Five Minute Friday, Happiness

Make A Joyful Noise!

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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 “sing”. // marks what I wrote in 5 minutes.

//Singing is in all of us – wether we can sing or not! And all of us at one point will have an urge inside to get out what goes around in our heads – whether it’s humming a simple tune, or pelting it out at full force in the shower!

I use to sing quite a bit when I was younger – in school choirs and church choirs – and wasn’t that bad. I could even reach the top notes back in the day. I struggle now though and you would probably laugh at me for trying (I laugh at me for trying), but that doesn’t stop me from singing when I want to! //

Singing is a great way of increasing our well-being. We breath better because of the amount of oxygen we take in. The more oxygen we take in getting to our brains, it makes us more alert. Singing also helps us with facial exercises because of the expressions that we make when we sing – some people obviously get more exercise that others!

Singing has so many more benefits – mentally and emotionally as well as physically. Focussing on the words that we sing, especially emotional songs with meaningful words, helps to soften even the hardest of hearts. Singing is also very Spiritual and what better way to use your voice, whether you can sing or not, than by using it for God. However we sing, if we are singing for God it is music to His ears. Make a joyful noise it often says in the Psalms. A JOYFUL NOISE!!

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So why not try and let out some of those songs that you have been keeping inside of yourself today. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain with the benefits of singing. Don’t worry about whether you can sing or not. Just because you can’t sing doesn’t mean to say that you don’t sing!!

 

Faith, Five Minute Friday

Empty but still full

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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 “empty”. // marks what I wrote in 5 minutes.

//Why celebrate Jesus dying on a cross? Dying in such a humiliating way…

He was stripped…

He was whipped…

He was mocked…

He was tortured…

He was scorned…

…And He was hung on a cross and left to die.

Why celebrate such a barbaric death? We celebrate it because we know that two days later He will have conquered all of this. He will come back to life, leaving that tomb empty.

That wonderful feeling of Him conquering death leaves myself no longer feeling empty like that tomb was. // It’s only been in the week leading up to Good Friday have I felt that something has been filling up inside me.

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I look at what Jesus went through…every whip He felt beating on His back…each nail that was pierced into His skin. He did that for the people who scorned Him…

…The Priests that crucified Him…

…for Judas who betrayed Him…

…the person who hung on the cross next to Him…

…for me…

…and for you.

That empty tomb is a sign that we no longer need to feel empty. We can all be full in the knowledge that Jesus is alive and that we have His abundant grace always filling us up.

Faith, Five Minute Friday

How much is enough?

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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 “enough”. // marks what I wrote in 5 minutes.

//I am what I am. What you see is what you get. This is my “northern way” and what I often tell people. Usually it’s because I don’t want them to judge me for anything with what they see in front of them.

I want to look tough on the outside and like nothing bothers me. But deep down I am thinking “am I enough? Is what you see in front of you enough?” I put on an act as though I am enough, and that I wouldn’t care less if you didn’t think I was.

But deep down I am scared to show you the real me. Because I am scared that the real me is not enough. The real me that is sensitive deep down and that I cling on to what other people say because it matters to me. The real me that is exhausted with looking for people’s approval just so that I feel enough.//

Isaiah 43:4
“Since you’re precious in my sight and honored, and because I love you, I’m giving up people in your place, and nations in exchange for your life.”

Do you know what I try and cling onto though, as a Christian? (Notice I said try…because I often fail at this!) Because of Jesus and what He has done for me…

I. Am. Enough.

When I ask God if He loves me and how much He loves me, I am always reminded of this answer that was penned by someone else…

I asked Jesus, ‘How much do you love me?’ And Jesus said, ‘This much.’ Then He stretched out His arms and died.  Unknown

I pray for each and every person reading this, as we approach Easter, that we remember the reason why we are enough.

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Faith, Trust

Trusting In God To Define Our Path

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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 “define”.

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To define is to give something its true meaning, which would hopefully make it more clearer for you. Hopefully! Defining something also creates boundaries, something that is clearly set out.

Sometimes we do this with our walk with God. We want God to clearly define the path that we walk on. We want Him to specify exactly what our lives mean, where are we heading to and how we are going to get there.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5

God doesn’t always clearly define what we are to be doing on this earth though. Well, He doesn’t define it in the way that we want Him to, and waiting around for things to become just that little bit clearer is really hard.

However, if we trust in what God is going to do for us, and not trust in our own thoughts and feelings (which often mislead us down the wrong path anyway) then He will define what our path is to be.

Five Minute Friday

You’ve Got A Friend In Me

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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 “friend”.

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I guess most of us have probably watched Toy Story and heard of the song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”. It has been sung at various points in all three of the Toy Story films.

The most poignant time that the song was used though was when Woody saw the episode of Woody’s Roundup in Toy Story 2. It showed the puppet Woody singing this song, which was directed towards the younger audience. Whilst he was singing, a small child is shown hugging the puppet. When Woody sees this, he had a revelation that his main reason for being made was to be there for a child. As well as being a friend to a child, he also realised that he could be a friend to the person that he envied the most – Buzz Lightyear.

What if this was applied to us in every day life though? We all need a friend, don’t we? We all need someone to “round us up” when the going gets tough. We need someone who is going to be by our side.

Do you want to know one sure way to find a friend? Be a friend to someone else first. Why don’t you say to someone today, “You’ve got a friend in me”? You never know that you may end up having a friendship that will never die.

Encouraging hope in a broken world

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