Welcome to our weekly blog link-up!
If you’re new, you can learn more about how the link-up works on this page.
Every week I share a one-word prompt, and we freewrite for five minutes flat, then share our work. (The sharing part is optional). 🙂
This week, we have a special guest! Heather Gerwing is a long-time Five Minute Friday community member. Heather hosts her own link-up called Share Four Somethings once a month. Visit her website to check it out!
When Heather graciously offered to share a guest post, I asked her to send me three prompt suggestions. We had already used two of her three suggestions fairly recently, so I opted for the remaining choice:
This week’s writing prompt is: LIFE
We decided on the prompt before the tragedy occurred this past Sunday, when the helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others crashed, killing all nine people.
If anything, I have spent the week thinking about the brevity and fragility of life. May we all seek to “number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).
Please join me in welcoming Heather Gerwing to this week’s link-up!Â
Here’s Heather:Â
Life.Â
There are a lot of things that come to mind when I think of the word life. Â
The miracle of life, eternal life, life hack, March for Life, and Life Savers, to name a few.
For me, though, I ultimately think about the kind of life I want to live and the legacy of my life.Â
There is only one way to live my life, and that is full. God sent his Son to die on the cross for my life. I don’t want to waste away my life or take his sacrifice for granted. I don’t want to live passively when my Savior gave his life for me.Â
I’m not claiming a perfect or pain-free life. I have trouble, hardships, and hurts as does everyone. However, how I choose to live in and through my circumstances is a way I can give glory to God and shine a light for others to find him.Â
We are not guaranteed tomorrow; we only have this one life here on earth — how are you living it?
I want to live a life full of love, grace, and thankfulness. Jesus came to give us life and life to the full.Â
I’m on a journey to living a full life; please join me.Â
Heather Gerwing is living the full life with her husband, Jeff, four kids, and a dog in Metro Detroit. Heather enjoys reading, writing, coffee-ing, and serving in youth ministry. She was born a Jersey girl and feels most at home on a beach.
She is the host of the monthly link-up, Share Four Somethings. You can join Heather on the journey to living the full life at www.heathergerwing.com, Facebook, or Instagram.
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In case you missed it:
We’re celebrating a book birthday!
The book Influence: Building a Platform that Elevates Jesus (Not Me) is one year old!
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To celebrate, I’m re-sharing a series of 12 video interviews I recorded in 2019 with some of my favorite writers.
Register below to receive two interviews per week in your inbox for six weeks:
If you still need to buy the book,
you can click here to find it on Amazon
or buy it from the Five Minute Friday shop.
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Ready to write?Â
Join Heather and other writers by adding your words to this week’s link-up below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:Â
I wonder at life’s meaning,
at what I leave behind,
but I fear I have been dreaming
and know I have been blind
to what has been of value,
the things that I ignored
in place of what was untrue,
and what the Lord deplored.
I thought that high achievement
would impress bright heaven’s host,
but great was their bereavement
when I turned from Holy Ghost
to pursue a graven idol
rather than the love so vital.
How our lives turn out has a lot to do with who we let in :). If we let God in our life, things take on a whole new perspective.
Heather, great word and post. A Jersey girl? Me too! And, I must check out the “Share Four Somethings” linkup.
Yes, born and raised. I moved to Michigan in my late 20’s. Jersey will always be home to me.
Definitely on a journey to living a full life!! Joining you! Hmm – and why didn’t I think of Life Savers when I read the prompt. Do they still make those?
Thanks for the reminder – knowing what you want your legacy to be is key in making it a reality
Life can be joyful at times, and life can also be stressful, painful, and challenging. When we keep our focus on the moments that are stressful, painful, and challenging, we will lose our joy. How then can we shift our attention from the stressful, painful, and challenging moments of life?
~We can try to find something positive in a situation, even if it is small.
~We can focus on gratitude each day.
~We can also forgive if we may not feel like forgiving.
~We can turn to Scripture and find how much our heavenly Father cares for us. Matthew 6:25-26 “For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food and the body than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?”
Prayer for each of us to find joy in our life:
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the times in my life that are joyful. I also bring to You my times in life that are stressful, painful, and challenging. It’s in those times I feel anxious. Help me to keep my focus on You and know that You care for me.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Life: Life…take it for granted. We think that loved one will be here ,whether from the past or our future…my heart is breaking tonight for the fear sweet past childhood I had,the good memories, of ice cream we made out of snow that we did ever year when it snow and my mom Maymoniade Chocolate cake my mom made.