Don't hide your light

Sometimes a word appears in due season. A word meant to be shared.

Flowing freely as it invades the mind with inspiration. 

A touch and gift of grace.

Such is the word I'm sharing today as I join in with the liberating, free-form creative writing exercise which is five minute friday.

START:

"Friends,

I want you to know these things:

God hasn't hidden Himself from you.

Creation breathes His Presence.

The Word made flesh made His mark on the cross.

Nailed Himself indelibly to mankind.

Paved a pathway of freedom for you and me.

Abides closer than our next breath

And is only a prayer away.

God intends us to live within the riches of His forgiveness and grace.

To break out of our stony heart's carapace.

To live and love and give.

Your life matters.

Your words matter.

Your voice needs to be heard.

Don't hide your light. Allow it to shine glory-bright.

Write out your story to His praise and glory.

Pour out your pain and shame.

Because in the opening you will begin to be 

set free as you share your frail humanity.

Let the breathings of your heart and the bleeding of your pen

become the unravelling of Hope to lift and encourage, reveal

and help other wounded souls to heal

on their journey to becoming whole"

STOP.

On a day when pain is all pervasive and my mind fogged with M.E fatigue, I am thankful for the surprising gift of words to weave.

And if God can inspire this dim and faltering wick, then He will do the same for you too. 

You can write. You can shine for Jesus. Just where you are.

The prayer below is free for you to pin and share.

Grit and grace

Ageing well requires grit and grace.

Plenty of perseverance and endurance. 

It is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

A significant birthday looms large on the horizon. 

Yes, this blog is nearly two years old and its sister blog (Poetry Joy) is almost one, which is good reason to celebrate!

But it's their writer who is approaching a more important landmark.

A stop-gap pause in life's breezy proceedings.

Will I embrace or hold back? Accept the (mostly unwelcome) change that growing older brings?

Will this silver-surfer slide inexorably into senility or will I grow more in insight, wisdom and creativity?

Only time will tell. I hope the years will be kind. 

And I hope to embrace the hard parts as they help shape and make me.

Here's the thing, not all change is welcome, invited or appreciated.

Though I will still aim to:

• Pour out my heart in poetry and prose and share His story in the process. 
• Lean hard into grace every day.
• Walk the painful path of dying to self and living for Christ.
• Crave God's Presence.
• Listen for His voice.
• Dive deeper into healing as I dip back into my painful past.
• Encourage others on the journey.

So I may alter a little on the surface, but deep inside ~ at the heart of the matter ~  I will grow into joy and become more fully myself as I allow God to make me more like Christ.

Change lies on the doorstep of each day. It hangs heavy for some and signals freedom for others.

Are you ready for all it may bring? 

Much depends on what or who is changing you, where you are heading to, and who walks with you.

"..you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried you since your birth. Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you" ~ Isaiah 46:3-4

Just for a change, I am joining in here instead of on poetryjoy.com  (because the usual poetic offering gave way to prose) with  Kate Motaung and other brave writer friends for five minutes of free writing on the topic of 'Change'. 

*And if you like my poetry you can read one about change here.*

Friend, may you see each new day as opportunity to grow and to live, learn and listen in your walk with God. And may He bless you with peace as you leap by faith into the unknown territory of the now and the yet-to-come. For we travel with Him into a future rich with promise and blessings as yet unseen but full of grace and glory.