Boojoyful

June 30 My license plate says "IB4Joy". Yesterday, I was walking along a sidewalk after getting out of the car and a woman called out to me..."Is your name Joy or do you like joy ?" It threw me at first, but then she commented on how refreshing the license plate was in comparison with so many derogatory bumper stickers out there. I thought about how I had asked God to show up yesterday in various manners. Reaching into my purse, I pulled out a postcard to give her with the details of Sunday Summer Services at Shiloh and invited her to come to the Lake sometime. Her sweet comments lifted my spirits the rest of the day as I thought about how she unknowingly was being Jesus out in a crazy world! Who ya gonna bless today? John 15:10-12 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is th...

June 29 Today I am choosing to see HIM! I will watch for the Lord in a song , in a sermon (radio or Internet), in God's scenery , in scripture , and in another's soul (so I have to get out there and encounter people). Already found Him twice in scripture and it is only 8:30. I've been out working on my plants, which were destroyed by deer while we were gone. It made me sick to my stomach to see all the damage they did. Then I opened Biblegateway today to see the Word for the day and loved it! The LORD will vindicate me; your love, LORD, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands . Psalm 138:8 Although everything is nibbled down to the stub, I believe with some TLC they will bloom again this summer. Oh, yeah and a bag of deer be gone! The second one. A relative emailed for prayer and in today's Jesus Calling was this scripture reference. Psalm 5:3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expecta...

June 28 Opening our snack drawer this morning I laughed as I saw a bar of hotel soap. My husband had graciously helped me unpack our airplane carrying on bag, in which I had tossed a bar of soap from the hotel as well as snacks for the trip home. Looking at the picture above you can see how easily this could have been done. Scripture warns us of how easily we can be spiritually deceived. He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived . For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. Luke 21:8 The song "Love the One Your With" just came to mind. If we stay close with Jesus, loving him and meditating on His Word we have less chance of being deceived.

June 25-27 We've been away in Sarasota, Florida for the wedding of our youngest son. During the rehearsal I was sitting in the back of the church with my grandson. He looked up at me and said, "Want to talk?" It melted my heart. I said, "Sure what do you want to talk about?" His response was "Fish." Each time he did this throughout the weekend he would give me a different category! When I asked his mom about it she said one night after his Daddy read him a story, his Dad said, "Do you want to talk?" What a great tradition to start with our children. What a great routine to get in with the Lord. Be sure we take time today and say to Jesus, "Want to talk?" From Wednesday until last night it has been none stop! I woke up this morning and said, "Lord, I've missed our alone times the past few days, but I saw You everywhere!" I opened Jesus Calling for today and read..."Rest with me a while. You have journeyed ...

June 24 On our patio sits a beautiful blue fountain, which exudes delightfully soothing sounds. Over the fall/winter debris wedged its way into the base and disturbed the flow of the water. It took a good cleaning and a little bit of Clorox to clean it out. Our mouths can bring forth sounds which are life giving, soothing, and ambassadors of healing and hope or bear tones of destruction and violence clogging and corroding life. The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life , but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Proverbs 10:11

June 23 Plopping into bed exhausted last night the words which flew out of my mouth were "my goodness". Immediately, I thought, "Whew! If I calculated all my thoughts and actions today how many would reflect my goodness, versus my sinful nature." Romans 3:23 says: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

June 22 Not being a coffee drinker (never had a cup actually), I am rather fond of tea. In our kitchen sits a wooden sign which says, "Do you want an adventure now or shall we have our tea first?" Peter Pan I'm going to make a "Boo" quote and have a sign which says. "Lord, I am all prayed up and ready for what this day holds. Thanks for coming with me!" God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always. Psalm 121:7-8 We can step into today with the confidence we are not alone! Amen!

June 21 Last month I encounter a man in a store who began sharing a saga of his life with me. I tried to be a good listener. What he said at the end has stuck with me... "Life is too short to surround yourself by people that don't wish you well." Sure sounds good to me, but is that what Jesus did? My mind is rushing back and forth pondering this statement. We have to step out in the world, which is full of cruel people, if we are going to be light. Jesus prays three powerful prayers in John chapter 17. The first is for himself, then for the disciples, then for all believers. Take time today to allow his sweet words to penetrate your heart. Jesus is so loving. Pass those words of hope along to someone else. Maybe even someone who does not wish you well. Be encouraged by what Christ prays to God in these verses for the disciples. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you...

June 20 Some days we just feel a little blue. My heart was aching this morning, so I thought a walk with praise music would help. The only problem was I broke my toe and now I am realizing possibly my foot too a few days ago. I got my tennis shoe on, but after making it about 10 yards down the road I was in tears from the pain. The Lord knew I needed a good cry. Trying to put a smile on my face my husband spiked his hair into a mohawk when he got out of the shower. (No, he wouldn't allow me to take a picture.) Then I thought of the other guy in my life who easily brings a smile to my face....Moses. What a handsome guy! Old faithful, the Lord, showed up in the form of an email devotional from Wisdom Hunters...its title blew me away, as I blew my nose! May it bless you today as well. Tears Speak Volumes “Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” John 11:35-36 There is a non-verbal language of love that is communicated through compassionate tears. Empathy engages the hea...

June 18-19 When was the last time you did a "dot to dot" picture? While on an ABC prayer walk last week with my husband, it was as if God was putting the dots of various lives together the way He brought people to mind. A letter would come up and I would pray for someone whose name began with that letter and that would lead into an encounter my husband had experience with someone else related to that person. It was wild. We really could have used a notepad on our walk to remember all the things God was placing before us. There is a phrase..."One thing leads to another." When the urge to make the call, write the note, go on the visit comes don't delay. It could be God putting the dots of life together for his good! And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 Struggling today. Check this passage out in The Message Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God...

June 17th On June 15th I shared a link to a David Jeremiah site about the End Times. On that same day I was taking my morning walk and was heavily into seeking the Lord and sorting out some thoughts. A nice young couple in matching red T-shirts walked past. I was pleasant and simply said, "Good morning," but engaged them in no further conversation. On the return hike home I saw them again on the road and really wasn't up for chatter, so I took a side street and decided to walk enough distance to avoid having to speak again. The detour couldn't have taken more than 3 minutes. When I stepped back onto the main road...they were gone! "Missed opportunity" was the phrase which rang in my mind. God quickly taught me that, while he doesn't need me to accomplish anything, there are times when He calls on us to get over ourselves and get on with his work. It was a very convicting lesson. "God is looking for heart that are willing to be emptied of self and fi...

June 16 Walks alone with the Lord provide an excellent venue for Him to captivate our attention. While pounding the pavement the other day, thoughts were swarming in my head concerning numerous situations and individuals. While allowing those thoughts to flit back and forth in my mind the Lord said, "Why am I not the first thought on your mind?" The scenario of being an individual taken on a date, to a place where you don't know any of the individuals with the exception of your date, came to mind. While the date obviously made the choice to invite you, when you get to the event he is enamored by the other guests and leaves you standing by the wayside. (There was a made for TV movie about Prince William and Kate which had a similar scene. He invites her to his birthday party, but then has no time for her, explaining he must speak to all the "important" people as part of his princely duty.) Not sure about you, but that is how I often treat Jesus. I bring my b...

June 15 Just finished listening to David Jeremiah's message today on End Times and thought it was excellent. www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx Stepping out the door to walk this morning I was surprised by the delightful chill in the air and thought, I need something to "cover" me and ran back in for a jacket. The word cover stayed with me the whole walk, so I returned to find it used 241 times in the NIV. Heading to the online dictionary, I laughed out loud! When I typed in "covered" one of the top choices which popped up was...."covered dish". I really wanted to do some cooking this morning, but felt my quiet time should come first, but even the dictionary tempted me to go play in the kitchen! Some of the verb definitions correlate extremely well with the scriptures to which I was drawn: to guard from attack; to afford protection or security to; to hide from sight or knowledge; to conceal something illicit, blameworthy or embarrassing from no...

June 14 I grew up the daughter of a road and bridge builder, so discussions on digging deep were common around the dinner table. The comment "we hit rock and had to blast" makes perfect sense in the construction world, but it also has a place in our faith walks. Digging into the Word is easy in America. We can pick up our personal Bibles, walk freely into our churches and turn on our radios and TVs to tune into gospel messages everyday. There are times though we when don't hear from the Lord and we feel as though we have hit a rock wall. So we come into His presence with a blast of thanksgiving and give him praise anyway because of who He is. And we wait patiently on Him. I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1

June 13 Yesterday after church I took to the dock with a book and later retreated to our screen porch to read and watch a big thunderstorm roll in. Francine Rivers' book, A Lineage of Grace, takes the lives of five unlikely woman who changed eternity and challenge us to live obedient lives. Tucking away with Rahab, I was mesmerized by how this woman knew God was the true God in her heart, yet she had no teaching or training from her family or friends. She had heard the tales of the Red Sea parting and saw the Jordan River roll back and she was convinced there was more power in the God of the Israelites than in the clay idols and skulls her parents had tucked away. Rahab longed to learn the ways of this God and was hopeful for the chance to recreate her life with Him and his people, far from the ways of prostitution. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old had gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 Here's the question we can ask God today....

Orangutan-Columbus-zoo.JPG June 11-12 Maybe I don't really hear from the Lord. This morning as I prayed about what to write, the word orangutan came to mind. Baffled, I looked at the word and broke it down... o rang u tan - Hmm? Oh! You are rung out, go get a tan? Maybe a little dock time is in order today? Still feeling there must be a connection and seriously hoping there isn't one of these creatures in our woods or coming by UPS today, I headed off to Wikipedia and found this information worth consideration. Orangutans live a more solitary lifestyle than the other great apes. Luke 5:15-16 says: Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Today let's learn from the Orangutan and get alone and listen to the Lord.

June 10 Praying about what to write today my mind drew me to read John 2. I was surprised as I opened the Bible to see the same story that one of our sons had just brought up at dinner last night. 1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come."5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Words I had just shared with a friend yesterday came back to me... "Woman (not really how I addressed her), why don't we involve Jesus more?" Why aren't we willing to live as servants ready and excited to do whatever He tells us? What is the last thing you recall God asking you to do? Did you do it?

June 9 Lounging on the dock with my daughter and grandson yesterday I faced a "ducky dilemma." A tiny baby duck swam up to our dock. (I am talking smaller than the yellow rubber ducky in my bathtub.) My heart's desire was to fill up the plastic baby pool, capture this tiny creature with our net and safely raise him. Walking up the hill to our house I obtained a bag of bread to try to feed this little one. (I know fellow lakers we are not supposed to do this, but this fuzzy creature was tiny and all alone.) He had no idea what that bread was and would not eat it. Within the next hour, my daughter spotted a mother duck and a long line of ducklings swimming across the lake further out in our cove. I prayed she would quack and this little one would swim towards his mother. My daughter even quacked hoping the mother would turn her attention in our direction. She reminded me of the lost sheep parable, which launched me onto a mission. A neighbor came by on his jet ski ...

W o r r Y June 8 God keeps knock, knock, knocking on Mama Boo's brain with message after message on not worrying in this world. Today's Jesus Calling about made me laugh out loud...just have to share. "Who is in charge of your life? If it is you, then you have good reason to worry. But if it is I (Jesus), then worry is both unnecessary and counterproductive. When you start to feel anxious about something, relinquish the situation to Me. Back off a bit, redirecting your focus to Me. I will either take care of the problem Myself or show you how to handle it. In this world you will have problems, but you need not lose sight of Me." I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

June 7 I want you to know...that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. Philippians 1:12 “A great life is not a pain-free life. It is a life in which pain is intertwined with joy.” John Townsend. In order to enjoy a delightful boat ride in Virginia, children under the age of 12 must wear a life jacket. The "great life, not pain free" quote made me think of our grandson overwhelmed by his life jacket! This message seems to be coming to me over and over again. I find myself going back to praying for life to go well for people (friends, family). Praying for no obstacles, heartache, etc. That just isn’t how our faith walk works. James says... There will be trials . We are to use the survival of those times through Christ’s love, to be an encouragement to others and an expression of our faith to further the gospel.

June 6 Driving one of our sons into town to have his wisdom teeth extracted today, it hit me....wait we need all the wisdom we can get....maybe he better keep those wisdom teeth! Get wisdom , get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. Proverbs 4:5 How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver! Proverbs 16:16

June 4-5 God has taught me two great lessons on "doors" this week. At one point during the week someone walked in a door and saw me in the room and immediately closed the door and left. It was obvious they had no desire to talk to me. Later that same day I went to visit my father and he had purposely left his door open awaiting my arrival. God whispered.... "Like your earthly Father's door, My door is always open to you." It was one of those major "God moments that thrills your heart." So Jesus said again, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that I Myself am the Door for the sheep." John 10:7 The second lesson came today and it was on "shutting the door." Matthew 6:6 says: But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door , pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Bob Sorge says in his eye opening book Secrets of the Secret ...

June 3 The call for prayer range out from my niece requesting us to lift up the family of her babysitter. This wonderful woman was in Puerto Rico with her soon to be 50 year old husband and their two sons visiting family and were enjoying a day at the beach. The husband and sons had climbed high onto some rocks jetting out into the ocean when a large wave broke over the rocks. The husband and one son fell into the water. The son was able to swim to shore, but the father's head evidently hit rocks in two places and he was killed. In seconds he went from an earthly vacation to an eternal presence with Christ. Today I looked around my messy house and rationalized it would be better to enjoy the people who are here than take time to vacuum and clean. Also, as I enjoyed the Cream Brulee one of our daughters made, my diet went to the way side. Some things in life are ok to put off...our procrastinating in asking Christ to be Lord of our lives and forgive us of our sins can have more ...

June 2 For those of you who know the Andrews boys, you know they are always pulling "funnies" on one another. Uncle Jordon has been so taken by the tiny clothes on his newest nephew. He realized the little pockets are the perfect place for a pretzel nugget, so he is always tucking one in Harrison's pockets. We've been doing a mini retreat here at Shiloh and listening to Beth Moore's video series called Loving Well, which is based on 1 John 4:7-21. Today she dwelt on God's perfect love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18 Moore stated that the love of God has to be in us before we can go out and administer His love to others through us. In order for that love to be in us, we have to take time to let God love on us. So like sticking those pretzels in the pocket, we need to take time to stick the love of God into our hearts! Take time to sit and soak up the lov...

June 1 Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children. Proverbs 17:6 Eleven years ago my mother went to be with the Lord and what a day of rejoicing that must have been in heaven. Today would have been her 88th birthday. Our daughter is named for my mother and yesterday I had the blessing of watching my daughter place her son in the arms of my father. It was one of those moments in life you really don't know how to explain, but you know you will hold it captive in your heart and pull it out on the tough days when you need to remember Philippians 4:8... Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.