Boojoyful

One of our sons called yesterday morning with the exciting news that he and his wife will be moving from New Orleans, LA to Potomac, Md. So much closer!  Immediately, my heart longed to move to Charlottesville, where one of our daughters lives and thus be closer to her and two of her brothers.  No sooner had that thought raced across my mind than God said, "I long to be close to my children too." Ugh. That moment when you know you've heard from the Lord and He speaks truth. Ugh. That moment when you are convicted of longing for things in this world, more than the          Creator Himself. Ah!   That moment when you feel the Holy Spirit adjusting the motives of your heart and            setting  you back on course to where the treasure of your heart should be. "It wasn’t until I was a parent that I began to realize God’s desire to be intimate with His children. Spiritually I was born into God’...

...A continuation of Miss Grumble Bug and how I was caught off guard. "Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."   2 Corinthians 11:14 The day began joyfully, but two hours into it the content of text messages from three totally unrelated situations took me off my guard.  You know, when you find yourself saying, "People! Are you kidding me?" " Let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled."    1 Thessalonians 5:6 In the same book mentioned yesterday,  Awaken,  Priscilla Shirer describes certain times when we feel the schemes of the devil breathing down our necks.  We run for our spiritual armor and begin to battle.   She writes: "But at other times, when you're feeling steady and secure in your faith and the cloud cover of good times has lulled you to sleep, you no longer sense the need to do as much proactive safe-guarding.  Your marriage is reasonably strong, your finance...

No grumbling here. Maybe the 95 degree temperatures played a part in my recent grumble bug personality or it could have been my squishy mammogram which had to be redone, but I found myself not liking myself one bit. The flesh was weak and I had let a lot of people and circumstances get under my skin.  Fighting the urge to call my husband and daughter and sound off to them, I asked the Holy Spirit to give me the urge to withstand the temptation.  Before the day was done, they got an earful. Sitting in the waiting room for the mammogram I picked up Priscilla Shirer's Awaken  devotional and couldn't believe what God had placed before my eyes. "The disciples didn't feel like being too welcoming to the crowd waiting for them on the shoreline that day.  They'd only barely caught their breath from an intense time of ministry and were still extremely exhausted,  most likely looking for a place where they could put their feet up and rest.  They probably ho...

Sometimes the moment God has for our day is a simple site. Amidst graduation celebrations, summer job applications, vacation details and summer schedules we need to remember to stop  and see what God has planned.   Stop and worship Him for who he is. While out on the lake one evening last week my husband said, "I think you should get a picture of the moon over the mountain."  Everyone in the boat paused and remembered God. " When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,  the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,  what is man that you are mindful of him,  and the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:3-4

These two teens are members of families who serve our church selflessly. They are truly being trained up to have servants' heart. Right along the time the Lord was teaching me a good lesson about relating to hurtful people came this writing She Reads Truth called Making Room . Shereadstruth.com Making Room for Betrayers Scripture Reading: Exodus 23:4–5, Matthew 18:15–20, Luke 6:27–36, John 18:15–18, John 21:15–19, Colossians 3:12–13 This is a true story. I invited my enemy to dinner on purpose. There was no applause or great relief or gratefulness on her part. After all, she didn’t know she was my enemy. She didn’t know the words she’d said about me had made their way back to my ears. She didn’t know how wounded I’d felt by her piercing remarks about my life, my home, my personality, and my portion.  She didn’t know God had set that table for me in the presence of my enemy. And so, she enjoyed my wine and my bread, my Brussels sprouts with bacon, my perfectly ro...

I enjoy engaging in life with this little one. This is a good follow-up to the Treasure Hunt entry yesterday. I was simply unloading the dishwasher and the word engage  came to mind.   "What's that about Lord?"  Engage - "Occupy, attract, involve in" Heading to Biblegateway, I plugged in the word in one translation and most of the verses related to a period before marriage, except Philippians 1:29-30 "For  it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also  suffer for his sake,   engaged in the same  conflict that  you saw I had and now hear that I still have." Out of curiosity, and a desire to hear from the Lord, I dug deeper into Paul's story in  The Message translation. He had several take aways for me and I'm praying as I type there are lessons from God for you as well.  Let's engage the world for Christ! Philippians Chapter 1 ...

One of my favorite activities as a grandmother has been to create treasure hunts for our grandchildren.  It's one of those difficult brain activities for me now though. Sequencing...UGH. Now, I find myself sitting on the sofa and instead of sending them to find clues, I send them to bring something to me or do a task.  (All they really care about is the treasure, right?) Today's Jesus Calling captured my thoughts.  "Approach each new day with desire to find Me (Jesus)...There are hidden treasures strategically placed along the way. Some of the treasures are trials, designed to shake you free from earth-shackles." I read it over and over. There is purpose in every trial we encounter.  Our trials lead us to treasures. " that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisd...