A Little Break

I'm taking a little break from blogging for just a couple of days. It's a busy day today and tomorrow we're going to spend the day with our family and friends who are camping at a State Park.

I'll see you this weekend. I'll be on the look-out for Joy!

Blessings,
Linda

Joy Challenge - Day 20 - Joy?

I just watched as our pretty new car rolled out of our driveway on the back of a flatbed truck. I felt so sad. Isn't it funny the way we attach human qualities to inanimate objects?

Some very thoughtless person lost some of the cinder blocks from the load he was carrying and left them lying in the road. They were there, just around the bend in the road, when my husband was driving home, having delivered some things to my Mom and Dad. He did his best to avoid them but it was impossible. He rode over one causing damage to the undercarriage of the car. The transmission panel is dented and apparently this is something serious and has the potential to cause serious damage to the transmission if you drive the car. Hence the flatbed truck.

I confess that my normal reaction to things like this is to get very upset and begin to think of all the problems it will cause, and why did this have to happen to our new car, and how much will it cost, and how will we do all the things we need to do this week, and now we will have to rent a car, on and on and on.

However, I just "happen" to be writing about joy, and I just "happen" to be working on a Bible study lesson on attitude - complaining in particular - this week. When I caught myself slipping into my usual fretful mode of operation, I actually stopped to consider the things the Lord has been teaching me. I prayed for forgiveness for the mental complaining I'd already done and asked the Lord to give me joy in these circumstances. I began to thank Him for all the things He has already done for us and to ask for His help in having things run smoothly and remain affordable for us.

I hesitate to write about this because I am so far from being all the Lord would have me to be it makes me wonder at the grace He has poured into my life. I am not trying to set myself up as someone who has it all together. This is simply to say that when we take one baby step toward our Father, He is crouched down with arms extended urging us on and providing all that we need to make it the distance. When I did those simple things, He met me there. I felt His joy and peace. Oh, it isn't the dancing around laughing gaily sort of joy. It is a warm sense of His presence and a knowing that He hears and cares and will faithfully take care of us.

"But I trust in Your unfailing love, I will rejoice because You have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because He is good to me."
Psalm 13:5,6

Blessings,
Linda

Joy Challenge - Day 19 - Answered Prayer

I prayed for rain for such a long time. Days, weeks, months passed - and heaven was silent. It became symbolic to me for so many of the things I have been praying about. I was discouraged. But God....... He sent rain. He sent abundant rain - over NINE INCHES collected in the rain gauge. Such joy in knowing that He never fails; that He hears and answers prayer; that He supplies abundantly more than we could ask or think. Sometimes the answer is no; sometimes the answer is wait; and sometimes the answer is yes!

We rejoice and give thanks:


a blanket of lavender-rose petals from the Texas Sage - our little heralder of the rain that was to come

Before you see the rest of these pictures, you must understand that everything looked as though it was either dead or dying. The leaves were beginning to fade and there was not a flower in sight. We had stopped watering for fear of our well running dry. I had given up on the flower garden and planned to dig it all up and start over.

But God.....










He even sent some little flowers that He alone had planted - a few added blessings






And one final, beautiful gift. This butterfly flitted from one flower to another so fast I could hardly keep it in view. It too was celebrating, with great joy, the abundant blessing from the hand of a loving Father.


Gratitude really does fill the heart with joy. You will be blessed as you read other posts on gratitude at Ann's - Holy Experience.

Blessings,
Linda

Joy Challenge - Day 18 - The Joy Set Before Us

In the book of Hebrews we are given a glimpse of joy through the eyes of Jesus.

"fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:2

It is a verse of encouragement. The previous verse says:
"...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

I am not a theologian, so I can only humbly offer what this says to me. It is a picture of joy whose underpinning is great hope - confident hope. It is one I can embrace when I am going through difficult circumstances and joy seems an impossible dream.

Jesus, who knew from the very moment of creation what He would have to endure, counted it all joy - the terrible physical torture, the shame, the rejection, the weight of the sin of mankind, and separation from His Father - a thing so terrible we cannot even begin to imagine the suffering. How was that possible? What was this joy ?

Did He look ahead in time and see the faces of each one who would some day accept Him as Lord and Savior? Did He love us so much that He could actually feel joy as He walked steadfastly toward Jerusalem and betrayal and death? Did the idea of making a way back to the Father for those of us who would some day walk this earth fill His heart and mind? I believe the answer to all of those questions is yes.

What does that mean for me when I face difficulties I don't feel strong enough to bear - when life seems unjust and unfair - when heaven seems silent? What is the joy set before me? Is it knowing that everything the Father has promised is true; that He will be with me and help me no matter what the circumstances? Is it knowing that He has a plan for my life that is for my ultimate good? Is it knowing that there is not one thing that can happen to me that Jesus hasn't experienced Himself? Is it knowing that because of what Jesus endured I will spend eternity in heaven with Him?

For me, the answer to all those questions is yes. It may not be the "dancing around gaily" sort of joy. Rather it is a deep-seated knowing that I can trust Him with everyone and everything that is most precious to me. It is like a steady stream that flows from the heart of the Father to mine bringing peace, hope and JOY!

Blessings,
Linda

We Remember

We remember......with prayer and gratitude.

Blessings,
Linda

Joy Challenge - Day 17 - Texas Sage

A few years ago, I bought a Texas Sage. We planted it right by the corner of the house near the front porch. I am not much of a gardener, but I thought I was exercising great wisdom in buying a native Texan plant. More than that I fell in love with the profusion of small flowers it produces. They are the most beautiful rose-lavender color.

It did well the first couple of years, but then two years ago we entered a season of drought that sent it into decline. Last summer it barely struggled along, producing only a few leaves and no flowers at all. I remembered a lesson I learned about gardening from my Italian grandfather who could work magic in a garden. He pruned everything back to within an inch of its life.

So....armed with my trusty pruning shears I attacked my poor Texas Sage. I took it down to just a foot or so of growth. In spite of the continued drought, it flourished this summer. It grew taller than me and was lush and full - but only a few little flowers here and there.

I mentioned the lack of flowers to my friend one day as we were walking. She said that a nurseryman once told her that they bloom just before a big rain. I digested this bit of information with a good measure of skepticism and kept a look-out for flowers.

On Tuesday afternoon, as I walked up to the porch I glanced in the direction of the Texas Sage and was astounded.




I had never seen so many flowers on it before. It was practically bowing under the weight of them. It looked so beautiful, I ran inside to get my camera.

Wednesday morning we woke to this:



I'm a believer. In fact, I just looked up Texas Sage and found this bit of information: the common name of the Texas Sage is Barometer Bush! A testament to its accuracy - seven inches of rain, and it is pouring!

I never cease to be amazed at the wonder of God's creation. It is an unending source of JOY!!

"I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart;
I will tell of all Thy wonders.
I will be glad and exult in Thee;
I will sing praise to Thy name, O Most High."
Psalm 9:1-2


Blessings,
Linda

Oh Joy - A Giveaway!

I'm not counting this as one of my Joy Posts, but I do think a Giveaway is a joyful thing! To find out all about it please visit the Laced With Grace blog.

You will find my post there tomorrow.

Blessings,
Linda