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Brenda Bradford Ottinger

Encouraging Women to Live Rooted in the Sacred

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November Spotlight & Giveaway | + 5th-Week-Fan-Girls!

Hey, friend. Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving, celebrating God’s goodness to His people. (For my U.S. friends.) I pray the Lord’s mercy on our nation, as well as across the globe.

And, thank you for the grace you offered me a couple of weeks ago as I was less active in the linkup while focusing on my family’s health. Thank you for your prayers, they are a gift to me. I pray health and well-being over your households as well.  ♥

Thrilled to share that our Giveaway and Spotlight winner this month is Leslie N. Leslie’s online writing space is Journey to Imperfect where she shares about “Letting go of perfectionism, One prayer at a time.” I love Leslie’s heart for prayer. If you haven’t had a chance to connect with Leslie, I hope you’ll stop in soon and say hello.

Congratulations, Leslie! Let me know whether you’d prefer the insulated mug, or the writing journal and I’ll get it right out to you. May the Lord continue to bless your ministry of words. ♥ 



And, the excitement doesn’t end there friends, because today is also also 5th-Week-Fan-Girls!

Around here when a month has five Thursdays, we take that opportunity to show the love to our fellow writers. In addition to linking up our personal posts, we share a post that’s been a recent blessing to us from another site, as well.

If you’re comfortable, please feel free to link up a post that’s been meaningful to you recently from another friend’s site this week! (As well as your own, of course.) #FanGirls!



<a href="http://brendabradfordottinger.com/chasing-community/"><img  src="http://brendabradfordottinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Linkup-button.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="250" /></a>

It’s a casual, pony-tail & sandals environment around here, but a few important reminders:

  • Please remember to visit and leave some encouragement for other friends who’ve linked-up today — this is the heart of community & your words of support could be just the thing another friend needs to hear today.
  • Please only share like-minded words of spiritual encouragement and insight.
  • Please grab the #ChasingCommunity button, or link back here underneath your post. (So others can find us and join the fun too!)
  • By linking up & leaving your email address you agree to receive #ChasingCommunity updates.

Thank you for bringing your dish to the table–May your ministry of words find community here.

Ministry+Friends=Fun. I’m linking up today with my friends at #ChasingCommunity. Come join us!
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Comments

  1. Bev @ Walking Well With God says

    November 30, 2017 at 7:14 am

    Hi Brenda,
    Continuing to pray for you and your family. I’m still slogging around with pneumonia….it’s going to take awhile. Thinking of you sweet friend….
    Blessings and ((HUGS)),
    Bev xoxo

    Reply
  2. Becky Hastings says

    November 30, 2017 at 7:30 am

    Hope everyone is doing better 🙂

    Reply
  3. Sherry Stahl says

    November 30, 2017 at 8:29 am

    Brenda,
    Thanks again for providing such a warm community. I love your choice of quotes. This one’s great. Praying God extends the reach of your writing.
    ~Sherry Stahl
    xoxo

    Reply
  4. Michele Morin says

    November 30, 2017 at 8:48 am

    I’m sharing Susan’s Tasty Tuesday November recap because I’m one of her fan girls, and because who doesn’t need a collection of goodness to get through the season of celebration and house guests!
    Blessings to you, Brenda! I love this community!

    Reply
  5. Linda Stoll says

    November 30, 2017 at 11:28 am

    Oh yes, this seems to be a season when our families’ needs are very much urgent, present, and serious. And the best thing we can do is disappear from online for a spell and focus on those who are with us and need what we can offer.

    Blessings to you, Brenda … you’ve modeled how to do that well.

    Reply
  6. Meghan says

    November 30, 2017 at 11:36 am

    Oh Congrats, Leslie! Brenda I pray you had a wonderful thanksgiving!

    Reply
  7. Maree Dee says

    November 30, 2017 at 12:22 pm

    Brenda – Praying for you and your family. I hope health is improving. Blessings to you my friend, Maree

    Reply
  8. Sandy says

    November 30, 2017 at 1:31 pm

    Thanks for the link up!

    Reply
  9. Leslie says

    November 30, 2017 at 3:08 pm

    Yay! I was really late to link up today, but what a nice surprise to find I’ve been the winner of your giveaway! I’ll take the journal! Thank you so much, Brenda! And as always, thank you for being you and for such a great place to link up and make connections. I didn’t have a new article this week so I’m posting one of my older ones. It’s about prayer. : ) And grace. Love that grace upon grace that Jesus gives! I sure hope you all are feeling better now. Blessings, Brenda!

    Reply
  10. Lisa/Syncopated Mama says

    November 30, 2017 at 3:23 pm

    I hope your final week of November has been fantastic!

    Reply
  11. KellyRBaker says

    November 30, 2017 at 8:12 pm

    Hi, friend. I keep getting interrupted here with a lot of family stuff going on, but I wanted to pop back over here and say hi (and hit my linkup buddy). I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 🙂

    Reply
  12. BettieG says

    December 1, 2017 at 12:39 pm

    Oh, yes, I am seeing more and more the blesssings that come along with this community that God brings together! I am new to your beautiful site and great link-up. Thank you for the invitation! Blessings to you and your family!

    Reply
  13. Donna Reidland says

    December 4, 2017 at 9:24 am

    I share your prayers for our nation. She is in desperate need of prayer, isn’t she! I hope your family’s health has improved. Thanks for hosting and your monthly giveaways.

    Reply
  14. Rachel Lee says

    December 6, 2017 at 10:52 am

    Praying you’re all doing well, Brenda! We have been struggling in our house with one cold after another…tis the season. 😉

    Thanks for the link up this morning! Blessings!

    Reply

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Never can there be too many magnolia pictures. . S Never can there be too many magnolia pictures.
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Says the lens of my eyes; of my soul.
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(“Not so,” says my iphone storage, but that’s a tomorrow problem.)
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Every time I leave my house, I can’t not stop, not stare, not take another jillion pictures.
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This magnolia tree of mine, she keeps a record of time, reaching farther into the sky with each passing year.
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In all her southern glory, she lifts leaves and limbs toward heaven, pointing to the One on whom all glory rests.
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Boldly, yet elegantly, she speaks of a Creator who, year upon year, grows lovely things under the banner of His care in the lives of His own.
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Even in times when life doesn’t feel full of lovely, may we listen to the magnolia’s anthem.
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She doesn’t question the winter, knowing full well that her Maker has yet to deny spring its beauty.
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I wonder how breathtaking magnolias must be in the City of God. ✨
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“Not to us, O, LORD, not to us, but to Your name goes all the glory for Your unfailing love and faithfulness.” Psalm 115:1 💕
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The May calendar has a way of turning our thoughts The May calendar has a way of turning our thoughts toward home, doesn’t it?
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Perhaps, for you, that’s a beloved Home State where the soil smells like childhood and dreams.
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Or, maybe the humble shelter of your youth, where boo-boos were kissed & fairytales carried you into dreamland.
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Perhaps you’re like me, and yesteryear’s home holds heartache and rejection, insecurity and confusion.
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Far too much of my past I spent chasing roots, not sensing an inheritance of belonging within the halls of my kin.
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Layer by broken layer, though, the Lord is healing me from within, showing me that…
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What our hearts long for can’t be satisfied with what our lives long for.
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The temporal can’t pacify the eternal.
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We’re so prone to searching for home in containers not meant to carry its calling—whether in place or people, title or position, acceptance or belonging—that we seek to satisfy its longing with lesser things.
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Having a sense of home within our circles is beautiful and sacred, but—it’s a shallow substitute for the inheritance we have in God.
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No place, no person, no position—no earthly brand of belonging—can ever claim home to your soul like the Haven of Him.
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Quiet your spirit in the shadow of His covering, dear friend, for never will He stop calling you His own. 💕
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Dear friend, do you feel like you’re etching a p Dear friend, do you feel like you’re etching a prayer into the ear of God, day upon year upon decade?
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You’re asking “why,” and “when, O Lord,” yet the situation your heart plays on repeat at the altar of God, remains seemingly unchanged.
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Oh, friend, I understand; me too.
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Sometimes those miracles we’re waiting for, they come at the expense of years of prayer.
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Not because God is cruel, but because God is thorough. He phones nothing in; takes no shortcuts with our hearts.
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The life-mending, soul-touching, supernatural work of God takes time to witness from our perspective.
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Oh, but take heart, dear friend, for God hears the cries of your heart.
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That outcome you’re praying for? Your God is already there, working out the details ahead of you.
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Even when it feels like you’re crying yet one more prayer into the silence, He hears and is moving ahead of you in ways you can’t even imagine right now.
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Hang on, my friend; keep praying, for those prayers are a worthy sacrifice to the only God who is altogether able. 🙌💕
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I wonder, friend, do the demands of life leave you I wonder, friend, do the demands of life leave you feeling downright weary at times?
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If so, I understand. Me too.
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Oh, that our souls would rest in remembering that Jesus also knew what it was to feel weary as He walked this earth in human flesh.
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You are not alone.
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This one’s for the weary. 💗
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Head over to Proverbs31ministries.org. to read & join the conversation! 💕
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