Fear: Five Minute Friday

Another week, another chance to write on a one-word prompt for only five minutes. We set timers, type quickly, and let it flow without criticism. Then, we link-up our posts so we can read others' posts and they read ours and we have a community that grows from one word each week.
Five Minute Friday.

Go!

I have a Fear. A fear of failure. As a perfectionist type A firstborn daughter, I want to do everything right. The first time. No mistakes. No do-overs. (So, God is teaching me about Grace.)
And? My good-old fall-back sin is Pride. Pride and Fear battle each other for prominence. Proud of success, Fear of failure.

Enter parenthood. Oh yes! God has a big plan and did not give me children who would puff up my pride, but instead would humble me and send me crawling to Him on my hands and knees, weeping. Failure became my first thought, until I began to listen.

If we want to conquer fear, we must face fear and name it. What are you afraid of?
*My child will never be able to control their emotions and will throw tantrums in adulthood.*
Okay. Let's say that comes true. Now what?
*I was ridiculed and don't want their ridicule.*
The root issue? I have a fear that my children will be hurt as I was by peers.

The answer? The truth of God.

Psalm 34. So good. I won't quote the entire chapter, but I should. There's not a word that isn't worth reading, that won't speak life to you.
Paste function? I thank you for keeping me to the five minute limit.

Psalm 34:1-22
I will extol the Lord at all times;
    his praise will always be on my lips.
² I will glory in the Lord;
    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
³ Glorify the Lord with me;
    let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.
⁶ This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
    he saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.

⁸ Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
⁹ Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
    for those who fear him lack nothing.
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Whoever of you loves life
    and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are attentive to their cry;
¹⁶ but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to blot out their name from the earth.

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles,
    but the Lord delivers him from them all;
²⁰ he protects all his bones,
    not one of them will be broken.

²¹ Evil will slay the wicked;
    the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
²² The Lord will rescue his servants;
    no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

(I did. I couldn't leave anything out.)

We may not understand how the Lord delivers us. We are afraid of dying, of separation, of "the end", but for those of us in Christ, it is actually "the beginning".

I want to make the most of every waking moment I have on Earth, but also to live in the freedom of purpose of following God's plan for my life instead of the plans others have put upon me.
My children will experience pain, sorrow, disappointment and heartache, and though I long to spare them, it is in those times where they will find God for themselves. It is my job to point to Him as best I can (and shepherd them so the falls are on grass instead of glass). It is their job to choose.

Timer lets me know that it's time to go.

Be encouraged!

“I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before Your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?”
~C.S. Lewis, "Til We Have Faces"

World: Five Minute Friday

Another week, another chance to write on a one-word prompt for only five minutes. We set timers, type quickly, and let it flow without criticism. Then, we link-up our posts so we can read others' posts and they read ours and we have a community that grows from one word each week.
Five Minute Friday.

Go!


Okay, I admit. I took time before I started typing (and my timer) to read some passages on "world". God loved the world and came not to condemn it but to save it. (Remember that John 3:17 is part of that wonderful 3:16 verse!)
Still, many New Testament passages warn us to distance ourselves from the world—yet we're commanded to go into that same world and bring the Good News.

What role do we have in the world? What in the world are we to do? I found John 15 to be my central thought. (cut and paste, friends!)
¹⁸ “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’^[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’<sup>[c]

So, as there is increasing pressure to accept our changing world's embrace of non-Christian ideals as "normal", we experience great hatred if we do not do so.</sup>
Psalm 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (World?) :)

Our role is pretty simple. To let God do the speaking. The moving. The leading. We may be hated by the world for looking like Christ Jesus, but if we are moving out of His leading, by His Spirit (verses 26 & 27 of John 15), then we will be motivated by love and righteousness.
God put you in the world exactly when and where He thought you would best be suited for His plan and His reach to hearts not yet reached. Don't discount for a moment where you are and who you are. It is His master plan and you are His handiwork!

~Tammy

P.S. If you visit me from FMF, would you be a dear and tell me which # you are in the linkup? That way I can find you and comment back and read your posts! :)

Gift: Five Minute Friday

Every Friday (or Thursday night for those of us who can't wait), a group of us gather together and take five minutes to write on a one-word prompt without worrying about spelling, spacing, or anything else but just pouring our hearts out. Won't you join us? Here's the linkup for this week's prompt: Gift.

Immediately, the word in my mind when I heard "gift" was "Time".

I wrote this week for the BraveGirlCommunity on "Being There". And, due to being with my family and all the end of the year fun, I have not been online much. Last night I was bookkeeping instead of blogging and the sweet Susan Shipe @Hopeful50 sent a tweet telling me she'd missed me.
Even that she took time to do that was a blessing.


"Father of Lights, you delight in your children. Every good and perfect gift comes from you, Father of Lights." That was a praise-and-worship song in my college days that still edifies me. (based on James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." )

By being present, by looking at our kids with our eyes instead of through a camera lens, we risk losing the surface memory, but instead it penetrates our minds and hearts.
Are you focused on whether or not your lens is in focus? Or are you focused on what is happening in front of you?

My parents gave us the gift of their presence for my daughter's kindergarten graduation. (400 miles for a Tuesday night program!) And? Due to their gift (and sacrifice) of time, they were there at breakfast when she lost her first tooth, they saw her little sister's preschool program (which their own daughter directed), and they saw their daughter receive a Pillar of Character award which was a testimony to the legacy of faith they'd presented.

I truly appreciate the gift of my parents' presence at almost every major event of my life. When they didn't or couldn't make it, there was an effort to reach out to me.

Love is a choice, love is a gift, and I can live in love of others because of the greatest gift of all: Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

The other gift I'm learning this year is grace, but my timer is telling me to save that for another week. :)
~Tammy