JOY

Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. -Philippians 2:4 (MSG)


This verse reminds me of what my family has been working on most of the summer.  On vacation this year, we learned about the acronym "JOY." 

Jesus
Others
Yourself

Initially, we were using it in choosing our words.  Was what we were about to say honoring to Jesus? To others? To ourselves? If the answer was no, it was better to keep our lips zipped. Shaun and I felt it was a great tool for our kids especially, as they've gotten into this habit of saying whatever comes to mind which often leads to hurt feelings and embarrassing moments.

But we soon realized that JOY could be applied to every aspect of our lives. Some examples (not necessarily from our own life):

1. Would skipping church to sleep in show JOY? The answer? No.
2. Would serving in women's ministries be showing JOY? The answer? Yes.
3. Would bringing a meal to a new mama be showing JOY? The answer? Yes.
4. Would calling one's brother a "stinker" be showing JOY? The answer? No.

I think you all get the idea at this point. Our family is far from perfect at this but we are striving to do it daily.  

And this is my challenge for you and me this morning: Ask yourself throughout the day, "am I showing JOY right now?"

Happy Verses, Joyful Verses

Verses that include the word "happy":

-A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. -Proverbs 15:13

-I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. -Ecclesiastes 3:12

-When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future. -Ecclesiastes 7:14

-Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. -James 5:13

-But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. -Psalm 68:3

Verses that include the word "joy":

-He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. -Job 8:21

-But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. -Psalm 5:11

-You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. -Psalm 16:11

-The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. -Psalm 19:8

-The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. -Psalm 126:3

-Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. -Romans 12:12

-May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. -Romans 15:13

-I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. -3 John 1:4

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.

He Even Answers the Little Prayers!

You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas. -Psalm 65:5 (NLT)

This was too good NOT to share.  I'm writing this on Sunday night, after an awesome sermon at church listening to a speaker from the leadership Summit from years past.  He spoke about being vulnerable and about how a good leader can and will be that. It was awesome and I felt inspired to be more vulnerable in my own life again-something I haven't wanted to do in a long time, not since everything went crazy a few months ago.

But I digress...

This post isn't about that sermon.  It's about what happened this afternoon when Shaun and I took the kids to Hersheypark.  Lukas has been on the edge of moving up to Twizzler for a month now.  He was oh so close, it was ridiculous!  But today, he made it!  And you know what that means, right? Rollercoasters!

We headed straight back to the Great Bear-by far my favorite coaster in the park- and got in line.  Andrew, Lukas, and I waited in a very short line as the storm clouds rolled in.  He was so excited to finally be able to ride.  I was concerned about the clouds.  If there was even one flash, one clap of thunder, his dream might not come true today and I just couldn't bear to see him disappointed.

Please, God, just hold off the storm until we get to ride this ride.  It would make Lukas so happy.

It wasn't a big prayer, but it was a genuine prayed in honest love.  And you know what?  We were the last train to go through before the storm started. Yay God! 

I love looking back on that moment and realizing that, while riding a roller coaster was not even close to important, God knew it was important to me and it was important to my baby.  And he answered.  He didn't have to.  He did it, in my opinion, to remind ME that he is listening, that he loves me, and that he wants us to feel loved by Him. :)

I told Shaun as soon as we got off the ride (he had to wait with the tiny people at the end of the ride) and we walked toward the back of the park with silent prayers that the rain would stop, that they would reopen the rides so Lukas could ride others.  And again, God came through.   The rain stopped and Lukas got to ride not one, but two more coasters.  He went on the Storm Runner and Fahrenheit.

While he was in line for Fahrenheit, however, the clouds were moving in again.  And again, I begged God to let him on the ride.  And true to form, he came through!  Lukas got on that coaster just before the sky opened up and rained down on us.

So, here's my challenge for you and me today: Ask God to help you out with the little things today and watch him go to work in amazing ways! He's listening and he longs to show you his love! Let him!!

My Elephant

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. -Matthew 6:34 (MSG)

It sounds so simple.  I thought I was doing this in my life for the most part, until I heard Keith speak at our church on THAT. If you weren't there on Sunday, you missed a good sermon that is totally worth listening to and that I have embedded here for you.  Honestly, watch it.




Just to sum up, we all have our THAT.  THAT is the thing that we carry around everywhere we go.  We pretend it isn't there.  The regular public often has no idea that it's there because they only see the person we show them.  I like to refer to my THAT as my white elephant.  You know, that thing that your closest friends and family can see (sometimes because they know you so well, and sometimes because you've told them) but they continue to pretend along with you that it doesn't exist when you don't want to talk about it?

Your elephant can be any number of things.  Keith brought up the need to be cool and the need for financial security as some ideas in his talk.  And by the end, I knew what my elephant was.  I knew what God was asking me to leave behind.  And again, I thought I had left it.  Too bad when I turned around, there was this huge elephant sitting there staring at me. 

So, Sunday morning, as we sang, I gave my elephant back to him and walked away.  I told a friend about giving it to him the next day.  We talked about it a bit and then that afternoon, it got challenged.

Seriously???  Already?  I've barely finished gift wrapping that giant thing and already I'm being challenged on whether or not I'm serious about walking away from it.  But, while I won't be revealing exactly what it is here, I will tell you publicly that I meant what I said on Sunday AND Monday!  I am walking away from that darn elephant!! I am putting it down and I refuse to carry it one more foot! It's dragging me down and keeping me from doing all that God wants of me.

So here's my challenge for you and me:  Find your THAT, your elephant, and figure out how you can walk away from yours too!  Have a great week!

Finally, a Noteworthy Nudge! ;)

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. -Matthew 10:27

It's been awhile since I've felt even the slightest nudge to write a post. Well, that is, until today.

I woke up way too early this morning (5am) and struggled to get back to sleep until a decent time only to wake up again at 6:30am. And that's when I felt like God whispered something to me. "You're going to have to talk to J today."

Sigh. I'd been dreading that conversation with my children's instructional supervisor with their cyber school. You see, next year, I'll be traditionally homeschooling all three of my babies who are old enough for school and I still need to let the cyber school know.

When I heard that whisper, I argued. "I don't want to do it yet." He was silent. I pretended that I didn't know he was waiting for me to agree to do what he was asking of me. "Fine. If she calls ME, then I'll talk to her about it," I decided.

The phone rang at 10:05am and our caller ID declared that it was J. Sigh. God had her call me today. Very funny...

I answered, we chatted...have I mentioned that I absolutely ADORE our IS? She's just wonderful. She goes the extra mile for our kids. She takes care of any and all concerns quickly. She's a mom just like me and she actually gets it. She gets that I want the best for my kids.

I felt the butterflies in my stomach as the conversation continued and I knew I had to do it. I jumped in with both feet and broke the news. She was sad but completely understood that we had to do what was best for our kids. And I really believe this is it.

So why, you may be asking, would I even WANT to homeschool my kids? I want them to enjoy learning, to always be searching for new information to absorb, to understand what they're being taught and not just hang onto it for a test. When they go on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" I want them to be able to say, "Why, yes I am!" Lol. Okay, not quite, but you get the idea.

I also want to know what they're learning and be able to choose what is being put in their heads. They're young and impressionable. There are things that the public school system seems to think is appropriate for their little minds, that I absolutely don't agree with.

And the busy work! My word! There is absolutely no reason it should take hours and hours and hours to do school every single day. Sometimes, almost all of those hours are spent on just one lesson in one subject! And it isn't that they just don't get it. It's the busy work. It's too many questions to "test" them on the same thing. Sigh.

And the final thing. They can't move at the pace that is right for them. I want them to be able to breeze past something that they totally get and to be able to linger on something that just isn't clicking. When we signed up for cyber school, this was doable. But not now that they've created a "finish line" so to speak.

So come the fall, Lord willing, we will embark on yet another new adventure around here! Homeschooling. :)

Perspective

So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. -Colossians 3:1-2 (MSG)

It's been a rough week in this house. Sigh. Monday was like any other Monday: crazy, but time got away from me and I got almost nothing done. And then it was Tuesday. Tuesday ushered in horror from any mother's perspective. The stomach flu. *shudders*

Lukas was first, which was weird, because it almost always starts with ME. I'll spare you the details, but just know I ended up needing a shower. Hours later, as I tried to forget the evening and just sleep, it was Ian's turn. I was up all night with him as he "lost it" and then slept, making little noises that kept me up with concern.

The morning finally dawned and the other "healthy" kids made their way downstairs to the living room where Ian and I were for the night. They said they felt fine. They went up to play together in Lily's room, and then Andrew promptly returned to the living room. Lily's turn. Could it get worse?

As I made my way through the house with Lysol wipes, warm soapy water, and washed 9 (yes, I said 9!!) loads of laundry, I thought how much the day truly sucked while simultaneously begging God to spare the rest of us from this illness. I didn't want to get sick and I didn't want anyone else suffering with it either. And then I got some awful news from next door that changed my perspective on this terrible day.

A dear friend of our neighbor's, one who we'd dubbed our "part time neighbor", died unexpectedly. And suddenly, my day was a gift. It was a miracle that I'd been allowed to care for my family that way.

You see, any day could be my last. I realized that while what I was doing was disgusting, it WAS what I had been called to do by God. Just as the verse above says, I needed to stop shuffling through my day, "eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of" me. When I looked up from my own nonsense, there were neighbors that needed encouragement, kids who just needed a hug, and a husband who'd brought his work home just so he could help me out.

Here's my challenge for you and me today: Think about your circumstances from another perspective. Is there any way to view anything in a good light?