Five Minute Friday on Saturday: Roots

Welcome to my Saturday version of 5 Minute Friday, hosted by the lovely lisajobaker, where people from all over the universe come together to write for 5 minutes on a topic with as little editing as the writers can manage. (In other words, I used the delete button a few times today...)  Here's my 5 minutes on...

ROOTS

Last night I watched A Bug's Life with my kids. I was struck by the little metaphor Flik tells Dot about pretending the rock is a seed which is like her growing up. That she has to be patient because she's still just a seed.

It struck me because after being in Peru for coming up on 11 months now I feel like I should be bearing fruit already. I feel like there isn't enough to show for my being here and wonder what others think. (God showed me the other day that the reason I'm worried about what others think is because it reflects on what I think. Hmmm. Yep.)  So God used a silly little movie about mean grasshoppers and 4 legged ants to remind me (again) to be patient. This season hasn't been one for bearing fruit. It's been one for PLANTING ROOTS. For learning just plain how to live in this country and how to feel at home here. And I feel like I must be nearning the end of the "rooting" season because I have an ache starting - no, growing - to do more.

And I trust that as I continue to trust Him and I remain rooted in Him, eventually there will be fruit.

Letting Go of Useful...

This one's not a song... Just some lines from my heart yesterday.

I Don't Have to be Useful

I don't have to be useful, Lord.

Just let me be faithful.

Faithful to come.

To seek You and sit at your feet.

Faithful to worship and praise You

In the chaos and in the quiet.

Faithful to choose You first.

Faithful to love with all my heart,

To love You and to love those You've placed

In my home and path.

I don't have to be useful.

But yes, Lord, let me be faithful to love!

For what other usefulness is there?

What other perfection is there?

Ancient wisdom echoes through the ages

WITHOUT LOVE THERE IS NOTHING.

Without love there is no usefulness.

Yet, I can't love without You.

So I put my hope in You,

That You will love through me.

When I find myself full of selfishness and impatience.

When I find in myself nothing to give away,

I will look to You to forgive me

And fill me anew with your grace.

So I can be faithful again to love.

I don't have to be useful.

But let me be faithful.

Faithful to love.

~Melissa Ens

10.27.12

(Isn't my daughter amazing? She took the first 2 photos. How she got that shot of her own  eye/face I have no idea. She definitely did not get her talent and patience for photography from me!)

31 Days of Prayer for Perú

So there's this gal who has a blog. And she is hosting a "31 Days" blogging extravaganza where she invites people to blog for 31 Days about whatever theme they want.

Ay, ay, ay... Well, at first I thought I wouldn't do it because I figured I wouldn't stick with it. I tried last year after all and only posted about half the time.

But then I heard Him whisper into my heart "31 Days of Prayer for Peru..." and I couldn't say no. Didn't want to say no. Commit to write out a prayer everyday for this country we are living in and serving? Okay Lord, I'll do it. Scared? Yep. Especially since I'm doing it on my Spanish blog. But certain God is going to do something big in my heart through it? Absolutely.

Would you like to join me in praying each day this month for Peru? Or for the US or whatever country you live in? Or for your city or church or family? Join me over here...

El Cuarto de Servicio {31 Días de Oración}

You may have noticed above that I said I'll be writing in Spanish... ; ) But there is a translate button on the side of my blog that you can use to give you a pretty good idea what I wrote.  Just take it all with a grain of salt and a dash of sugar when it says something strange.  OK?

¡Vamos! 

S T R E T C H

5 Minute Friday has come around again! I'm thankful for another quick chance to do a quick "no-editing-allowed" write.  Today's topic?  STRETCH

GO

Sigh. Goodness, I'm tired these days. I don't know if it's the homeschooling that's taking up my days and making me... well, not making me but helping me give into the temptation of staying up too late because I haven't had enough non-kid time... either way - it's likely a combination of school days and too short nights - I'm tired. And feeling stretched.

And yet also (ha ha ha!!! I just realized I forgot to set the timer! See? I told you I was tired!) I'm feeling ready to stretch in another way. I'm feeling ready to wake up to more of life here in Peru... to stretch my missionary ministry muscles and figure out where I fit in here in this place. I have spent the last months just getting settled, but I don't want to stop here. I'm ready to grow more. And that probably will include some more stretching - in the uncomfortable ways of being pulled out of my comfort zone and also willingly stepping straight out of it again, further, just a bit more.

Hmmm. I'm remembering a time when we were rock-climbing and I was trying to get somewhere that I was sure I couldn't reach. But with the encouragement of others I was able to stretch way further than I ever thought was possible and was able to get to the next ledge. Lord, what does that mean here? Show me - just like on the side of a rock when I didn't know where to step next - show me where the next step is. And when I'm tempted to react with "I can't reach that!!!" help me to trust You and just STRETCH.

STOP

  Join the party at lisajobaker.com  : )  Happy weekend everyone!

Made to Connect

I don't know if I'll be able to keep this post to 5 minutes or not because this word struck such a deep chord in my heart this morning... but I'm gonna try. : )  So here goes my 5 minutes worth of uneditted, (mostly) unpremeditated, unscripted writing on CONNECT:

GO

Connect

I was so made for connection! I have a very low tolerance for not being connected on a heart level to others - especially to women.  Especially to my family (here and there) and to God. Right now I'm feeling the lack of connection with friends. I have some missionary friends and sort of keep in touch with my family back home (Hi Mom! Hi Dad!) but I feel an urgency - a hunger to be connecting more deeply with the Peruvian women around me.  Oh, it's been aching lately. But there is also the fear. What about when I don't understand everything they tell me? I hate it when (on the rare occasion that it happens these days) someone is opening their heart to me and I miss something and find myself mid-conversation wondering if they're telling me a story about something that happened to them or their mom, yesterday or last year... I normally don't realize I missed an important detail until it feels too late to backtrack and ask what I missed.

Sigh.  But I have to do it. I have to connect anyway or I just might die.

Why? Because God made me to need people. I've written about that before. : ) It's both a weakness and a strength. But the joyous thing God reminded me of this morning is that in this way I am also made in His image because God LOVES to connect.  In every way.

He loves the act of connecting and He loves so that He can connect with us.

STOP

Wanna play? Join me and the rest of the 5 Minute Friday flash mob at lisajobaker.com : )

Right HERE.

Right here. With me. Once again, Lord, You have shown up HERE in such a sweet, surprising way. 

This evening I while I was dreaming and thinking of planning a worship retreat/seminar I kept recalling the words to a Psalm but couldn't remember where it was from. A quick scan through my son's Bible didn't help. So I thought I'd look it up on my phone, which led to downloading an app so I could search Biblegateway more easily.

: )

So guess what showed up when I opened the app and tapped on the Bible reading for today? Yep. The very exact Psalm that had been rolling through my head for the previous hour. (Psalm 63)

So I say again like I was singing earlier tonight, Lord...

"I don't want to talk about You like You're not in the room. I want to look right at You. I want to sing right to You."  Please keep me reminding me again and again and again that You really are HERE with me - HERE in me... Christ in me, the hope of glory... and that it doesn't matter if HERE is in California or if HERE is in Peru, You are with me and my soul can find rest and peace in You because You are the One who satisfies my heart and soul. Right HERE.

_____________________

 Wanna play? Hop on over to lisajobaker.com and join the party!