Flying Solo

Welcome

To Subscribe to this blog- Just enter your e-mail in "Get Email Updates".

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven   

Recently on a trip back from Poland I was watching the movie Out of Africa. There is a scene in the movie where Robert Redford goes flying up in a two-seater Gypsy Moth plane. As the pilot, he sits in the back seat. But with no one in the front seat to block his view, he has an unhindered intake of the sky in front of him. But it’s a little different when he puts Meryl Streep in the front seat to take her for a spin. He’s crazy about her. In love actually. But as the plane begins to rise he has to peer around her in order to see the sky in front of him.
   
As I thought about this scene I realized that there is one major advantage in “Flying Solo”.  There is no one there to block the view, no distraction, just you and the heavens in front of you. And that is why this blog exists at all. I've learned over the past year and a half that there is an availability in singleness that doesn’t reside in the covenant of marriage. It is the undistracted enjoyment of God.

    It is learning to allow Him to love us so well, and us to love Him so well, that when He does bring someone to climb in our front seat it won’t be because we needed the seat filled, but because we just wanted someone to enjoy the view with us.
   
We were created for relationship. Yet the greatest relationship is that of Jesus Christ. And He desires to love us lavishly during this season that He has us all to himself. Here that...there will only be a few seasons in most of our lives where He has us all to himself. So, why wish that away? Why not enjoy it, embrace it and get out of it all that we were created to be and know and become.

We’ll discuss all kinds of things here together. And each day you'll know what to expect.

Monday's will be my "musings" - Everything from loving God well to On-line dating...

Tuesday will be "tips for living"- From Health Tips to Money Tips

Wednesday will be "1 on 1" - Personal stories from those who are even now traversing the waters of all stages of singleness, learning from their experiences and walking life out with each other. 

Thursday will be the "Thumbprints of God"- Taking time to see where he has been intimately involved in loving us well through this season of our life.

Friday's will be spent with Ken Edwards- With a Masters in Divinity and a Master of the Arts in Marriage, He is a Counselor and Life Coach with over eighteen years of experience. On Friday's he'll answer our questions on everything from dealing with loneliness, to sex and the single life.

Saturday's are dinner and a movie night- We'll share our favorite movies and recipes for the evenings we pack our houses with good friends and good conversations and hope you'll share yours with us.

Sunday is our day to reflect- This is your day. You can reflect on whatever you want- your week- your fears- your joys...It's your day.

    And there will be so much more. We’ll talk about how to pray for the right mate, myths of marriage, the grief of divorce and healing from the death of a spouse. We’ll go to the deep places of intimacy and co-dependency. We’ll share our favorite recipes for getting together with friends and when one of us has someone come along to climb in the front seat we’ll celebrate with each other.This is a community of people who have been privileged, if only for a season, to have the beauty of an uninhibited view of God, His calling on our lives and making the most out of the moments we’ve been given. A spouse will come if it’s in God’s plan and we can fight over the toilet seat then. A season will come when kids will be spilling Hi-C and breaking our hearts soon enough. But this time, this solitary and wonderful season, won’t be here forever. So why don’t we take advantage of it. May we not miss the joy in “Flying Solo”. I promise, it’s an amazing view!

Our final day together....

Well my "Flying Solo" friends- this is our last day together on this site. As we enter a new chapter of our "Flying Solo" journey with the release of my new book things are going to be different.

Starting Monday all of the past "Flying Solo" blogs will now be found on my website www.denisehildrethjones.com

Click on the "flying solo" link and you will find all of our past posts categorized by topics.
This way if you or a friend need information on a certain topic you will be able to find it on our site.
By next week you will be able to sign upfor daily updates like you get now on the flying solo blog. In order to know when that is available please go to my site and sign up for email blasts. Then when this is available we will let you know.

We will have new information for our "flying solo" community as well asthe musings you have come to connect with.

In the desire to be able to have everything running through one site thank you for being willing to walk through a new part of our journey together.

Thank you for how supportive you have been. This isn't the end. Just a new year! May you sense his presence more deeply an more real in this new year.

Best
Denise

Thursday Thumbprint

One of the things that I love to do at the end of every year is look back over the year before and see all the beautiful ways God has moved in my life. I love to recount “our lovestory” if you will.

 

In the months of October-December I began to work on the release of my first non-fiction book. Something my heart had desired to do for years, yet something I never dreamed would happen this way.

 

I celebrated the first Thanksgiving with my beautiful new family and experienced the healing that God can bring.

I decorated my home all by myself for the first time and it rocks!

I decorated my first Christmas tree with five children hanging ornaments with me.

And I will see Christmas in a whole new way this year, through the eyes of a child…

 

I am unbelievably blessed and eternally grateful…

 

Look back over the months of Oct-Dec of this past year- and identify what God has given you to enjoy and love- What have been his Thumbprints on your year?

 

Wednesday 1 0n 1 with Lou con't......

What do you hear God speaking to you about this coming year? Anything particular He has laid on your heart?

 

He laid a particular vision on my heart that began in 2008.  We are in the greatest of times of all history.  This past two years in a recession has just been practice for what is to come.  The pattern that God has given me from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis is the pattern of grace and blessings in famine under His grace in the gospel and not our performance under the law.  (The law is anything we do to get something from God or to expiate His anger.)

 

By my count there are 66 famines in scripture and in every single one of them God gave his people an inversion of wealth.  Wealth was transferred from the secular world into the hands of God's people who were believing and walking in His covenant of grace thru faith righteousness.  Gal. 3:8 says He preached the gospel to Abraham and Abraham also preached it to his son and grandson and they lived it.

The gospel is the news that is so good it can hardly be true news.  It is the power unto salvation and salvation is an all encompassing word that includes everything needful for our existence and deliverance--it is not just about eternal life, although it includes that.

 

So, his Word to me includes Ps. 65:11 that He will crown our year with glory and our pathways will drip with abundance.  It's only one Word of many that He has blessed me with.  I have been believing it since 2008 and it increases in intensity and in performance.  I see it manifest in a greater way in every single area of my life and those who are following after it.  I believe it has already started and is so dramatic that everyone will notice.

 

As you close out this year what do you feel is the greatest lesson or sweetest thing God has revealed to you in 2010? 

 

A greater understanding that grace and God's love operate as the highest laws in the universe.  When we understand that any lesser law (like lack, sickness, hate, misunderstanding, fear) is present there is something in God's ways and instructions to practice and believe.  We can see that His Word in our mouths and in our hearts are the way for manifestation in our life. I learned this from Quantum Physics and could see that it is a God principle.  The law of electricity was present in Adam and Eve's garden but they didn't have electric lights.  The law of lift and thrust are higher laws that overcome gravity and men can fly and it was present for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but they didn't fly.  When Abraham and Sarah understood the higher law of God's power and provision thru His name El Shaddai Isaac was conceived in two months and they'd been trying and waiting for him for 24 yrs.  They finally understood something when grace (the letter Hei in Hebrew) was added to their names.  It was so powerful they fell on the floor laughing that it could be so easy to overcome barrenness.  It worked so well that Isaac and Jacob each practiced it with all of their wives who were also barren.  What a Mighty God!  His word does what he sent it to do.  His word has been truth all along and He desires for it to perform everything it has been sent to do.  My desire is keep attending to His Word and to have revealed His revelation of the Higher Laws He has placed in existence to do the work for us thru Jesus' work on the cross.  My work is to believe in what Jesus did there.  What a Mighty God!

 

Tuesday Tips

Most life changing- thing I’ve heard in a while and the funniest!

 

Profound- Ken Edwards – “When you’re looking for a mate look for two things- a person who is always willing to change and who brings out the best in you.”

 

Funniest- by friend Martha Wolfe- “If He’s going to do it again I hope you get the immaculate conception and he turns my water into wine!”

Monday Musings

Remember… we are launching an all new Flying Solo on Monday January 3^rd! We will no longer host it at this address. Instead you will find it by going to my main website and clicking on the “Flying Solo” button on the home page or by going to www.denisehildrethjones.com/flyingsolo

 

Our goal is to make this a more interactive-community. The journey of singleness is such an amazing ride and we have so much to learn from each other in our experiences. So, that is what we are hoping to create for you.

 

Our final story for the end of this year…there were three other people at the birth of Jesus. They were the wisest of the wise. In the world’s perspective they were the ones one went to for answers. They were the ones who did the teaching. But in this moment of history, they were wise enough not to miss something bigger than they were. And in that moment they didn’t just participate in it, they brought their best gift.

 

I know some really smart people. But the smartest of them are the ones who are well aware that there is always more to learn and you can learn from anyone. One of the most valuable gifts you can ever have is a “teachable” spirit. My friend and mentor Dr. Albert Lemmons who is over seventy still sits across his desk from me wanting to hear my thoughts as if there is more he can learn. And because of that God is perpetually entrusting Him with new things.

 

Is your spirit opened to learning? Opened to discovery? And are you willing to always offer your best gifts? I can only imagine if we entered the New Year with these two things always in the forefront of our heart and mind that God could show us, and make us a part of some extraordinary things.

Sunday Reflections

This is your time. Reflect with us about your week, your friends, or what God has become to you. This is your space. Your time.

Fridays with Ken

What I love about the Shepherds is they were the lowest of the low. Some people, because they’re gifts aren’t “seen” or don’t play out on a larger stage, view their role as insignificant thus offering this beautiful life God has given them, little participation. What is in the place of the often “hidden” offering that is so valuable?

Simplicity gives the freedom of availability.  Jesus was a carpenter that was able to touch so many lives.  Ministry is all around us because hurting people are all around us.  We bring too much of our western mindset to our thinking about what is valuable.

 

What can we do to realize that every gift is not only viable but also needed?

If we focus our energy on loving the way Jesus does then we would see that every gift is just a vehicle for love…and it’s love that brings transformation.  When I’m working in my gifts my focus is far more on loving who is in front of me than trying to figure out how I can help them.

Ken Edwards is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and has earned a Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling and a Master of Arts in Religious Education of Southwestern Seminary. But his discernment matches his education and for me often the greater gift. He lives with his wife Janet and three children in Franklin, Tennessee. And this is him enjoying what he loves, the mountains in Wyoming. Except he's usually behind the camera. And he has been kind enough to spend Friday’s with us. What he is offering us regarding his time is a gift. I hope we will take advantage of it.

 

Got Question's for Ken? Email your questions to [email protected]

 

 

Thursday Thumbprint

One of the things that I love to do at the end of every year is look back over the year before and see all the beautiful ways God has moved in my life. I love to recount “our lovestory” if you will.

In the months of July-September I worked on a new Fiction Book. The hardest one I had ever written. And each morning I needed God to show up- Because I had no idea what I was going to write next. And He did…

I also enjoyed the beauty of taking a season off from Bible Study- and watched as he began to knit my heart together with my “bonus” children. And I watched as He began to help me identify the remaining places in my heart that needed to heal…gently, and lovingly.

Look back over the months of July-Sept of this past year- and identify what God has given you to enjoy and love- What have been his Thumbprints on your year?

Wednesday 1 on 1 with Lou cont........

What have you come to treasure the most about being single? 
     
My singleness is a great gift from God.  I am complete in Him and able to study and minister and travel.  I have my family to gather around me.  I miss my husband greatly.  It is as if I lost one half of my memory when he passed away.  I miss his companionship.  We were terrific traveling buddies.  And, another person to share with would be lovely.  Only time will answer whether that is a reality or not.

 

    We are talking about faith this month as well and the faith it took for all of the players in Jesus’ birth…Mary, Joseph, the wise men, the shepherds. What has your personal faith played in your story?

    From the answers I've already given you can see that I am faith-driven.  I have decided to place all of my faith in the righteousness of Jesus for me and His Word in my mouth and in my heart.  It is my existence and reason for living.

    When do you feel you have had to trust God in your life more than any other?

    Today.

Tuesday Tips

I’m sharing in our tips four of the most valuable things I’ve heard in regards to Faith and Life…

 

Coach to his team in the movie Cool Running- when they wanted to win the Gold Medal “If you’re not enough without it, you will never be enough with it.”