Thankful JOY

Our Daily Bread for today kind of hit right at home with me....

...Prepositions in our language seem like insignificant details, but they can make a big difference. The words "in" and "for" are an example.
The apostle Paul wrote, "In everything give thanks" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). That doesn't mean we have to be thankful for everything. We need not be thankful "for" the bad choices someone makes, but we can be thankful "in" the circumstances because the Lord can use the resulting difficulties for good....

That just reminds me of Romans 8:28, it is a verse that had friend has shared often with me recently as the verse she was standing upon.... another touch of how good God is.

Knowing that God can use all things for good is more than enough reason to give thanks in everything. Giving thanks in difficult circumstances is a small detail that makes a big difference. ~Julie Ackerman Link

I know God has a reason for this difficulty with my pay.... I do know already that through inquiring with CDE I found out that there is another step that needs to be done for my temporary license... so see that is already something good that has come out of this yuck...

Father, thank You that in every trial, challenge, and difficulty, You are behind the scenes working things out for our good. Help us to see Your hand in everything. Amen.
God has not promised to keep us from life's storms, but He will keep us through them. ~ODB

As always, I love when God reaches down and speaks directly through something like Our Daily Bread, right where I am at. I know this was written and put together long before this actual day, but it NEVER ceases to amaze me how it is Perfect for RIGHT NOW.

I've also been reading "Walking With God" by John Eldredge and tonight I read a section titled 'Making Room for Joy' pages 37-41...

..."The battle in your life is against your joy."... How true this has been in my life the past few years... I keep saying I don't feel like me, but the truth is I haven't experienced or felt joy in so long... Oh, I know the things in the past few that have brought a smile to my face and warmed my heart... but, to really feel joy, I don't know.

But of course. Suddenly life made sense. the hassles. The battles. The disappointments. The losses. The resignation. Why hadn't I seen it before? I mean, I face a lot of different skirmishes day to day, but now the plot, the diabolical plot behind them all came into view. I began to see how the enemy was first trying to take away all joy from my life. Wear me down. Then weary and thirsty, I would be quite vulnerable to some counterfeit joy. It would start with mild addictions, then build to something worse. Thus he would destroy all that God has done in and through me. It was so obvious. Of course.

Yes, of course... after reading Eldredge's words the light came on for me to. And so much made sense...why isn't joy a part of my waking in the morning, I've experienced it before and what exactly what it looks like full on. So where did it go? How do I get it back?

He continues after describing an awesome day with his sons:
So, why don't I wake with a joyful heart today? Joy was just here. Where did it go? I feel like I met a stranger on an airplane, and we clicked. We swapped some stories, had a few drinks, laughed together. Then I drove home to an empty house. It's like that. I had an encounter with joy. It touched a longing. Now I begin to realize I haven't even given ten minutes to joy, let alone pursued it as essential to my life.
It has to do with agreements I've made without even knowing it. ...It happens down deep in our souls where our real beliefs about life are formed. Something or someone whispers to us, Life is never going to turn out the way you'd hoped, or Nobody's going to come through, or God has forsaken you. And something in us responds, That's true. We make an agreement with it, and a conviction is formed. It seems reasonable. I think we come to more of our beliefs in this way than maybe any other. Subtle agreements.
...Now, to be fair, joy isn't exactly falling from the sky these days We don't go out to gather it each morning like manna. It's hard to come by. Joy seems more elusive than winning the lottery. We don't like to think about it much, because it hurts to allow ourselves to feel how much we long for joy, and how seldom it drops by. But joy IS the point. I know God says that joy is our strength. "The joy of the LORD is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10)

Just like Elderedge continues to write... I know that when I have felt joy in the past I felt more alive than any other time in my life. Makes you think about some of those times....

Playing in the back of a pick up truck with some of the bestest kids ever, slow dancing in the living room with an amazing man of God, jumping on the trampoline with awesome kids while 'adult' friends looked down upon us the day before going to Korea, watching my students in Korea pray for baby Noah and raise their arms declaring "Praise Jesus" and reciting Psalm 106:1, reading something in an email you waited your whole life to hear, opening the door in Winter Park to be greet by someone you longed to see, encountering GOD in ways just like this....

As Elderedge ends with: Joy is such a tender thing... We avoid it, because it feels too vulnerable to allow ourselves to admit the joy we long for but do not have.

Oh heavens.... "God Calling" is even titled YOU ARE MY JOY for today reading....
Remember, that just as you thank God for Me, so I thank God for His Gift to Me of you. In that hour of My agony on Earth, one note of Joy thrilled through the pain. The thought of the souls, given Me by My Father who had kept My Word....

Now there is some more cause for some THANKFUL JOY!!!!

So longing for more of you Lord and that Joy that is complete in You.... I long to experience not only moments of Joy, but a life of Joy with You.