It's Five Minute Friday when I link up with Lisa-Jo of The Gypsy Mama.  We are given one word each Friday as our prompt and we get to write for five minutes flat.  I set my timer so I don't run over as it's easy to do.  Our word for today is: REST




GO

When I think of the word rest the picture that comes to my mind is something like this Pinterest photo.  I can just picture myself lying in the hammock with a mug of my favorite tea, listening to the sound of the ocean waves and smelling the salt air.  Now that's rest!

However, I am not in this photo.  I don't even live near the ocean.  The reality is that I live in the desert of Phoenix.  Life is not always smooth sailing for sure.  And yet, can I be at rest?

Yes I can!  (Can you hear me Heidi)

I love the rest that the Lord offers to us.  He says to 'enter my rest'.

How can that be?  Each day I make the choice to follow Him. I don't always get it perfect.  In fact, sometimes I get way off track.  But how thankful I am for His mercy, patience and forgiveness.  When I walk in His ways I am filled with His peace no matter how chaotic my world may be.  When I enter His rest, I remember who I belong to.  I remember that Jesus paid the price for my sins.  I have peace with God through Jesus.  I know the end of the story.

And I have to say that gives me peace and allows me to rest in Him.

STOP

Blessings and love,

I'm joining Bonnie of Faith Barista for another Faith Barista Jam. Our writing prompt for today is:

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers , Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.  They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."  At once they left their nets and followed him.  

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John.  They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Blessings and love,

Cherish your friendships.  Life can change suddenly.  I received the phone call in the evening of last week.  My friend Susie had died suddenly.  I could hardly believe this news.  After all, she hadn't been sick as far as I knew.  As news spread among her friends, the overall response was shock.  I think the suddenness and unexpectedness of her death stunned everyone.  And yet we never know when our last day on earth will be.

To continue reading ...go to Laced with Grace.

Blessings and love,

As I continue to count my every day blessings, I have to include this little munchkin.  She's my great niece Kenzie.  She's ten months old and oh so very cute!  I only wish she lived in Phoenix so I could see her every day.
This past week our school hosted a Field Day and the theme was Dr. Seuss.  It was such an exciting day for the children in our Pre-K 3 class.

The children and teachers got to wear jeans and our class t-shirts. We had such fun going from activity to activity.  I decided to join in and had my face painted with a red heart (of course).

How thankful I am that I get to work with Heidi.  She's such fun and also loves to join in.

She's even a good sport when I took this photo.  She and the kids were actually sitting on the balls and jumping up and down.  I guess I caught her when she was getting ready to sit down. :)

I think you'll get the idea when you check out this collage of the kids participating in some of the activities.  They were so excited and they all fell sound asleep during nap time.  I only wish the teachers could pull up a nap mat too. :)

#723 Getting to see how fast little Kenzie is growing
#724 A fun Field Day at school
#725 Beautiful weather for Field Day
#726 An amazing friend and co-worker
#727 Seeing the children's faces light up with excitement
#728 My dad is back on Facebook
#729 I'm on spring break
#730 Inspiration and time to complete my book
#731 A wonderful sermon to get me prepared for Resurrection Day
#732 Time to wind down this week and get organized
#733 Time to prepare some healthy meals
#734 Beautiful weather so I can go for long walks

I'm linking up with Ann of A Holy Experience for Multitudes on Mondays as I continue to count my every day blessings.



Blessings and love,