rise
I opened a text from my husband & saw a picture of our ๐๐ค๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐(we name our houses) engulfed. This once tiny treasure, this little slice of holy we were blessed to inhabit for five years, was being dismantled by flames to create space for a new dwelling place.
It had been a safe place away from the hustle & bustle where our boy could heal, our marriage restore, our souls revive.
Our lives had fallen apart & then, at ๐๐ค๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐, it fell into place. We rose as God transformed the ashes of a holy ground into a plume of sheer beauty & grace that still has us gobsmacked. When we arrived at ๐๐ค๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐, our life felt like drowning fire, choking like smoke, burning the eyes, & trying to steal oxygen.
We fought hard for any peace in those flames, clawing until we found a glimmer of light, & chased the silver linings like a daily methodical manna.
๐โ๐ โ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐ฆ.
just look up
๐ผ๐ก ๐ค๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ก ๐ โ๐๐๐ก & ๐ผ ๐ค๐๐ ๐โ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐กโ ๐ท๐๐ค๐โ๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ . While walking her & her father back to her room, she paused at the artwork on the wall. The automatic doors ๐๐๐๐๐๐ & ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ าแดแดก ๐๐๐๐๐ while we waited as she smiled intently at the art. Without skipping a beat, her father lightheartedly chuckled that สแดโแด สแดแดสษดแดแด แดแด แดษดแดแดส สษชs sแดสสแดแดษดแด ษชษดษขs แดแดสแด สแดแดแดแดsแด สษชs แด แดแดษขสแดแดส sแดแดแดแดแดแด & แดษดแดแดสแดแด สษชาแด along the way instead of rushing from place to place.
just five minutes
๐ had ๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ฌ could ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐.
The year was 2012 and Ann Voskamp said I needed to walk five minutes of fresh oxygen into my cells each day(full disclosure: it was her blog post that told me-those daily blog posts coming to my phone were a lifeline). Iโd been breathing through a cracked open window for two weeks in tiny snippets by that point and the idea of fresh air felt like a heap of timid amazing.