Today I celebrate a little bit late, the joy of Five Minute Friday. A time when writers all over the world...love that. Take five minutes and write with complete abandon and total freedom. It all starts with a prompt from Lisa-Jo Baker. No edits, no freak outs, no worrying if you are doing the right thing. Just a time to let go and let it be.
The important thing about Five Minute Friday is the encouragement you receive to just let go and the encouragement you give to others who have done the same. You do not have to visit everyone, but a stop at the person who posted before you is requested. Honestly, you wont want to stop there.
Today's...oops...yesterday's prompt is the word "CLOSE"
Let's GO!!!!!!!
Sounds of a dining room buzzed in the back of my brain. It was all I could do to not explode with the anger of my situation.
Here I was.
THREE THOUSAND MILES FROM HOME!!!
And I had to start a life here.
15-year-old girls weren't supposed to live without their parents unless they were part of some boarding school sitcom life.
I wasn't.
I was just stuck paying the price for my own mother's paranoia.
Misery and grief settled in, but I could do nothing but hold it all inside. Weakness was not going to take over.
"You are alone" a voice that was not my own whispered menacingly "your life will never be the same."
"Hello!" another voice broke into my space. She had dark hair and lively blue eyes and was smiling ear to ear. I groaned a small greeting and prayed she would just step off and leave me alone.
She didn't.
That was my introduction to my oldest and dearest friend Lisa. She reached out to me as I sat miserably in a restaurant with my grandmother. I was miserable because I knew that in just a week it would be just me. I did not want to be part of this new life living alone without my parents.
Lisa was a gentle gift from God. A girl who just couldn't help but reach out to others and encourage.
As we grew through our teens and 20s we went through times of being inseparable to having separate social circles. I was the drifter girl who hung with artsy types. I was a free spirit who would up and move to a new state at the drop of a hat. I explored. I lived with passion. I also ran (I learned how at a young age after all). She was the solid church girl whose goal was to be a stay-at-home mom and became one.
As alike as we were different, we always remained close.
Over 30 years have passed since our first meeting. We are thousands of miles apart physically, but we know that being close...for us...has nothing to do with proximity.
It is about our minds.
It is about our hearts.
It is about being different yet the same.
It is all about picking up the phone after a day, a week, a month and even a year...and still never running out of things to say.
STOP
So how about joining us? You can learn more and jump aboard by following this link.
So...it has been a few weeks since I have participated in Five Minute Friday. It was a case of me letting busyness rule. No more.
Five Minute Friday is all about letting go and being free. Lisa-Jo shares a word prompt and we go for five minutes. Five minutes of being free and unedited. It is an amazing time with amazing people. After you write, you share and you read, you learn and you grow. It is pretty amazing. Join us by heading to Lisa-Jo's Five Minute Friday Post.
Today's prompt is GRATEFUL.
GO
If I look back at my life to where I am right now, I can't help but be grateful.
Back story: In 2005, I moved 3000 miles away from home to get away from an abusive relationship. That relationship was five years too long. Through those five years, I lost all confidence in myself and lost all hope. Moving was a desperate act, because no matter how hard I tried, I could not get away from this man. He showed up everywhere.
For two months, my son and I lived off of savings, and I decompressed. I spent a lot of time in prayer and a lot of time healing. My family in California counseled me and loved on me. I needed those two months, but when month three came up, I needed to find a job. I began sending out resumes and filling out applications. I took lots of tests and waited.
Nothing.
Finally when down to my last $40, I knew I was nearing the end of my rope. I had to get a job. I was on the way home from a job interview, and wanted to head home to freshen up before heading out for another step in an application process. I began to cry. I was scared. Things weren't working out too well. I just didn't feel good about my last interview. Even the ones that I had felt good about didn't end up with a job.
Suddenly the song that had been playing in the background seemed louder.
"Just a face in the city
Just a tear on a crowded street
But you are one in a million
And you belong to Me"
As tears streamed down my face, I pulled the car over and listened to the song.
"I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more"
It was as if God reached right out to me right there in my car. At the time, I didn't even know who sang the song, but I knew God used it to show me His love.
I pulled myself together and drove back home. I freshened up and headed out to the next opportunity. I timidly applied for the job and was given an interview immediately. I was then hired, and I passed a background check in an hour. When I shared this with my co-workers they were stunned. It took them months to complete the process. The uniform for this job was supplied. All I needed was to get shoes. Twenty of my $40 paid for my shoes and the final $20 went to gas for my commute.
I am so grateful that God saw me (never stopped watching over me really) in that moment and showed me His deep love.
Here's where it gets pretty crazy cool. Eight years later I was married to my soul mate (6 years married now), working in Christian radio and was given the opportunity to interview the person who wrote and sang that song. Best of all, I got to thank him for it (minor PS - My program director only told me I was interviewing Matthew West 10 minutes before it was to happen, because he didn't want me to freak out...PPS I freaked out anyway). It was like God gave me the opportunity to go full circle.
Life is not always going to be easy. I know this. I also know that God saw me through the worst and shared with me His best.
How cool is our God?
How grateful am I?
Very.
STOP
Oh...here's a link to that song. Still gets me every time.
Yes, yes, yes!
It is another week of 5 Minute Friday time. It is time to share with writers from all over. A time to encourage and a time to embrace just letting go and writing. This is my third go round on Five Minute Friday and I must say I simply love Lisa-Jo and all the wonderful writers that have shared their world in words. There is still time to join in, and you can learn all about it by heading...right...here.
In the meantime, today's prompt is
PAINT
Ready
Set
GO
My life, my palette, God's design.
My birth, my soul, a snowy white. So much space to do many, many things, the possibilities literally endless, but a special plan still painted on my heart. A blue print of God's design. One He knew, and He birthed long before even placing me in the protection of my mother's womb.
My teen years, a kaleidoscope of gleaming oranges, purples, pinks, neon yellows, and a brilliant turquoise, my signature color of course. Each color reflecting joys and excitement. Reality was there in the shadows. Sometimes it was a mossy green or even a deep gray shadow, but my light, God's light in me, kept more beautiful colors my way.
Late teens and early twenties, my colors were a blaze of firey reds, shocking blues, brilliant fuchsia (and that was just my hair) and also rich ebony. There was a darkness there that followed me for a time, enveloped me. A time that I tried to find my own plans and my own solutions, and found instead hurt, fear, sorrow, betrayal and loss. Deep pain caused a more violent red color to seep into my day and my skin. The beauty is...God does not forget and God does heal. He still has a plan.
His patience a soft warm yellow. I feel it deep in my soul. The need to let go and give to the Lord all the reds, the grays, the darkness and let Him be the light.
It happened. His light. It melted the colors and softened the angles. God's love brought all the painted colors of the joys, sorrows, victories and pain into a perfect focus. A perfect picture of his unfailing love. My slashes and splashes were all apart of God's masterpiece. All together a lesson to be learned and a vision to be shared.
STOP
Don't forget you are welcome to join in. There are a few small rules, but well worth it. Learn more from Lisa-Jo Baker.
Last week was my first foray into joining writers everywhere as they wrote without worry or hesitation. The feeling in a word...FREEDOM.
Sometimes you just have to let go, and the writers who meet up at Lisa-Jo Baker's website and blog for Five Minute Friday engage in letting go once a week starting with a prompt from Lisa-Jo. Once fingers finish typing away, the joy of sharing and blessing begins.
Join this wonderful group. You will be glad you did. There really is only one rule, visit the writer before you...read...encourage. But if you are like me, you wont be able to stop at just one.
Enjoy and learn more here.
Today's prompt is:
WRITER
GO...
Imagine my horror at the word "writer."
My dreams and my fears all poke in my mind at the very thought of the word "writer."
Writing has been my peace. Writing has been my comfort. Writing has been my therapy.
It has also been my agony. Well...not so much the writing. The empty screen in front of me. The need to fill it with the fleeting idea that was so strong when I woke up and now is just tickling the edge of my mind. Aggravating when things aren't working. Fulfilling when they are.
My joy.
My act of worship.
My prayer.
My way of being me.
My big ole world is all wrapped up in a ball of anxiety and thrill.
The ups and downs.
The nightmares.
The fantasies.
My dream come true some day. IF....
If I choose to type anyway.
If I choose to get up and get uncomfortable.
If I choose to dig deep when need be.
If I open the door and let someone in.
If I choose to give my whole heart's desire to God.
...STOP
I did this prompt tonight because it has been a crazy long week. This week was my radio station's gift drive. It is that we share God's vision with our listeners. It is a time of long hours. Because I had to be in the office at 6 am, and my head was filled with how things would go on this final day, I decided to hold of on Five Minute Friday. I thought for a moment about holding off until next week. But I began this journey last week, and there was no way I was going to let one long week pull me out of it. I'm here, and I'm happy because I am a writer. :) Nice to say that.
I hope that you have a wonderfully blessed weekend, and that you get the chance to meet some of the other writers who are sharing their hearts this week. I gave the link up top, but it is worth giving again. Join us here.
