Elisabeth drives us around the heart of Washington, D.C., and I might have squealed out loud when I saw the street sign “Pennsylvania Avenue.” Excitement splashes all over that town, and everything moves fast {except the traffic}. Dark suits and skirts scurry down sidewalks as briefcases swing. Everyone must be running behind, late for Very Important Things. Just watching all that busy makes me out of breath. Life here looks much different from my own in Colorado.
But then Elisabeth parks the car and our posse walks around the mall before deciding to visit the National Gallery of Art. With the swoosh-pull of the gallery’s heavy wooden door, I am surprised with a slow, quiet space where I can walk at leisure with the works of Michelangelo, Monet, and Moran.
It is lovely, to say the least.
On Thursday, we will have our first Out of the Blue linky! And while I’m no Monet-with-words, I do pray this link-up provides a bit of a retreat for you, a place for you to open the doors – and your eyes – to a fun, poignant, relatable, delightful, or even restful surprise God arranges just for *you*. And once you see it, I’d love for you to come tell me about it over here.
Last week I wrote a bit more about Out of the Blue:
On Thursday {Valentine’s Day!}, I am unveiling a link-up called Out of the Blue. The idea behind it is to write about something that *surprised* you in a post and then link it up here {or if you don’t have a blog, share your story in the comments}. You can write about a big surprise, a tiny surprise, or in-between one. I want to learn how God used something right out of the blue to build your faith, give you joy, or encourage your heart in the midst of your daily to-do’s.
Each week, I will narrow the out of the blue topic by giving a prompt the week before. And the prompt for our inaugural linky this Thursday is:
Answered prayer: How did the Lord answer a prayer for you in a way that surprised you?
The linky will go live by 7am MST on Thursday. At least, probably. Heh. Whether you join in or simply read along, I look forward to seeing you this Thursday.
It will be lovely, to say the least!
{And on a humorous note, I snapped this picture at the National Gallery of Art. Is it just me or does it look like Joseph is texting the news of baby Jesus’ arrival?}
It does look like that! I was also thinking he looks like he’s wearing Superman’s cape…
Ha! Yes it does. 🙂
What a beautiful invitation, Kristen! I hope to be able to join you over here! (My 11-year old is in D.C. this week, with his class, so I love the excitement you share about that amazing city.) Bless you!
Jennifer, my sons will be going to DC next year. I’m so excited for them to see it!
Bless you too, friend. Love you!
So excited about your new linky, Kristen! Love you, friend!
Thank *you* for being the best encourager-in-chief. I love you so much.
My surprise to an answered prayer is this. About a year and a half ago our Company was doing that thing a lot of them are doing lately. Moving the manufacturing to Mexico and the ‘overhead’ staff to the Corporate State. That was about 75 miles away. We were welcome to keep our jobs and either commute, carpool or move. None of those coices seemed right to me and I agonized over it for a long time. I kept telling God that I was leaving it with Him until one night, riding home, listening to the radio – I heard a Pastor talk about something in his life that was similar. He said he heard God telling him that he really was not leaving it on the altar, that he still had his hand on it — to snatch it back at any moment. I realized that was exactly true of what I was doing. That very night, I gave my job to the Lord, I told my boss the next day that I would not be staying with the company and within a very short time, I was told I would be allowed to work from home and only have to commute once a week or so. That was the most amazing answered prayer – and I still witness to others about it. God is so good.
I *love* that Sue. Really LOVE. Thanks for sharing part of your story here! xo
It’s really kinda awesome that I can finally feel the “shift” taking place in the blogosphere where people are less interested in making more “noise” for noisiness sake and more interested in intentionality. Thanks for creating space where wonder and awe can be revealed…and we have time to take in all those little moments–such as a texting Joseph! 🙂
Thanks for hanging out with us here, Lorretta.
My question is, why does Joseph look so old???
I know, right? I asked that while we were looking. I can see him being older, but not decades and decades older.
Oh my gosh, he’s totally instagramming that baby Jesus! 😀
Oh my gosh…I am laughing hysterically at Joseph texting and it’s not good cuz I’m in a very quiet library. So funny…I’m sure someone retouched that classic with Joseph’s iPhone in hand. Thanks for a good laugh. Love DC. My daughter lives there and it’s a very cool, though intense, city. Can’t wait for the Linky!!