JOY!

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! -Ephesians 2:7-8 (MSG)

Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this." -Esther 4:14b (MSG)

God has me where he wants me.  As I went through my week last week, I won't lie, I was miserable and longing for another baby (again) while also wishing that I had some other purpose in life than to "just be a mom."  I know, total woman-thinking: wanting one thing while also wanting something completely counterproductive to the first thing. I suppose that's part of my curse.

And that's when Shaun told me this:

"Know that you are exactly where God wants you to be. The feeling of emotional guilt and depression is the devil taking away your JOY. It is at that moment that we need to focus on JOY and realize that the Y (you) is last. When you get through the J (Jesus) and the O (others), you will quickly realize that you (Y) complete the JOY."

JOY is something that we learned through our oldest son from our vacation at Sandycove this summer.  When going through life, we should be thinking about Jesus first, then Others, and finally about You (ourselves).  It was a good reminder and one that I needed at the time. Okay, it's one that I still need today and will likely need again tomorrow.

So here's my challenge for you and me today: Remember your JOY as you go through the day today.  Think about Jesus, think about others, and finally, remember yourself.