You’re in for a real treat with this week’s Five Minute Friday post!
It’s chock full with moving words from a special guest, loads of amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, and our grand finale giveaway for Giveaway Month!
This week, I invited the dear Mary Geisen to guest post for us. Mary was on the planning committee for the Five Minute Friday retreat, and she recently released her very first book, called Brave Faith: A 31 Day Devotional Journey.
Mary spoke on the theme of brave faith at the Five Minute Friday retreat in August 2015 — what a joy to see this fruit of her labor now available to bless others!
Read more about Mary’s story and the heart behind her book book by clicking here.
Mary has also generously donated a copy of her new book for this week’s giveaway! Thank you, Mary!
In honor of Mary’s book, this week’s Five Minute Friday prompt is:
[Tweet “Join us as we write for five minutes on the word, SURRENDER!”]
Enjoy these moving words on surrender, from Mary Geisen:
One of my favorite memories is when my sons first began to walk. Unsteady feet led to a balancing act, which eventually ended with both of my sons on their bottoms. My sons’ determination and courage to get up and try again eventually ended in success. When we learn something new, we take baby steps, make mistakes and learn to pick ourselves up when we are not successful.
Brave faith is like learning how to walk. It is surrendering one “yes” to God, which leads to a second “yes”, a third and eventually more. When we surrender ourselves to God and His perfect plan, stepping outside of our comfort zones follows suit. We are on our way to brave faith.
[Tweet “Brave faith is like learning how to walk. It is surrendering our “yeses” to God one “yes” at a time.”]
For the past year and a half, I have been walking a path that looked more like standing still than moving forward. I discovered my path, which is always God’s path, turned out to be one of His choosing and not the one of my dreams. Frustration filled my heart and uncertainty guided my future. But with any unsteady steps, when we surrender our doubt to God, He leads us forward. When the horizon looks fuzzy and doubt overwhelms, we learn to move out of the way and let God do what he does best.
Until I surrendered myself to God, my path remained uncertain. When I sat in the waiting, God sat with me. He taught me that saying “yes” even when I could not see the other side allowed Him to work inside me.
I learned that sitting with God so He can work from the inside out is a gift. What looks like nothing is happening is when everything is happening. He takes each broken piece and makes us whole one piece at a time. Sitting in the tension with God was my life this past year. Surrendering my brokenness created a space for God to do a good work in me. All of God’s preparation, pruning and tender care blossomed into fruit. Producing His fruit was His beautiful gift to me.
When letting go and surrendering is the last thing you want to do, God patiently renews and restores you from the inside out. He intimately knows your heart and transforms you into more than you could ever imagine.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” ~ Romans 12:2
Mary Geisen is a lover of coffee and deep, soul-filled conversations. She is the mom of two married sons, a retired teacher, writer, author and seeker of grace in the ordinary. Several years ago, God called her to bravely step out by sharing her journey in written form. The power of God’s words has inspired her journey of healing and drawing closer to God through the power of grace. She continues to walk toward brave faith in her everyday life and encourages others to do the same.
Thank you, Mary, for sharing these words of your heart, and also for donating a copy of your book for our giveaway!
Speaking of the giveaway, Susan Shipe has graciously offered two more books to include in our grand finale giveaway!
Enter to win a copy of Susan’s Advent devotional, 31 Days of Christmas: The People, Places, and Events of The Greatest Story Ever Told, or a copy of the Five Minute Friday book, compiled by Susan!
We’ll be choosing THREE winners on Monday, November 28th — one for each book!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway closes Sunday, November 27th at 11:59pm EST. Winners must have a U.S. mailing address.
[Tweet “Enter to #win one of three #books in this #giveaway!”]
And now, for some AMAZING Black Friday specials!
You all know how much I love Fistbump Media, right?
Well, they’re running and INCREDIBLE 4-day sale over Black Friday and Cyber Monday!
Check out this page for all of your website hosting, blogging course, self-publishing, blog makeover needs! They even offer a 20% discount on gift cards to use on whatever service you want, whenever you want! Such a deal!
Remember that 31 Days to #BlogAwesomeness course I told you about? And the one on self-publishing? They’re both 50% off through Monday!
KrafyKash Designs is offering 50% off their ENTIRE STORE! Shop here and wipe out your Christmas list!
Happy shopping and happy writing, friends!
Affiliate links were used in this post.
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I can’t believe how many Five Minute Friday people have written books in the past year! So exciting!! Amazing how something as simple as a 5 minute prompt can encourage each of us to really embrace the words and allow them to flow onto pages for the world to read! That’s some courage, bravery and yes a way to surrender!! Happy Thanksgiving Kate!!!
Great essay, Mary!
Surrendering to God’s will is one of the smartest things one can do. Unfortunately for me, I’m not very bright (“dumber than a box of rocks” is an expression that’s been a frequent descriptor) and it’s not something I would know how to do.
Instead I beat my head bloody, using it to try to knock down the walls I can’t scale.
But it’s kind of fun, and I hope that God has a sense of humour.
Thank you, Mary, for your words tonight! So encouraging!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I love the choice of word as surrender is my word of the year! Look forward to reading everyone’s thoughts. And I enjoyed reading your words, Mary. It’s encouraging to know someone else is on this journey, and I liked the analogy with learning to walk and taking it one step at a time.
Surrender is a daily choice. Sometimes I take many steps forward but then get scared and fall or take a step back. Mary’s book sounds like a wonderful devotional to take daily steps of surrender.
I am so thankful for the day that I finally realized I had to fully surrender my life to God! It is a decision I must male daily, sometimes moment by moment.
Mary’s book looks amazing! I have a copy of Susan’s book that I won several months ago, and I am excited to begin reading it this Advent season. Thank you again, Susan. I also have a copy of the Five Minute Friday book that my beautiful friend Diana Rockwell gifted to me, and I absolutely love it.
What a joy to see Kate graciously hosting you you here today, Mary! I love the words you’ve shared. These ones especially: “What looks like nothing is happening is when everything is happening. He takes each broken piece and makes us whole one piece at a time.” Oh how true this has been in my own experience. May you keep on taking those baby steps of faith which reveal the brave woman God is helping you to be. Blessed by your words, and grateful for a reminder to check out your book and the other great reads mentioned in the offer above! xo
Beautiful words! Thanks for the chance!!
Surrender to God. A scary thing to do, but oh the rewards in doing it!
Thank you Kate for giving me the opportunity to share my words here. This is my favorite community and you all have been key in my journey to brave faith.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Love you friend!
Such a blessing to have you share here, Mary! You and your involvement in Five Minute Friday will always hold a special place in my heart. Blessings to you!
Always love reading everyone’s thoughts on Fridays
Thanks so much for the opportunity to share in the link-up each week and for these fun giveaways!
I also appreciate the privilege to read and learn from other authors, who each have their own perspective and journey of faith.
I’m so excited to find out about this blog and link-up! I love the topic of surrender and excited to write my first Five Minute Friday
Hooray! We’re thrilled to have you, Lindsey! Hope it’s the first of many!
Mary I’m very familiar with those unsteady steps when it’s hard to tell if you are standing still or moving forward. You are so right, it’s the act of saying yes to with limited vision gives him permission to do the work in us that we need.
Well, it took me all weekend to get here, but Mary, I’m so, so glad I stopped by. Your words are beautiful and profound, my friend.
I love this: “Sitting in the tension with God was my life this past year. Surrendering my brokenness created a space for God to do a good work in me.”
We do sometimes sit in tension, don’t we? I hadn’t pictured it that way, but you’re right. I’m so glad God works in us in the midst of our brokenness.
Congratulations on your book release, my friend!
Love this:
“What looks like nothing is happening is when everything is happening.”
So encouraging!
Blessings,
Selena