If you haven’t already listened to this podcast episode, I hope you will click the link below and listen now!

http://www.anniefdowns.com/2016/04/07/looking-for-lovely-podcast/

So today is #TakeawayThursday3 in response to #BlogPod3!  I totally sound like I am speaking a made-up language because I guess I am. Just go with it:)

Don’t forget to comment on the blog or tweet your takeaways with #BlogPod3 and #TakeawayThursday3.  It’s a conversation, like a bookclub but with podcasts:)

You can tweet me at https://twitter.com/psalm8110 !

This podcast reminded me of a writing assignment we did in Freedom Writer’s this year.  I had almost forgotten about this treasure, when “Looking for Lovely” sparked my memory! I think you will see why.

Freedom Writer’s 2015-2016 End of the year Open-Mic

Inspired by a mission trip to Honduras and what it would be like to live in a 3rd world country, each of us was asked to write a response to this statement:

What is “The Value in the Valley?”

(Here are my 2 responses, since we have 2 different classes:)

1)

“I Spy”

I spy the sunrise, it’s time to start the day.

The windows are always open, so a breeze will blow my way.

What some would call a pesky bug,

I spy a miracle in flight. 

I spy my family all around;

I am thankful for my sight! 

I love to feel I’m needed;

I’m significant to this day.

I can make a meal and carry water;

I spy God’s beauty on display.

I never miss a minute of this gift we call today,

because I’m not distracted by the noise or the fray.

The sun goes down;

my work is done.

I spy the light fade into blue.

I spy my family, laying down,

Tomorrow, I’ll spy something new!

2)

“I’m Raising Potential”

Blessed with children,

I GET TO fill their hearts.

Even when our stomachs growl,

I GET TO play my part.

MY PART IS ESSENTIAL

I’M RAISING POTENTIAL

In a world painted with hues 

of orange, green and blue,

we may not have running water,

but each day is gift that is new.

MY PART IS ESSENTIAL

I’M RAISING POTENTIAL

My kids are watching;

they see my reaction,

to a world that is simple

minus distraction.

The little feet behind me

skip joyfully to bed.

Because I chose to forsake the blues

and sing a victory tune instead!

I’M RAISING POTENTIAL.

CAN’T YOU SEE THAT MY PART IS ESSENTIAL?

“Looking for Lovely” is like a synonym for “finding the value in the valley.”  I am so thankful that I saw the connection, dug out my notebook, and wrote my poems on the blog.  They will never be forgotten in the bottom of a book bag now.

When looking for lovely we will always find it!

Here is the gold I sifted and how I internalized it from our weekly podcast:

Perseverance is the key to a Spirit-Filled life!  ( I truly want that life so I got to keep on keeping on!)

So inspired by Annie’s generosity.  She read the introduction to her new book, Looking for Lovely.  I had already bought the book but it was such a treat to hear the author read in her own voice the genesis of her story. THANK YOU ANNIE!

Seeing beauty in the rainstorms of our life-DO WE?

When we see ugly on the outside, how do we process that in our hearts? Do we let the ugly on the outside, the storm out there, get inside us?

Looking for the beauty amid the storms and ugly in life!

We need to see the lovely in our everyday. Do we know what beautiful looks like? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so beauty is different to each of us. Do we know what beautiful looks like to us personally and are we open to God expanding that definition daily?

I LOVE A TATTOO STORY!

 I want one but my 15 year old son told me that was absolutely not going to happen, not on his mother!  So, I will just celebrate with those who are livin the dream.

I do think about what I would have tattooed if allowed, and my word would be HIS, in all caps, to reminded me that I belong to HIM(God); I am HIS child, made in HIS image, never alone, and loved liked crazy by a good good Father!

And I love the word Annie chose for her Tattoo-GRACE!  I want to “be grace” too! That my friends is “Good Ink.”

Looking for lovely is walking towards freedom, hope and who we want to be, a journey dropping chains along the way!

Thank you Annie for taking this perseverance journey alongside me and all of your readers!  In the words of someone, I can’t remember who, thank you for giving me the gift of “me too.”

Romans 5:3-5  ” Not only so, but we[a] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Hope is an expensive commodity and  it is the result of a process that will take time!

My life verse:

“May the God of Hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Him; so that hope overflows from you by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

May we be the kind of people that overflow hope and splash it all over our people!

BRANDED BY PERSEVERANCE! Press into the hard on behalf of the hope! (That is a stick statement- good stuff!)