As I continue my beginnings in navigating this strange new world of writing, it seems fitting that today’s Five Minute Friday post is an ending of sorts.  For others.  Maybe for me too.

 

If you’re not sure what Five Minute Friday is all about, check out the details here and really here, too.  Because it’s going to change.  But change is good, I think.  It’s important for us to be willing to listen, truly listen, to what Abba breathes into our hearts.

 

So, without further ado, here is  my contribution to Five Minute Friday.

 

FINISH

 

GO

 

When I started this journey 19 years ago, I was focused on my beginnings.  How in the world was I going to do that which was entrusted to me?  I had not clue.

It was a job.  Not a ministry.

 

And then.  Then it was more.  Because God was changing me.  He was growing me.  He called.  And mostly I dragged my feet, but eventually I got my head screwed on straight and started to listen more and more often.

 

But all good things must come to an end.  And at some point we begin to realize that that restlessness we’ve been feeling was put there for a reason.  It’s not a defect.  Or a problem.  Or a cross we must bear.  No thorn in my side.

 

Sometimes when we’re not sure of the way to go or how to get there or even the why, it is there that a loving God meets us and stirs us up.

 

And it’s okay to dream big.  And press forward.  And yearn for more.  More of Him.

 

I’ve found the finish might be scarier than the start.  Because the road has been long and accomplishements have been lined up like mile markers.  And pride looms and whispers things in our ears we were never meant to hear.

 

And there’s condemention too.  If I finish, who then will start?  Is that my worry?  Must I fear that?  Will she do it better than me?  Will they still love me?

 

Finish.  Oh, to finish well when the time comes.  To know it was well done.  That is desirable.  But more than that, the comfort and peace found in the knowledge that my Savior will press on in me, in my heart, in my very life until the day of the Lord.  He is never finished with me.

 

That’s my comfort.  Because whether I decide next week is my finish, or next year, or ten years from now, my God is faithful to finish up His work in me.  That’s His promise.  And my victory in Jesus name.

 

Finish, indeed.  But also start.  Because each finish, whether victory or defeat, serves to refine us through and through.  And that’s an outcome I can get behind.

 

STOP