1980′s

Comfort from Community (Five Minute Friday)

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Sharita

Good morning, America! (Or should I say “world?” Fun fact: 7 Days Time ministry has grown and we actually have legit and semi-regular readers in other countries. Thanks for that one, Jesus!)

Anywho, today is one of my favorite blogging days of the week. That’s right– it’s Five Minute Friday. Top three reasons why its my fav?

  1. Less pressure to get it right (or at least “perfect”)
  2. It is a great conditioning tool and change of pace from normal posts (AKA: I write for 5 minutes flat… and don’t have to come up with a topic of my own)
  3. It’s on Friday. So what’s not to love??

Every week, I link up with The Gypsy Mama… She gives us a prompt, then we go to town with our writing. Today’s prompt: “COMMUNITY.” 

Annndddd GO!

It can be found in person. It can be found online. Sometimes it shows up out of no where. Other times you gotta be more intentional.

Community is a beautiful thing.

As an army wife, finding community right where we are sometimes requires a bit of… uh…. creativity. And a lot of help from Jesus. Fortunately… He never fails us in that department.

Already in our marriage, my beloved and I have experienced a lot of challenges– not necessarily with marriage, but just life in general. Separations by duty, crazy hours, moving, life purpose limbo, miscarriage… The list continues.

But every time we have walked through something less than awesome, Jesus has been with us… as have other people in our community.

You know God is creative when He brings you to a community where we can dress like this... :-) Rocking the 80's!

We find the greatest comfort from our community within the body of Christ. What  a blessing those folks are to me! Also, I find incredible community online. You wouldn’t believe (Ok maybe you would) the kind of cheerleaders and supporters that have helped me walk through some of these challenges that were strictly from an online/blogging/commenting connection.

God is mighty and powerful. He is also INCREDIBLY creative. He brings community right where we are through a variety of avenues. We simply have to have our eyes open and be willing to rejoice in that blessed comfort of our community– regardless of how it comes into our lives.

STOP

Man, that never gets old! Such a fast-writing adrenaline rush. I feel like I should write a few more paragraphs to cool down.

But I won’t. (That’s the great thing about Fridays… One and done, baby. No overthinking. Love it.)

So as I sign off, I am curious– where do YOU find community? Do you have to seek it out or does it seem to fall in your lap? I would love to hear your Jesus community strategy– leave a comment here. 

Ok, my dear readers… Have a B-E-A-U-Tiful weekend. Oh… and thanks for being such an incredible, loving and supporting community for this crazy lil Jesus writer.

You rock my world (and so does Jesus),
SGK

“You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.” –James 3:18 (MSG) 

Categories: 1980's, community, companionship, encouragement, Five Minute Friday, joy, Love | Tags: , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Shoulder Padded Jesus Power

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Sharita

Today’s family time in South Dakota began with a conversation about shoulder pads.

The topic was brought up by my beloved husband, and no, we weren’t talking about manly football shoulder pads. As we half-watched a rerun of Matlock, Brandon spouted off “Why does that chick’s shoulders look like that? Is she wearing… shoulder pads!?!”

Mama Lex (my mother-in-law) and I looked at one another. Here we go.  This is gonna be good.

Thus started our extremely random conversation about the who’s, whens, wheres and whys of shoulder pad fashion. Precious, right?

Lex and I both explained that we have both been through the 80′s ish era of wearing shoulder pads. I shared with my husband the purpose behind them was to broaden up the shoulders of women, to make us look more “powerful” in what was a man’s world. His reaction? A good-natured sigh and roll of the eyes.

We briefly continued the conversation then moved onto less ridiculous topics. (Thankfully.) I realized I still needed to come up with a blog topic for today, so said a few brief prayers for inspiration as we were venturing around Sioux Falls throughout the day.

Late yesterday afternoon found us stopped at Crossroads, a Christian book and music store. I was browsing around, trying (operative word: trying) to exercise control and not purchase everything I picked up. I came across the clearance section and grabbed a book called “Guerrilla Lovers” by Vince Antonucci. I opened it to the first page and read the beginning paragraph. Guess what? It mentioned 1988 and shoulder pads.

Ok, God. You have my attention.

On our drive home, I started thinking (AGAIN) about the former shoulder-padded power fashion. I wonder how often we try figuratively bring back this fashion by doing things to our heart, mind, or attitude to gain power in this world? Do we desire to have power and control? I know I do. I have to fight that worldly urge daily and submit to Him. And while I have no longing to bust out a suit jacket with shoulder pads again, I think I am putting a padding on my heart and lean on my own power instead of Jesus.

Pray with me today to let go of our “shoulder-padded power” desire and turn it all over to Jesus. With the power of God in us, we can do all things… we don’t have to have big awkward padded shoulders… AND the power of Jesus NEVER goes out of style.

Powered by Jesus,

SGK

“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” Romans 4:20-21

Categories: 1980's, fashion, God, power, surrender | Leave a comment

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