31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Grow

It makes me sad when I see my children grow. I know I shouldn’t be sad, but it seems like they have grown so fast. I have spent time with them over the past years as they grow and I have made sure they know how to do things, but it still saddens me to know that I only have a couple of years left until the oldest will go off to college.

We as Christians should grow everyday. From the moment we ask Jesus to come into our life and save us, we should be reading our Bible and praying. We are to grow our knowledge of the Bible. If we don’t grow as Christians, I am sure that makes Jesus sad. He wants us to grow closer to Him every day.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Read

I love to read. Since having kids, I've not been able to read as much. I do try to find some time to read a fiction book that I have not read out of my collection from past library sales. Some of my favorite authors are Nicholas Sparks, Karen Kingsbury, and Janette Oke.

The most important book I have ever read is my Bible. I have the Homeschool Mom's Bible that I use to read an encouraging devotion each day. But there are some days that go by that I have not read my Bible. It seems like on those days that I have a more difficult time. I need to remember the most important book to read each day is God's Word. It helps to keep me focused and in a better mood.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Remain

I’m having a difficult time coming up with  something to write today. I keep coming back to this verse though.

I Thessalonians 4:17 ~ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Those that remain – meaning those on Earth at the time Jesus decides to come back and call those that believe in Him home.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Try

I’m sure we have all heard the phrase “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” What does that mean to you. Do you give up easily when things get rough. I know I sometimes give up easily. If I don’t succeed, why do I need to try it again? I’m sure I will fail again and again, no matter how many times I try. The only way for me to succeed is to put my trust in Jesus. If I remember that I have Jesus by my side, I can push through my failures and keep trying until I do get it right. Because with God all things are possible. There is no failure in Jesus’ eyes. We are not failures to Him. We must keep trying until we succeed.

Five Minute Friday ~ Invite

Today the five minute Friday prompt is Invite. It is also day 13 of the 31 free writes of October.

I recently came across a poem by Lois Blanchard Eades titled If Jesus Came to Your House. This poem is about Jesus making a surprise visit to your house, but what if you invited Jesus to your house. What would you have to do to get your house ready? Would you have to put some things in hiding? Would you have to get out your Bible to make it look like you’ve been reading it? If you were to invite Jesus over, what would you wear? Would you have to buy new clothes to have something appropriate to wear in front of Him? What about your language? Would you have to practice to not take His name in vain? If you invite Jesus over for the day, I hope that you could do it without having to hide things or replace things.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Write

Write…I like to write. Sometimes I come up with some great material and other times I do not. I started to write a story a few years back, but lost it when my hard drive crashed and I wasn’t able to save it. I’ve been wanting to get back to that story, but can’t remember all of the details I had and wish I could just write it down, but I can’t get it started.

I know we are supposed to only take 5 minutes to write these posts with what comes to our mind at the time, but every day I write something and think how it is not that great, so I delete and start over. I wish I had more confidence in my writing and I wish I had better thoughts that were encouraging to others. I know sometimes I do have a good post, but mainly I feel like they are not that great. I do hope I have encouraged at least one person with my writing.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Remember

“We do not remember days, we remember moments.” ~ Cesare Pavese

This is so true. How many times have you recalled a memory, but didn’t recall the date of that memory? We will always remember the moments we have shared with others even if we don’t remember the date. The moments and memories that we share with others are what is most important.

We may not remember the day we graduated high school, but we remember the moment. We may not remember what all transpired on the day our children were born, but we remember the moment.

Take time today to live in the moment. Remember these special moments with your family and friends for it is these moments that you will remember for a lifetime.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Listen

Proverbs 1:5 ~A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

A wise man will hear…a person who wants to learn will listen to what is being taught.

And will increase learning…as they listen, they become more knowledgeable.

A man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels…once that man has listened and gained knowledge, he is then to go out an tell others what he has learned.

Will you become wise by listening?

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Plan

*This post contains affiliate links*

Plan…I plan a lot of things. But one of the best things that I like to plan is our meals for the week. I have in the past posted on Mondays our meal plans for the week, but have not posted that in a while. Having a plan helps me a lot during the day when I know what I am going to make that night.

I have reviewed MyFreezEasy which is a helpful tool in planning freezer meals. Next week, MyFreezEasy is doing a make one, freeze one challenge. Anyone is able to join in and choose from 1 of 3 freezer meal plans to download. This gives you a chance to see how freezer meals works MyFreezEasy.

The details:

• Sign up for the challenge at this link
• Mark your calendar for October 16-20
• Buy your ingredients for your chosen plan
• Keep an eye on your email for more information about the challenge

It is so simple to have a plan for meals each month.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Truth

Have you ever played the game two truths and one lie? It’s a game played at a party where you tell the group two truths about you and one lie. I’ve played it maybe once or twice. So, here goes. I’m going to post two truths and one lie about myself.

1. I have broken bones in both arms and both legs
2. I grew up in Connecticut.
3. I had a tumor removed from my ear when I was 7.

I’ll tell you the lie at the end. It is easy to tell lies, especially to those around us who don’t know us very well. Even our kids lie to us at times. Why do we not always tell the truth? If you have ever testified, you swear to tell the truth. The jury has to decide if you told the truth or lied to them.
Even the media tells lies daily. They leave out part of the truth to get people riled up. Why can’t people just want to tell the truth? Why are there so many lies? It’s because sin entered the world and when that occurred lies started being told. 

I remember listening to Patch the Pirate while was growing up and there was a song about telling the truth. One little lie can grow to a big lie, so make sure to always tell the truth.



My lie from up above is number 1. I have never broken any bones in my body.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Hold

I remember back to the day when my first child was born and placed in my arms. How I longed to hold a child after suffering a miscarriage. I held onto him for a long time. He is now 15 years old and over six feet tall. I can’t hold him anymore since he is a lot bigger than me. How I long to go back 15 years and hold that sweet little baby and wish time would stand still for a while.

My other children are 14, almost 12, and 6. None of them like for me to hold them either, but I sometimes will pick up the six year old and just sit and hold her for a few minutes. She may not like it much, but one day she will be where I am and understand how a mom just wants to keep a hold on their children.

Time passes so fast and children grow up and move on. Savor the moments you have with your children and hold on tight to them.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Story

Today is day 6 of the 31 days of five minute free writes and it is also the prompt for five minute Friday at the blog.

Story…Here is one of my stories of my life.

On this day, October 6, in the year 2000, I lost my first baby. I was 13 weeks pregnant and the day before we found out there was no heartbeat. We decided it was best for me to try to naturally miscarry before attempting a D&C. That was the hardest thing I had ever been through in my life at that point. I did end up miscarrying naturally in the early morning hours of October 6, 2000. After it happened, there were many “helpful” people who tried to comfort me. There was no comforting when they said, “It’s for the best",” “You can have another.” How do they know it was for the best? How did they know I would have another? The one thing I have found comfort in after all these years is knowing that my child is waiting for me in Heaven and one day I will get to see them. We refer to the child as Angel since we do not know if it was a boy or a girl. I still think about my child a lot still even though it has been 17 years. I don’t think that would be something I could ever forget. God has been and will be my comforter. I’ve learned through my experience how to help others through a loss of a child through miscarriage.

My favorite verse that I have had since I was a teenager was also a big help to me during my time of grief: Isaiah 41:10 ~ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Trust

Day 5…Trust.

Who can you trust? It seems to be getting more difficult these days to trust anyone. We are skeptical when first meeting someone. What are their intentions? Can I trust them? Have they done anything for others to lose their trust in them? Questions go through our minds wondering how we can trust someone. But, there is always One who we can trust all the time. With Jesus by our side, we don’t have to fear. We can trust Him to protect us. We can trust Him to give us the wisdom we need. When we go through difficult times, we can trust God to help us through it. Trust. It is difficult these days to trust, but with God we can trust.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. ~ Proverbs 3:5

And one more of my favorite Bible verses about trust: What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.~ Psalm 56:3-4

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Hope

Today is day 4 of the 31 days of free write prompts over on the Five Minute Friday blog.

Hope is to want something to happen. I’m not that great of a writer, but here is something I came up with about the word hope.

Heaven’s gates are ready to be opened to all who believe,

O come quickly Lord is what they say.

Pleading with Jesus must all be done for only those who believe may enter in,

Everyone hopes for the day to be soon.

31 days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Create

Day 3 of the Five Minute Friday free writes prompt. The word for today is create

When I saw this word, the first thing that popped into my head was making things in our homeschool. We create a lot of things over the year and have created many things over the past 12 years that we have been homeschooling. And I am sure there will be many more things that are created over the next several years until my youngest graduates.

The next thing that came to mind when I saw this word is the verse found in Psalm 51. Verse 10 says “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. What does it mean to create a clean heart in me? David wrote this Psalm after he had sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. He was desperate to have a renewed heart with God. Because he knew he did wrong, he wanted to have a clean slate with God. He wanted to erase the sin from his life. He knew that only God is able to forget our sins. Even if we can’t forget them, when we pray to God with a sincere heart to forgive our sins, He is able to just erase them and forget them.

Give your sins over to God no matter how big you think they are. He will take them from you and erase them from His memory and give you a clean and renewed heart and spirit today.

31 Days of Five Minute Friday Free Writes ~ TELL

Today is day 2 of the 31 days of free writes over at the Five Minute Friday blog.

Tell ~ My daughter loves to tell stories. She loves to make up stories about different creatures she has imagined. My favorite one is her telling me the story of the Handipus.  The handipus lives in your stomach and eats whatever you eat to be kept alive. It likes living inside of you and is your friend.

Now that she is getting older, she doesn’t tell many stories, but she still has a great imagination. She loves to tell others about her love for God. She loves to tell stories about what Heaven will be like and how she can’t wait to go there. She loves hearing about the different stories in the Bible and telling others about what she has learned.

I pray she never loses the desire to tell others about Heaven and God.

31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes ~ Worship

I have decided to join in this month on the Five Minute Friday blog and write about what the prompt is for that day for five minutes. The first prompt is worship.

What is worship? To me, worship is fellowshipping with God. Even when I am in a crowded place such as a church, I can reach the point of worship where I am fellowshipping with my Saviour. And in that moment, it is just me and Him. If we allow ourselves to fully worship, He will change us. He will draw us closer to Him.

One of my favorite worship songs is “Spirit of the Living God” by Meredith Andrews. I love the lyrics of the song and the following really speak to me:

When You come in the room

When You do what only You can do

It changes us, it changes

What we see and what we seek

You're changing everything

When we allow worship into our lives, God will change us. He will change the way we speak, the way we see, and He can only do it if we allow Him to do it.

Will you allow God to speak to you today? Will you allow worship to take place within you? Today is a great day to fellowship and worship with your Saviour.

Psalm 29:2 (KJV) ~ “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”