Category Archives: Five Minute Fridays

Friday Loves on Tuesday

Ok so I know it is Tuesday and NOT Friday…but I couldn’t get a Friday Loves post up this past Friday…and with October right around the bend, I thought I would share some Loves early mid-week instead!

Write31Days

I am really excited about the series that God placed on my heart for this October. This will be my third year participating in the series. Writers from all over the globe commit to writing/posting every day for 31 days during the month of October. After leading a Bible Study on Fervent in my church I felt led to also write a series for October! I have several posts pre-written and hopefully will be able to get the remaining posts done for the end of the month! I would love it if you would join me in exploring the topic of fervent prayer!

Five Minute Friday Book

Over the years I have participated in the flash-mob of writers who join every Thursday night to write for five minutes on a specific topic. It has been awhile since I have written but about a year ago I heard that they were putting together a book of Five Minute Friday pieces and I submitted one for consideration! I, along with 150 other writers, are included in this amazing book! What is even more awesome is that all the proceeds from this book will go to benefit 2 different charities. You can find out all the specifics over at Kate’s blog. You can purchase the book at Amazon here.

From the Depths We Rise

I have been following Sarah’s blog for over a year now so when I was contacted by my friends over at Icon Media with an opportunity to review Sarah’s new book, I jumped at the chance! I started reading it this weekend and it is SO GOOD. This book is a memoir of Sarah’s journey through some of the most difficult and life altering circumstances. She writes with such transparency, unafraid to discuss the hard and sometimes unanswerable questions…and yet does so with such grace. Sarah’s faith in God, even in the face of her worst nightmares coming true, will challenge you to examine your own faith as well. She is a reflection of the truth that God never said that this life would be easy, but He would be with us the entire time and our hope should be in the promise of his redemptive power over all of our troubles. This is a book that you want to read, and follow her blog too…a beautiful soul who is bringing light into this dark world! You can purchase your copy on Amazon here.

Dayspring Nativity Hurricane Trio

The Dayspring Hurricane Candle Trio is one of my most favorite items that I display in my home. I initially purchased it for Christmas, but I love it so much I honestly leave it up on my shelf all year round! Today and tomorrow only, Dayspring is having a flash sale and the Trio is only $50! And will ship for free!! If you have ever wanted to have this for your home, buy it today! You will not be sorry!!

So what are you loving this week? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!!

31 Days of Finding God – DARE {Allume Friday}

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Thank you for joining me in my series 31 Days of Finding God. Each day I am going to use a prompt from Kate and incorporate that into how I am finding God in my everyday!

What is even more fun is that I am blogging with many of my FMF sisters today live from Allume! To say I feel pretty blessed is an understatement, last year was my first experience and it was a blast…see below!!

Today’s prompt is Dare!

I am not even sure what day it is today. It has felt like a whilrwind experience here at Allume thus far. So filled with community and laughter, I have cheeks that ache from smiling.

It is wonderful.

Tonight after the wonderful dinner and keynote speaker we went to the “after party” and they had dancing.

Normally I don’t dance. I mean really, it isn’t pretty folks.

But I am telling you that tonight the music was old 80’s/90’s style and I figured what the heck?!

So Gindi, Christine, Delonna, Elise, Kim and I threw caution to the wind and dared to dance.

I think there were pictures taken, I am pretty sure if they appear online I WILL be embarrassed. It was hot and my feet hurt now but every single moment was worth it.

So often I sit on the sidelines because I am too afraid to take that leap and just be crazy. I decided that I did not care what anyone else thought about me…even if I didn’t have the rocking dance moves.

Tonight I was reminded that the dance is beautiful. (Maybe not the reality of the actual dance) but the act of throwing caution to the wind, daring to get wild and maybe a little sweaty and have fun.

I needed this time with my tribe. Time to connect and refresh, and time to jump around, jump around, jump up, jump up and get down! 😉

Have you dared to dance recently…I promise if you do you won’t regret it!

In Him, Kristin

31 Days of Finding God – LONG

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Thank you for joining me in my series 31 Days of Finding God. Each day I am going to use a prompt from Kate and incorporate that into how I am finding God in my everyday!

Today’s prompt is Long!

Today after I picked the kids up from daycare we took a little detour on the way home. I had seen the tree pictured above on a street nearby and wanted to see it again before all the leaves fell off.

It is a magnificent tree. Beautiful red leaves, shining in the sun. It is one of the things I love most about this time of year.

It is also a reminder that winter is close on our tails. If I am complaining about the 40 degree weather predicted for tomorrow what am I going to do when it is 10 below?!

You see there always seems to be a longing in my spirit for something more. Do you ever feel that too?

If it is hot, I long for the cooler weather. If it is cold, I long for the warmth of the summer sun. It seems as though I am one who will never be satisfied.

I find this true in so many areas of my life….feeling that longing for more and a dissatisfaction with what I do have.

But that isn’t how God calls us to live is it?

He wants us to find our hope, our security, our comfort and happiness in Him. No matter what is going on around us.

Instead of longing for what I don’t have, what I think I may want or need to make me feel better, I should look for all of the reasons that I have to be grateful.

A supportive family, a successful business, opportunities to connect with people from our church, exciting adventures ahead for our oldest son, Allume right around the corner!!! 😉

All blessings. Each and every one of them.

As I seek to know God more, I am praying that the longings of my heart would be centered around a deeper knowledge of Him.

That I would count my blessings more often than I count my wants. That I would seek to have a heart that gives unconditionally out of love for others and seeks to be a blessing because I have been so richly blessed.

Yes my heart longs for more, but may my longing be to find God in each moment of my day. Because there I believe I will be filled completely.

In Him, Kristin

Five Minute Friday – Begin

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It has been awhile since I have joined up with the wild bunch of writers over at Lisa-Jo’s place for Five Minute Friday. A time when we sit and write for 5 minutes, unedited. Today is the last time we will meet with Lisa-Jo and Kate is now taking over the reins…I have been blessed by this FMF community and am so grateful that Lisa-Jo followed God’s plan in starting this link-up party so many years ago. Will you join us?

Today’s prompt is: BEGIN

I sit this morning not really sure where to begin.

It has been a tough few weeks, ones where I have had to examine parts of my life and my heart that at times seem so broken.

The hurts from our past never seem too far away, and while God has redeemed so many of the broken pieces of my life…there remains parts that still need some “fixing”.

And to be honest I wish it were different.

Doing the tough heart-work isn’t easy and I honestly wish that it were. I want to be able to change old behavior patterns with a simple prayer. My heart is in the right place, so it should be easy, don’t you think?

The task seems daunting, and I am not confident that I can ever change. I feel stuck and the words, while swirling in my mind, don’t seem to want to come out appropriately.

How do we begin again?

And then I hear a whisper, His calming presence.

I don’t have to figure it all out right this moment. I just have to be willing to begin to place one foot in front of the other and move forward. Praying, trusting, desiring to follow His will in each tentative step.

He will guide me, the refining will not come easily, but it will come.

But I have to take that first step and once again begin to place my everything, even the ugly parts of me, into His loving hands. My prayer is that some day I can glorify His workings once again here.

Trusting in that today…

Photo Credit: picturesofyou

Five Minute Friday – Grateful

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Welcome to Five Minute Friday with Lisa-Jo! The day that writers gather in this online space to write for 5 minutes, no edits, with a single word prompt!

Today’s prompt: GRATEFUL

Oh this little man of mine, how can he be almost 5 already?! On the 18th we will celebrate his birthday, another year, and today I remember the miracle that he really is and I am grateful!

Dominic and I struggled to get pregnant with both Gabriel and Elijah. I was tired of the negative pregnancy tests, tired of the no’s and just wanted something to “fix” what was wrong with me.

We went to see our doctor after over a year of trying and got the same news that we had with Gabriel, for various reasons the likelihood of us getting pregnant on our own was very very small.

There were a couple of things that we thought we would try though and scheduled a “routine” and minor surgery to have some endometriosis removed and to check out the condition of everything inside of me.

It is standard that they run a pregnancy test before the surgery, just to make sure and like every month prior, it was negative. I was holding onto the littlest hope that I had that this procedure might just do the trick.

The surgery went well and I went home to recover. I had the normal after-symptoms from a procedure like that and felt confident that in the next few months we could start trying again…

And then several weeks later I got heartburn.

One thing I have learned about myself is that I don’t ever get heartburn, except when I am pregnant. I was out in Colorado visiting Karlena and we had to stop at a Walgreens to buy some tums…she knew something was up but I was in denial – it was impossible.

But through God all things are possible and boy did He show off with this one! 🙂

I went home and took a pregnancy test and sure enough I saw the 2 pinks lines. I figured I must be like 2 weeks along based on when I had the surgery but I called my doctor and she had me come in for an ultrasound.

When the technician came in she started the scan and then said “Congratulations, here’s your baby and you are 6 1/2 weeks along!”

I started crying, it didn’t make sense…that would mean that I would have been pregnant during my surgery. It wasn’t possible! I had taken a pregnancy test…they wouldn’t have done the surgery had they known I was pregnant because the likelihood of loosing the egg would have been too great.

But God…oh how grateful I am that He is bigger than any “likelihood” in my life!

The doctor believed that the egg must have implanted on the day of the surgery, my HCG levels would not have started to really increase yet, thus the negative pregnancy test…and somehow even with all they did inside of me, my Elijah hung on and now we celebrate another year with him in our family.

Life is a gift. Being a mother is hard, and my Elijah tests my patience on many days but he is a sweetheart and a gift and I won’t ever stop being grateful for the blessing that he is in our family.

Happy Birthday a few days early my son, I am so grateful for you.

**Disclaimer…this post took me an extra minute or two to finish, but I figured my Elijah was worth breaking the rules for this once** 😉

Five Minute Friday – Mess

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Today is the day the writers from all over the world come together for 5 minutes to write freely about one word. Then we link up over at Lisa Jo’s place to share in the fun – want to join us?!

Today’s prompt is MESS

Community can be a beautiful thing. God brings together people from different places and stages in life and amazing things can happen. I have seen it happen in my own life and marveled at how God made a way in all of it.

Sometimes community can hurt though. My heart is a bit of a mess right now over community that has hurt me. It stings when this kind of thing happens…when you feel betrayed.

But I have to remember that this is an attack.

The enemy wants nothing more than to steal and destroy those very things that bring us joy. When we experience real community and God is given the glory, we shouldn’t be surprised when an attack comes out of the blue…unexpected.

It caught me a bit off guard really…thus the mess of a heart.

But a dear sister-friend reminded me that these kinds of things don’t define me. I can have what would be my normal reaction and run away from community…or I can have a God-reaction and find joy even in the mess of it all.

So I am seeking to find joy.

My heart hurts, but I am trusting God with this mess too. I am discovering that I can laugh because of Him. I can forgive because of Him, I can stop comparing and pointing fingers and just love because of Him.

In my broken but healing, mess of a heart, I say YES to God. Trusting that even in this He has a plan and a purpose. That this is a training ground for bigger things and it will all be ok. It won’t always be easy, but He has promised that He is with us even in the hurt.

Yesterday Kristen Welch’s new book was released “Rhinestone Jesus“. It is an amazing book and tells of her journey of saying yes to God even in the thick of her messy life…you will be transformed by her story of what God did next!

Photo Credit: Free Grunge Textures

Five Minute Friday – Friend

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Today is the day that writers from all across the world join to write for five minutes – no edits…we share community over at Lisa Jo’s – join us?!

Today’s prompt is: FRIEND

Fitting isn’t it?

That as I sit in the waiting area of an airport, waiting to board a flight to go and spend the weekend with some amazing women, that the prompt for today is friend.

The picture above was taken when many of us were at Allume last October.

It was the first time that I met many of these dreamers in person. It was minutes really, after that first hug, that it was clear we were going to be friends for life.

These women, these dreamers that have filled my life to overflowing, are on their way right now to gather together in Houston.

What started out as just a website has become so much more.

Women joined in unity, chasing dreams, lifting one another up in prayer, doing life together.

This weekend we will celebrate that friendship in real life. Some of us have already met in person, while a few others will get first time hugs.

I have a feeling that there will be tears, but even more than that will be heart sharing, laughter, a unified vision for the site that brought us all together.

I am so blessed to do life with these women. They are more then just friends, they are sisters.

Thanking God for the gift of friendship today!

Five Minute Friday – Small

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Linking up again today with Lisa Jo to join in the fun of writing for 5 minutes.

Today’s word is SMALL!

I often feel small, insignificant…unable to make a real difference in the world.

While I want to make an impact for the Kingdom, I am not traveling to Africa to work in the mission field, I’m not speaking at conferences or writing books. How can I possibly make an impact when I am “just” a wife and a mother.

And then God uses His Word, His stories, to remind me that there are so many seemingly small people that He has used throughout history to do His will.

Mary was just a teenager.

Gideon was just a farmer.

David was just a shepherd.

Each of these people lived small, normal lives – until God called them to much greater things.

I believe that God has greater things planned for each of us.

For some of us it may mean that we work really hard to help support our family – and to our kids, our spouse, we are a hero.

Some of us will travel to other countries spreading love to orphans, the getting there will take faith and hard work as well…but when we follow God’s plan we will see the impossible become the possible.

Recently God has asked me to share some difficult stories, to test the boundaries of my comfort zone, and to take my small and difficult past and use it for His glory.

Whatever it is that He has called you to, don’t believe for a second that it isn’t important!

Friends you have a story to tell. The enemy may try and tell you that those stories don’t matter, that you can’t make a difference because you are too small and insignificant.

But hear me on this – God want’s our hearts humble so we can serve Him. He uses the small, the “just a” kind of people and makes mighty things happen for His Kingdom.

Philippians 4: 13 (ESV) “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Five Minute Friday – See

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I am linking up with Lisa Jo again in 2014 for Five Minute Friday. A time when we commit to writing for just five minutes, and then link up with a community of writers who are doing the same. Will you join us?

Today’s word prompt is: SEE

It was 2010 and I thought I knew where we were headed.

Sure there were big changes and leaps of faith, but we felt confident that God had a plan and we moved forward with great anticipation.

A new job, a move away from all that we knew, a new church and new neighborhood. So much change but I felt confident that we were right where we were supposed to be.

And then in the winter of 2011 the bottom dropped out.

Unexpected unemployment – times two. Reality came crashing down around us and all I could see was darkness.

Hope was out of my reach, I only saw despair. Convinced that God had deserted us, or we had heard Him wrong in the first place I slipped into a deep depression.

How could this have happened?

But then, light.

Courage stuffing down the fear, my husband made some big decisions and a new business was formed.

I could only see the negative. I was convinced that it wouldn’t work, that all was lost.

My husband, he saw opportunity, and He trusted God had a greater plan all along.

It didn’t come easily at first, and has never been without a lot of hard work and determination. Today we are no where that I thought we would ever be. This successful business a part of our family, working together as a team now.

God provided immeasurably more than I could have ever imagined.

I couldn’t see it then, in the thick of what seemed like hopelessness.

But today my eyes have been opened to the many ways that God was at work all along. I can only fall on my knees in thankfulness and praise Him for all He has done.

“I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see….”

Five Minute Friday – Fight

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Today’s word prompt is: FIGHT

The fight for control has always been something that I have struggled with.

I have this delusional belief that I actually have control of my life at times…that I can manage it all and don’t need God showing me the way.

During these times I am typically faced with an “opportunity” to test that belief and it usually brings me to my knees once again in surrender.

You would think after so many times around the ring I would give up the fight?!

But I am stubborn by nature, hard headed for sure, and there always seems to be some fight left in my.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday I was working on some plans, considering how I would be a part of a few different things that I had agreed to earlier in 2013. Things that I am passionate about and want to be involved in. Things that I have felt called to and have a heart for.

But yesterday, in the middle of all my planning, I felt God say “NO”.

I can’t say I often have such a strong feeling about things like I did yesterday. I know to some it may sound crazy but it felt like a weight, for just a moment, on my chest. NO

I wanted to fight it, wanted to protest and say that there is a way to manage it all. I’ve got this thing covered God – don’t tell me No!

But as strong as I felt the No, I also felt that fighting it would be disobedient. And I didn’t want the fight…I wanted to listen.

And so I sent a few messages to a few wonderful ladies telling them that I had to take a time away.

There is freedom in giving up the fight for control. I’ve felt it. And while I don’t necessarily agree with the No, I have accepted it and can live in the freedom.

That is glorious indeed!

Do you struggle with the fight for control??