Boojoyful

September 30 Several days ago the Lord impressed upon my heart not to miss this week with Him. I even started a new Bible study on grace and committed to make the time each day expecting God to speak and teach me amazing things. With a wedding on the horizon love is a natural theme to be in one's head, but recognizing the magnitude of God's love is the lesson which seems to be on the course roster for this semester of my life. "He who had My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me...I will love him and manifest Myself to him." John 14;21 If the Lord calls me home today I feel I have at least been faithful to share that these words are true. God's love is not a hoax. On Tuesday a woman walked up to me in the grocery store and said, "You are Boo Andrews. You have been in my home. You are having a wedding and need to know that the food, the flowers, the decorations, the festivities don't matter. What is important is that people see God's ...

September 29 (I think) A couple of days ago a neighbor called to say he was heading out of town for his son's wedding and if we needed to use his driveway for parking for our son's wedding to feel free to. My husband thanked him and asked where the wedding he was attending would be held. The reply, "Oh, we are going on a Disney cruise." Hanging up the phone, my husband said, "Not fair!" We are working away to prepare our yard, home and food and this man is going on a cruise! Sharing that story with a girlfriend last night she had great consolation for us. "A cruise is so impersonal." I laughed, "Well, I have to agree. Everyone hanging out around here gets pretty personal!" God wants us to be personal with him. This morning my first thoughts were that I needed to go set butter out to soften, get some cakes going in the oven and make a "to do" list for the day. I knew better. For ten years I've written this daily de...

September 28 Last night I received a call from an excited young mother whose three year old has started in an AWANA program in their community. Enthusiastically she exclaimed, "My three year old is memorizing scripture and she really gets it!" They have enrolled their child in this program at another church on Sunday nights. Their daughter calls is "night school". The little girl pointed to her mom's Bible in the house and said, "That's the Bible." Her mother questioned, "Who is the Bible about?" Her reply, "Jesus. God loves us so much he sent Jesus for us." Whoa! I told her mother what is being implanted in that little heart will stay forever. In my big girl Bible study today the same message was poured out over me reminding me how much God loves me. Isaiah 43:1b is playing over and over in my mind: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Check out this definition for redeem :compens...

September 27 On my calendar today is this quote: "All things made by God need rest-especially us." Mark Buchanan Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Exodus 20:9-10a I did not do that yesterday. With the excitement of a home wedding upon us we have our priorities mixed up. Saturday night some dear friends called and said, "We are in your cove. Come down to the dock and we are going to take you out to watch the moon come up." I was still wearing my workout clothes from 7AM that morning! Rushing upstairs I threw on some warm ups and launched away on a much needed reprieve. God has given us amazing friends who have stepped in at just the right time and loved like Christ, knowing more what we need than we ourselves are aware of! Thinking back to Buchanan's quote it is so true. Moses, our bulldog certainly has the resting mode down pat. The birds and the bees stop flapping their wings, while t...

September 25-26 Here is a simple, yet profound thought. We serve an accessible God who welcomes our interruptions. Check out the definition of accessible and see if you would categorize Jesus in this fashion. Accessible: capable of being reached; easy to communicate or deal with; capable of being influenced : open; capable of being used or seen : available; capable of being understood or appreciated. "Though I am King of the universe, I am totally accessible to you. I am with you wherever you are. Nothing can separate you from My Presence! When I cried out from the cross, "It is finished!" the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. This opened the way for you to meet Me face to Face, with no need of protocol or priests. I, the King of kings, am your constant companion." Sarah Young, author of Jesus Calling, Whether we have sinned and are seeking an advocate in our search for forgiveness or we are walking through what appears to be the Valle...

September 24 We are experiencing an invasion of stink bugs. Open your car door or the door to your home and they come flying in. The greatest defense mechanism of a stink bug is the fact that the word on the street is if you kill one your home is going to stink! They swoop into your home and head for the ceiling. If you have a long vacuum hose, sucking them up is an option, but I learned of another tool today...take a yard stick and put duct tape, doubled over to be sticky on both sides on the end of the stick. Then you hold it up to the bug and with the lightest touch the stinker sticks! My husband is so excited to take this new tool to work today! What a funny sight it will be to see the Head Master walking around campus with a sticky stick covered in bugs! There are tools for our faith walk which work so well. Praise, prayer, meditation, singing and of course the big power tool...the Word of God. This verse on Biblegateway thrilled my heart and I began to pray if over my children, m...

September 23 Here's a new computer message I received yesterday when trying to log on... "connected-dormant". Does that sound like our faith at times? We are connected to Christ and nothing is going to break that bond, but our faith is in a dormant state. God has given me a double dip today with this thought. I opened my Streams in the Desert devotional and read: John 7:38 says: Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. "Some of us are troubled, wondering why the Holy Spirit doesn't fill us, The problem is that we have plenty coming in but we are not giving out to others. If you will give the blessing you have received, planning your life around greater service and being a blessing to those around you, then you will quickly find that the Holy Spirit is with you. He will bestow blessings to your for service, giving you all He can trust you to give away to others." What an easily accessible antidote t...