Joy

“This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it”

Discovering Joy
After two days of snow flurries and the weatherman predicting rain, the Lord sent Drew and I a special gift wrapped in white. This afternoon the fog overtook the sunshine and a blanket of snow poured down on us.

It was beautiful, magical, like something out of a fairytale. The streets were empty, people still hard at work, so I awoke Drew from his slumber with promise of a great adventure. The flakes embraced the sky, a small Texas blizzard -- Drew screamed and wiggled out of my arms towards the window. A confused look crossed his face, then I told him we were going to play in the snow! He smiled, “No, mommy… no?” “Yes dear,” I replied, “It is snow.” Your very first snow!


The flakes were thick and clean -- a sharper white than any of my fresh linens. A mantle of white covered the streets in rare silence. The birds retreated in unison, only silence and thick flakes remained; the cats ran too and fro; the dog ran down the vacant street leaving white prints behind; Drew quietly pushed his broken shopping cart down the street.

“This is the day that the Lord has made…” I thought as Drew and I threw snowballs towards one another. The Lord sent snow to leave smiles on our faces and gladness in our hearts. I reverted back to childhood, eager to make snow angels and drink hot cocoa. Drew, content to push around trains in a broken shopping cart thought I was insane laying in the grass flapping my arms. We laughed! He screamed “no… no… mommy, its no.” “cold, Mommy it cold!” I smiled, Drew smiled a childish grin. We sat together, smiling, I took pictures of our extraordinary day, we sang “Let It Snow,” and waited for our hands to go numb; then retreated inside for hot cocoa – A Williams tradition.


Where Do You Find Joy?
What joy can you find in today? I find that joy is found in the simple, mundane events of life; they are everywhere just waiting for you to take notice. If you wait on joy you may never find it, but if you look for her she will reveal herself everywhere! If you get stuck, start by counting your blessings, you will instantly feel joy embrace your soul.




Activity for This Week
Today reminisce about times when you felt most joyful. What made you full of joy? Then walk through your day today looking for ways to instill that same joy in your circumstances. This week when you meet with your M & M, talk about what it means to live with joy.

Fear

This morning I thought I would share with you a piece written by Lisa Welchel that I've been meditating on all week. I encourage you to read Lisa's reflections about the role that money and fear play in our decision making.

Grab a cup of coffee, your Bible, and enjoy!






What God's Been Teaching Me
So let's get cozy and talk about fear and death. You think I'm kidding? What did you expect, it is October, the month we celebrate Halloween (or not) and All Saints Eve. Either way, the holiday ahead commemorates death and where there is death there is typically fear lurking nearby.



Call me crazy, but I decided this afternoon to talk tonight from Job 3:25, "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." I'm speaking at a Christian school fundraiser and I want to share my personal experience regarding money. I can live fairly generously and open-handedly with money because I've lost it all before and when Steve and I hit rock-bottom financially, we discovered that God was there. He filled up the hole with treasure more valuable than money. Not the least of which was His presence.

That is one of the reasons why, at the beginning of this year, I could ask to be released from two book contracts and take a sabbatical from writing, a decision that appears fool-hardy on paper, but I know I have nothing to fear. That which I have greatly feared before--having no money--did come upon me and I survived; even more than that - thrived.

Night before last, I had a humongous decision to make so I called a friend in hopes that by talking it through out loud I would hear myself come up with the right answer. At one point I said, "One thing that has helped me in the past when I've had to make a difficult decision is to remove both money and fear from the equation. For me, those two things often deceptively attract or falsely repel from God's will for my life." Once I asked myself what I would do if I wasn't afraid, I was able to make a decision and act on it.

So, let me be your friend on the other end of the line and allow me to ask you a question. What are you afraid of this month? Use your imagination with me for a moment. Picture yourself in the middle of your fearful circumstances. First, how would you react differently if I could guarantee that God is there and He will come through for you?

1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." I can't promise that God will show up for you the way you think He should or hope He will. But I can tell you from experience that, ultimately, there is nothing you are afraid of that is bigger or more powerful than His love for you.

I've recently learned this truth all over again in a very different situation. I mustered up all my courage and risked facing one of my biggest fears. I was terrified but I chose to jump in. Guess what happened? No, I didn't get on the other side of my fear and wonder what took me so long to trust. Actually, quite the opposite. Everything my fears told me would happen, came true. That which I feared the most came upon me.

But, once again, God was there and He was enough. This loss, rather than confirm that I should listen to my fears in the future, actually made me braver. There is something about coming face-to-face with one of our fears; oftentimes involving a death of sorts, and discovering that God always wins that takes the sting out of the threat: "O Death, where is thy sting?"

I want to share one last scripture from the first chapter of Job, verse twenty-one, that has been meaningful to me lately and I hope it will continue to take the sting out of the fear of death for both of us. "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

God is sovereign and His character is trustworthy. We truly have nothing to fear. We can live open-handedly. We can stand with courage. We can face our fears. We can stare death down and say, "O Grave, where is thy victory?" So let's celebrate death and fear this month! Because, with Jesus, life is always on the other side of death and Love triumphs over fear. I don't think October contains such a bad holiday, after all. What do you think?


(this was supposed to post last week and for some reason didn't. Hope you enjoy even though its no longer October!)