And so – we write for five minutes, our words tumbling out – no editing, no polishing – just flat out on a one word prompt! We gather all our beautiful thoughts here in our Five Minute Friday community and then love on each other as only we can do! Click here to learn all about it.
Home is where the Five Minute Friday community gathers so please join us at Kate Motaung’s for our Friday fun!
DWELL
GO…
I love the scripture below. The words speak to me of a safe place, a holy place and one that will bring us much peace.
One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:4-5
I have been spending a lot of time recently seeking God in the quiet. I am called to make a space for God to enter in. The process is hard and takes practice. Because seeking is not always finding. We have to intentionally work toward creating a quiet nook in our lives. When we seek stillness and invite God to join us, we create a beautiful haven for both of us.
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Silence is a place of rest and surrender. Until are minds are emptied of the mess that we hold onto, the quiet we crave is not present. God is the dwelling we seek. All the days of our lives, we should seek Him first.
How do you seek to dwell with God in your life? Do you create a space that is just for Him?
I am learning the hard way that until I completely surrender my agenda for God’s, I will not be able to fully dwell in Him and His plan for me. Turn away from the noise and choose quiet stillness with God today. You will be so glad you did!
STOP
Thank you to the beautiful community at #fmfparty who always encourages me and makes me feel so welcome. You all are the best!
With love,
Mary
Catching up on my reading today. This post is good – as is everything your write!
Well I am so glad you caught up with me! Love having you here, Susan! Happy Thanksgiving!
Psalm 27 is among my favorite psalms and verse 4 one of my favorite verses! It’s awesome that God dwells in our midst, in us. I love being reminded of that over and over because too often I let it slip out of my consciousness. So thanks for this, Mary.
Blessed you stopped by, Lisa! Knowing God is always with us is such a reassurance for me. We also can invite Him to dwell in us which takes more intentionality but is such a gift. I pray you have a blessed thanksgiving.
Since I work from home, I try and use the morning time, after everyone leaves, as my quiet time. Some days the devil tries to win and tells me I am too tired and should rest instead. But knowing this, I press on and focus even harder to what the Lord is telling me in my daily bible readings.
I am so glad that God is stronger than the devil. There is nothing like digging into God’s word. Praying you have a blessed week and thank you for being here.
Beautifully said Mary! I have some serious catching up to do here. Hugs!
What a wonderful surprise to see you here, Barbie! I have missed you! Thank you for taking time to pop in and I pray you are doing well!
You, my friend, are speaking my language here! xoxo
Amen! Let us dwell in our beautiful God and make a space for Him to dwell in us. Hugs!
Hi Mary! I do love the prayer of the quiet, and I miss it these days. Seems like everything comes flying in at once!
Keep seeking that silence, I know you will hear the Word of God speak just to you, with so much love and promise. You are His dear child…I know He’s got plans for you!
Happy Weekend,
Ceil
Thank you for being in my corner and cheering me on! It feels so good to know that on those days I am struggling, I have beautiful people like you praying. You are a blessing! Praying your weekend was blessed.
Thank you for this encouragement to resting in God, Mary. “I am learning the hard way that until I completely surrender my agenda for God’s, I will not be able to fully dwell in Him and His plan for me.” I am a work-in-progress here, too. Blessings to you!
It is such a blessing to know others share the same journey with me. With God, we will learn how to surrender and rest fully in Him. I love having you here, Trudy. Thank you for making my day.
Beautiful, peaceful, reflective … this post, your relationship with Christ.
Love following you, walking with you on this transition journey, friend.
Hugs.
Thank you for lifting me up with your encouragement. You are a blessing. Praying your weekend has been renewing.
Thank you for this challenge, Mary! It does have to be an intentional, deliberate practice, doesn’t it? One that doesn’t come naturally, at least not for me — and yet the benefits reaped are SO worth it! Blessings to you as you continue to seek Him in the quiet.
I love having you here, Kate! I miss you and FMF when I am not able to participate. We have such a beautiful community. Thank you for affirming my words about rest requiring intentionality as well as practice. I agree the benefits of this dwelling with God is absolutely worth it. Blessings on your weekend!
Thanks for this post. I definitely need to be more intentional about making that quiet space for God to enter in, and I love how you describe this here.
Blessed you stopped by Carly! May we both be intentional in seeking quiet as well as dwelling in that space for awhile. Praying you have a beautiful weekend!
You are the best too! And I totally thought of that verse too….great minds think alike. Yes we need to learn to be still and dwell with God as God dwells in us. I’m parked over in the #13 spot this week.
Tara-you and I have similar thoughts when we write and I love that. Hoping that you are finding some rest and quiet in your weekend .
Oh, Mary. Your words spoke to me. And this: “I am learning the hard way that until I completely surrender my agenda for God’s, I will not be able to fully dwell in Him and His plan for me.” How well I understand it! Thank you so much for affirming the truth that we must be intentional about creating a quiet space where God can dwell in and with me.
Maybe we can encourage each other as we seek to be still and quiet before our Lord. 🙂
I love how we are on the same page with rest and quiet. It makes such a difference to know others are on the journey with me. I will be happy to pray for you as you seek to dwell in your own quiet place. Blessings!
The rougher life gets, the more I realize that just dwelling with God in the mornings isn’t enough. I need to dwell with him throughout the day (especially when I’m angry or upset–it helps to take a breath and dwell a little before opening my mouth ;).
Keeping God in front of us throughout the day requires practice and intentionality. I would imagine teaching in a Christian school would help as well as knowing who you are. We simply don’t function well when God is an afterthought. Hope you have a blessed weekend.
Amen!! That is beautiful! Before we surrender our agenda will never fully rest!! This is so true! Thanks for the reminder!!
Your fmf neighbor parked at number 8 this week
This is a lesson God has been teaching me for awhile so I feel like I have some experience with it. However, I evidently haven’t learned it well yet because I am still in a space of waiting learning to rest and surrender. Blessings on your weekend.
Love those verses, Thank you for sharing what speaks to your heart!! The Bible is so fun!!!
The best story is God’s story, hands down. I’m glad those verses spoke to you. Thanks for being here, Marisa and I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
First, I love those verses. There have been many times in my life when I have cried out that I will be happy to live in the furthest corner of Heaven if it means being anywhere near Him.
Second, “seeking is not always finding.” That’s hard. God, thankfully, is always to be found, but He does not always give me the answers I want in the time I want them. You’re very right that we have to surrender our agendas.
Yes we do! Less of ourselves and more of Jesus every time. I know that we will always be seeking to know God better, but it also is amazing when He speaks to us and gives us some answers. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Hi, there! I do create a little dwelling, a place to be with God. Really it’s just the end of my couch with a heating pad and my big windows to look out of. A haven, of sorts. I love that you used that word! I love that you seek God and the quiet as a place for both you to dwell:) Your fellow fmfparty friend from the #7 spot. -Every grateful.
Thank you for being here and sharing your own heart. Honestly, many times my own dwelling place is also on the couch. But when we can call God into the quiet, it doesn’t matter where we are. Blessed you stopped by today.