Welcome to this week’s edition of the Five Minute Friday link-up!
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This week’s FMF writing prompt is: CARRY
Setting my timer for five minutes, and . . . go.Â
The situation in Ukraine has been heavy on my heart, as it has been for countless others. I just can’t imagine what the people of that country are going through.
I keep seeing posts on social media that say Pray for Ukraine — and I have been, and will continue to do so. But a small part of me wonders, Is that really enough?
Of course there are more things we can do — giving financially to aid agencies, for example . . . but I’ve also been convicted by my lack of trust in God’s willingness and ability to hear and answer our prayers according to His will.
James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (NIV).
Yes, there are other practical things we can do besides pray — but I should not discount the power of prayer.
Friends, we are called to “carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2, NIV). One way we carry each other’s burdens is through prayer, by lifting each other up, bearing the other’s burden, and laying it at the cross.
Let us not give up carrying each other’s burdens, even if we don’t see immediate results.
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Join the link-up below with your own five-minute freewrite, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:
We say we cannot carry
our burdens, let alone another’s,
but the truth we cannot bury
is the fact that they’re our brothers,
and however cramped the soul
and heart, however flawed,
we together make a whole,
the body of the Lord our God.
So let us therefore put aside
our plaint against the weight we bear,
let us now subsume our pride
and meet our brethren there
in his crushing, bitter day
to be his Simon, on the Way.
I used the same verse, just in a different way. We do often give up on prayer before we see the results. I am not sure why we don’t see it as powerful as it is or why we go “I don’t know what to do so I’ll pray.” Pray shouldn’t be seen as a last resort but as a vital part of our Christian faith.
Carry…
These are the things I carry
My heart
My joy
My shame
My memories
My fears
All stored inside this vessel, me
These are the things I would carry
If I could…
You
Your burdens
Our children
Their cares
The mountains
The oceans
The air that I breath
This is what I am learning
That there is One who
Cares and
Carries the whole universe
He is the one who created it all
He offers Himself as a refuge
For what we cannot carry
Ourselves
I want to carry you
From here through the gates
But we can only walk side by side
And we will part for a time
I can’t carry you there
You can’t carry me.
But He will
And He will bring us home in His own
Arms.