Category Archives: Five Minute Friday

Faith, Five Minute Friday

Alone…But Never Abandoned

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You are reading a Five Minute Friday word prompt. This is hosted by Kate Motaung and is where a group of people write about a given word for that week. This week the word is “abandon”.

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I’ve just finished watching “Miracles From Heaven” and it has left me filled with a sense of hope. I’ve had my own miracles, which I have shared here, but as time goes on, and life goes on, and different situations happen, the miracle seems a little bit further away.

Anyway, the film is about a little girl who has a very rare and incurable disorder. Her mother hopelessly tries everything possible to see if there is a cure for her daughter, but there isn’t. No doctor can help her.

There are a few things that stand out to me in this film. Firstly, that the mother who is frantically trying everything possible to help her daughter is probably feeling abandoned and alone, and that God is not there with her. After all, why would such a loving God let a little girl suffer?

What stood out to me more though was the faith of the little girl. She knew that God was with her, right by her side, and that if she was to die, she was not scared. She knew exactly where she would be going. That is faith.

I often feel that my faith gets tested on a daily basis at the moment. I have constantly not been feeling well for the past 18 months with one thing or another, and quite frankly, I’m getting a little bit fed up with it!

Faith gets tested…in many ways…and when faith is tested, sometimes the feeling of being abandoned creeps in.

Where is God at times when I need Him?

Why am I going through this?

Why is He not answering my prayers?

Is He actually here with me?

God is all around us though, and seeing this film reminded me that He is here, and it’s in the little miracles that we see every day…

Creation around us…

The goodness that we see…

The people we love…

He has not abandoned us.

Faith, Five Minute Friday

Created for a purpose

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The definition of the word purpose is “the reason for which something is done or created, or for which something exists.” When something is created, it is created for a reason…a purpose.

Sometimes when something is created though, it may take a while to figure out how to use what has been created for its sole purpose. Sometimes, the thing that has been created, has been misused in some way and it is left with marks. This doesn’t mean to say that it still cannot be used though.

I have a potato peeler that has been used so much that it fell apart. I have managed to bind it back together though with tape and I still use it. It doesn’t look great, but it still works…and still does the job that it was created to do.
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I believe that God created me, therefore He created me for a purpose…for His purpose. But sometimes when difficulties happen in our lives it is hard to see what that purpose is, especially when we have been marred. For a long time, because of the abuse that I suffered, I didn’t believe that I could be used for anything. I had been damaged, so why would God use me?

I have learnt though that in whatever situation happens, if I keep my focus on Him, God works through it and will use it for His purpose. He did not create the situations that I had to endure, but He did create me.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Faith, Five Minute Friday, Rest

Slow Down And Take Five

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If you have children, are you constantly saying the same thing over and over again, but they just don’t listen to you? Do you ever tell them to slow down and take five?

My kids have so much energy and are always rushing around from one thing to the next. I’m constantly telling them instructions that need to be done.

Please pick that up…

Please watch where you are going…

Have you done that yet?…

How many times have I asked you?…

We’re not too dissimilar to our children though when our Heavenly Father is trying to constantly tell us something. We are just too caught up in what we are doing and what is going on around us.

I am always too busy. Sometimes so busy that I don’t notice what is going on around me. I miss the smaller details in life that could, and would, make a whole heap of difference in my life.

This week, I prayed to God and asked Him to show me something…anything! So, I have been intentionally looking out for signs. The one constant theme that has been running through things that I have stumbled across to read, or listened to on the radio, was the word listen. For me to listen clearly though, just like I tell my children, I need to slow down and take five!

 

You have just read a Five Minute Friday word prompt. This is hosted by Kate Motaung and is where a group of people write about a given word for that week.  This week the word is “slow”.