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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Finish. And how you must first begin. (FMF)

July 25, 2014 by HappyGoStuckey 7 Comments

I’m all alone in a new-found favorite spot. Comfy purple chair. Earbuds streaming the soul-calming sounds of my Audrey Assad Station. Beside me sits a tall iced coffee infused with coconut and a slice of Hawaiian Banana Bread. Apparently, I’m wishing for an escape in more ways than one.

I’m not just here to read. Or to think or relax.

I’m here with a task. Something that I’ve known I had to finish for more than two months. Something for which the deadline is looming. But each time I sit and try to “knock it out,” several things loom larger than my responsibility.

My own inadequacy. My own “green-ness” at this. Some might call it stress-paralysis. My own fear that someone else could do it better. Someone else could say it more eloquently. Truthfully, I’m not very brave am I?

But here’s the thing.

It’s not always ALL about Bravery. Somedays it’s ALL ABOUT OBEDIENCE.

Today is that day.

Somedays you have to be brave, other days you just have to show up and be available.

Here is what I know. I know that when we are given tasks that seem too big for us, it is because they most certainly are. 

Tasks that are too big for us require that we allow our smallness to shrink back a bit and allow God to more clearly show His power. His strength. His might. His ABILITY to equip us where we feel ill-equipped.

But obedience requires the first step. Often the first step is all we know in the way of direction.

But let’s take it. Take the first step to begin in the direction God is nudging us.

Begin. And He will take care of the finishing. 

So happy to link up with my other Five Minute Friday Friends HERE! 

Summer Garden Vegetable Soup
4×4 for Declare

Comments

  1. Holly Barrett says

    July 25, 2014 at 11:37 am

    “Begin. And He will take care of the finishing.” So true. And I so needed to hear it today, Cynthia!! 🙂

    Reply
  2. angieryg says

    July 25, 2014 at 11:49 am

    Yes! When bravery and obedience meet, it is a beautiful thing! And now, it has me asking…what is this thing looming that you need to finish? 😉 I have a talk that I am preparing for India so as I peck away at letters and hear whispers from Him, I will pray for you as well!

    Reply
  3. karrileea says

    July 25, 2014 at 1:31 pm

    I love this! And I can’t help but keep looking at your adorable profile pix as I am reading and you are just too stinking cute! And this: “Here is what I know. I know that when we are given tasks that seem too big for us, it is because they most certainly are.” Oh Amen, my friend! Such a good reminder!

    Reply
  4. asmallbutmeaningfullife says

    July 25, 2014 at 1:41 pm

    Great reminder today. Visiting from FMF. Rosanne

    Reply
  5. Courtney says

    July 25, 2014 at 3:00 pm

    Yes! Sometimes, as someone else once said, we just have to do the next thing (in obedience!). Thanks for the reminder!

    Reply
  6. judith heaney says

    July 25, 2014 at 5:52 pm

    Your beautifully woven words provide a powerful reminder about what’s asked of us: take that first step. Begin.

    I love this line: “Somedays you have to be brave, other days you just have to show up and be available.” It doesn’t matter how brave you are if you don’t show up. And that is sometimes the bigger struggle – showing up, isn’t it. But when we do, God is able to do amazing things with our obedience.

    Thank you for these words today. So glad to discover them today through the fmf family <3

    Reply
  7. stoopingformanna says

    July 26, 2014 at 7:11 am

    Cynthia- Oh, why do we burden ourselves with the marathon when our first step is all is asks? This is a perfect word for me today. Thank you for sharing it and crafting it so beautifully here. Love it!

    Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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Just in case you need the reminder, not everything Just in case you need the reminder, not everything blooms at the same time.

If you find yourself in a season that requires all of you— all your energy, time, and mental space— Take Heart.

The truth that life is made up of seasons and no season lasts forever— is perhaps the greatest comfort for those who suffer.

Seasons slowly fold their way into another, taking their place in line.

Often what we wish would bloom right now, doesn’t. We can’t force it. 

Still, we can’t miss the beauty of what stands in front of us while we wait for other things.

I know that so many dear friends are in a season of waiting. Perhaps you’re waiting in secret, waiting for something you’ve not even spoken aloud.

We can wait together, you and I— knowing that the beauty of today is not a gift we want to squander as we wait for what’s around the next corner. 

Pictured: the Tulips at The Biltmore, followed by the beautiful, but still bloom-less rose garden.
I’ve always wanted to paint, but I guess this is I’ve always wanted to paint, but I guess this is almost as good. 🥰 

Finished this lovely piece for a very special birthday and I really love it!
Thank you for the free pattern, @dmc_embroidery !
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I’ve linked my favorite recipe for Green Jacket Salad today so you can grab it and bring a little Masters into your meals this week!
Happy Easter from the grateful, hopeful, Stuckeys. Happy Easter from the grateful, hopeful, Stuckeys. He alone is our Peace.

Surely he has borne our griefs
  and carried our sorrows;
 yet we esteemed him stricken,
 smitten by God, and afflicted. 
 
  But he was pierced for our transgressions;
 he was crushed for our iniquities;
 upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
 and with his wounds we are healed. 
 
  All we like sheep have gone astray;
 we have turned—every one—to his own way;
 and the LORD has laid on him
  the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:4-6
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When all is well, we often forget to pay attention When all is well, we often forget to pay attention.

We forget to look for daily provisions and mercies as we do when they are life and water to us.

It is not sunny optimism, but hope-filled obstinacy that pushes us to count our gifts instead of our trials.

To know that when the season is hard, and awkward, and everything seems backwards— we are not forgotten.

You may well know, it’s not an easy task. It’s hard work. Like those last few reps of lifting weights— when your muscles burn and you need to quit. What does the coach always say? “Don’t stop. These are the ones that count.”

Perhaps we think of gratefulness like this— It’s still important when we’re sitting with so much grace around us that we hardly remember our thanks.

But when it’s hard?
When it hurts?
When we cannot possibly see the light at the end of this particular tunnel— ✨there✨ is where we make the list of all we know to be true.

That is the place where it counts.
Where we squint if we must, to see what God is doing for us and in us— and definitely in spite of us.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll just be over here filling pages with provision I never want to forget. #solideogloria
Just a little flower garden while we wait for spri Just a little flower garden while we wait for spring to come in earnest. 🪡 🌸🪴🌼🌿 

This is a flour sack towel and although I don’t recommend it for stitching, (too loosely woven,) I do love the way it turned out! 💗
“Sometimes, placemakers make new. Build fresh. S “Sometimes, placemakers make new. Build fresh. Start from scratch. But most of the time, they repair. They restore. They protect. Sometimes, placemaking is nothing more than the refusal to unmake.”

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Mine was one year ago today and I love the pictures from it so much I made them into a chatbook.

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