Five Minute Friday: Mercy -

From Lisa-Jo Baker, the Gypsy Mama: "On Fridays around these parts we like to write. Not for comments or traffic or anyone else's agenda. But for fun, for practice, for joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker. We love to just write without worrying if it's just right or not. For five minutes flat."

Today's prompt: Mercy. 

Photo taken September 2012 ~ FL.

~ Go ~ 

"The Lord's mercy often rides to the door of our heart upon the black horse of affliction." 

~ Charles H. Spurgeon ~ 

I didn't know how to write about mercy until I read that quote. Then suddenly, it all came to me. Because affliction I know. Affliction comes stealing in the night and you wake up with a headache from just trying to get away. Affliction tries to ride away with you on that dark horse. 

Mercy is what calls you to stay. Mercy is the tender hand of God when you least expect it. 

Mercy is the undeserved, unfair, unbelievable grace that falls on the people who never can repay it. 

Mercy is what stumbles hearts into unfathomable joy of how deeply He loves us. 

Mercy is what brings tears to our eyes and joy overflows the fountain of thankfulness on Sunday mornings and in the middle of the night when that dark horse has not only ridden to the door of your heart, but has also burst that door down and shouted with a triumph that he has won ....
  and you think he has. 

.... BUT GOD. How I love those words. 

But God, being rich in MERCY. Made us alive. 
The dark horse melts away in the light of His shining face, the affliction fades and pales,
the shout of triumph is drowned out with His sweet love. 

And we've never known anything so precious and real as this.

~ Stop ~  

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 

even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
~ Ephesians 2:4-7 ~ 

Y'all. I cried my way through writing this. The Holy Spirit brought those verses to mind, and I'm so thankful.
A reminder of how great God's mercy is, is just what I needed to start today. 

With much love always,

~ Jean Marie ~ 

*Join me sometime on Five Minute Fridays, you will LOVE it!*