Got Joy?

Can you picture joy? What comes to mind? No, really stop and think of a mental picture of joy. Here are a couple of my ideas: a fountain, spring, something overflowing or bubbling up. I have always heard the acronym for J-O-Y is Jesus, Others and You. I would like to suggest a different one as being Jesus Overflowing in You. It is when you are so full of Jesus that you can not help but pour out joy on others. The old song says "Peace like a river, Joy like a fountain". It is something that springs forth not just a slow leak. Joy comes from the inside out, not from circumstances but often in spite of circumstances. Jesus is the source of real joy. Sitting in His presence daily through Bible study and prayer is the only thing that can produce this joy. God wants us to be fountains of pure joy bubbling over onto others, not a trickle of dirty water from a life filled with gunk. When we let other non-holy things start to fill up our spout we eventually begin to spue forth anger or frustration, often on the ones that have nothing to do with the problem. We become like a recreational vehicles' waste valve, when enough pressure is applied, nothing but bad stuff comes out. Nicole Johnson has stated that "Joy catches us off guard. It is a response that wells up in our hearts from love." Any mom or grandma knows what this statement is all about. Are you in love with Jesus? The more in love you become with Him and His Word, the more unexpected joy will overflow in your life. Want pure joy? Spend time with Jesus.
Psalm 16:11- "You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy...."
John 15:9-11- "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you: abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full."

Walking with purpose

Lately, I have found myself using a particular phrase that started to make me think about the spiritual aspects of the words. It is the phrase: "Do it with purpose". I would find myself driving behind someone who, lets just say drives slower than I might want them to. I tend to get aggravated and I will say to no one in particular, "Come on, drive with purpose". What I am really saying is drive like you have someplace to go. When I have a destination or goal I want to get there.
I then found the phrase coming up again while walking through the grocery store with my kids yesterday. When we stop in an aisle for a while they tend to all gather in front of the cart and when I ask them to move they tend to not know where to go and slowly walk forward or barely move to the side uncertain of their next step. "Come on guys, walk with purpose" I tell them, but how can they when they do not know where they are going? They do not know what the next item on the list is or what aisle it is on. They have no purpose, no plan of action. Do you know your God-given purpose, something you are setting forth to be or become? Which way are you going? What is your expectant end or hope? If you do have a purpose, do you wrestle with impatience to get to it? Our true purpose in life comes from God. Not having a Godly destination can lead us into some wrong turns and devastating detours that leave us feeling empty, worthless or depressed. If you do not know what your God given life purpose is yet, He is preparing you for it. Ask Him. Seek Him with all your heart.
If you do know God's desire for your life, no more leisure Sunday drives, pursue it. Run after it, act like your going somewhere. Strive towards it everyday,that's what makes life worth living.

Romans 8:28- "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
Jeremiah 29:11, 13- "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart." NKJV

Stuck in a Holding Pattern

Just before I got married, I had the awesome opportunity to go on a missions trip to the country of Albania. We boarded a plane that had a connection that would eventually get us to the JFK airport in New York City, then on to Rome. Needless to say, that is not how our flight schedule ended up. For some reason, I think maybe weather, we ended up circling the Pittsburgh airport with dozens of other planes waiting to land. Our plane was put into a holding pattern for so long we were running low on fuel and were redirected to land at a little airstrip somewhere in the mountains of West Virgina. I am not sure a plane of our size had ever landed or taken off from here before. When we took off, it seemed like we ran out of air strip before the wheels left the ground, right off the side of a mountain. We now had more fuel and were ready to take our place back in the holding pattern, circling the sky above. Life sometimes gives us holding patterns, places where we seem to be stuck or just for the life of us we can not figure out how to move forward. We may find a period of relief when we stop for gas, but we know it is just temporary. It will not be long before we get tossed back out into the "going no where" place again. I feel like my life has been like this lately. Like a CD player that gets stuck playing the same song. I go to the Lord daily with the same pleas for stability and usefulness. I am waiting for my break in the clouds, for my promise of worth. Friend, if you are in this place with me, stay strong. We must wait on the Lord. He is my life sustainer, my rock, my fortress, my hope and my provider. Draw strength from the children of Israel. They may have wondered forty years in the desert, but God provided for them. They were fed manna (food from heaven) and the Bible says that their clothes and shoes did not get old or worn out during this time. (What!?! No new shoes or clothes for forty years? Now those were hard times!!) I am so thankful for what God has provided for us during our wilderness journey.

Deuteronomy 8:4 "Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years."
Psalm 27:13,14 "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, Be of good courage; and He shall strengthen your heart: wait I say, on the Lord!"

Back in the Father's Arms

Several years ago, when my middle child was two years old, she fell and cut her eyelid on the bottom of a glider rocker. We immediately took her to the emergency room where they put 6 stitches in her eyelid. Because of her being so little, the nurse took her arms placed them by her sides and wrapped her whole body in a sheet where she could not move. My husband and I had to stand there and listen to her scream for us over and over again. We could see her face pleading with us to pick her up, to release her from this horrible situation. It was very hard to stand there and watch this when everything in me wanted to run to her and hold her. This story comes to mind as a picture of how God is with us. When we are going through difficult times, he sees us, he hears us. He is standing there saying, "just a little while longer, child, you can do it." He wants to run to us and lift the burden, but he also sees the big picture. He knows these "stitches" are needed in our lives to help us grow into the person he has purposed for us to be. He will not let us stay there a minute more than we have to. When it is over, he will run to us. He will pick us up and hold us, whispering in our ear, "it is over, child." There is no greater picture of this than when Jesus was dying on the cross and God watched his only, pure and righteous son, take on all of our sin and die for us. God the Father watched waiting for the moment when Jesus, the son, arrived in heaven so he could run to him.
Please know today that God is there. He is watching. He loves you. He is preparing a future for you beyond your wildest dreams. Trust Him. This difficult time in your life God will use for your good if you let him.

I Peter 1:6-7- "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Deuteronomy 8:2- "And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.