

One of my other friends mentioned yesterday that sometimes words are friends, that they hold hands. I think she's right. Dreams and prayer are friends.


Special thanks to Melanie at Only a Breath for the custom "One Word" graphic. Thank you!!!

Past themes:
Brave (2009)
Focus (2010)
Grace (2011)
Listen (2012)

First Five Minute Friday of 2013

Today's Topic: OPPORTUNITY

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"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." ~Winston Churchill

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Quotations like these are difficult for me to contemplate. You see, while I try very hard to be optimistic, there's a part of my nature, my very human nature, that is pessimistic.

When I am faced with an opportunity, sometimes all I see is all the work involved. How much will be required of me in terms of time and energy and thought. "Is it worth it?" I ask myself. Generally the answer is no.

Sometimes, I allow opportunities to slip away because I'm not an optimist. I don't see the opportunity in the difficulty of the work, energy, time, and thought involved.

The true tragedy is that I don't allow the opportunity for GOD to shine through me in the difficult situation.

I hope I can remember to think in a more positive manner and allow God to shine through, even when things are difficult and I'm not feeling particularly optimistic about the opportunity--or difficulty--before me.

In 2013

I aspire to do these things in 2013:

• Read the Bible (I'm using the One-Year Bible, English Standard Version)
• Study about Prayer
• Pray more
• Read 100 books
• Write something every day