Sane, Simple, Sacred: Joy

Joy

"There is joy in serving Jesus," was her facebook post.

Sometimes that's all it takes.
Just a phrase and my mind is called to attention.
Joy!

Before I realized it, my fingers pranced across the keyboard typing out: "Yes there is. And sometimes I think we serve like Jesus did--'for the joy set before Him' -- that is out there; yet to come." (Hebrews 12:2).

My point - if I had one - was that sometimes the joy isn't "there" in the sense of feeling it.
It is yet to come.

But it IS coming.

And sometimes, when it ISN'T "there",
we're just encouraged to "Count it all joy" (James 1:2)

It's not very "spiritual", but I like this quote:
"You have to sniff out joy. Keep your nose to the joy trail." (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
So true. So true.

6 comments:

Nikki (Sarah)December 8, 2011 at 7:16 AM
HI Rebecca...joy....it's the best....and for me it comes from Him. Hope you have a beautiful day out there full of joy
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Jeanette LevellieDecember 8, 2011 at 12:19 PM
Oh, I agree! Thanks for the encouragement to sniff out the joy!
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EileenDecember 8, 2011 at 10:02 PM
'So love the idea of the "joy yet to come". I've always felt that I for sure do not have a joyful servant's heart. Maybe that feeling is just storing up for when it's needed most and then will burst forth.
Nice post, Rebecca.
Love and Prayers,
Eileen
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no spring chickenDecember 9, 2011 at 8:11 AM
So true... so true! May you find your joy in Him today Rebecca, and may it overflow to everyone you touch!

Blessings, Debbie
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Jacquelyn StagerDecember 9, 2011 at 2:11 PM
"for they joy set before Him"...yes, thanks for that reminder. Sometimes Christians are just not being honest when they act like the trials and hardships of this life don't affect them. If Jesus was stressed out enough to sweat drops of blood...in our own humanness we can admit sometimes we don't have our joy totally in place! However, we believe His Word...and we know the best is yet to come! I do have my days where I say COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS!
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Nellie's Cozy PlaceDecember 10, 2011 at 9:39 AM
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for coming by, and so glad to hear you know of Paul Tripp, and enjoy his ministry. He is a really profound and enlightening man. He has blessed our lives in so many ways, would love to meet him sometime, and I will.... of course,
even if it isn't till we hit glory!! lol

It is so true that serving the Lord brings us so much joy, but I do think that sometimes when we see people going thru hard things, it hurts our hearts to watch it, and it seems to snuff out our joy, and sometimes we ourselves are grieving over something or God is doing a painful work in our own hearts and we don't feel that zingy type of joy, but I think inwardly we have a deep abiding joy in our hearts, but one thing that has helped me to have more Joy in the last 5 years is learning to count my blessings, and then it became a more regular discipline when I started blogging and doing Thankful Thursday.
It has really helped to transform my life......
and I have to say it squares with that verse
where it say God inhabits the praises of His people..............

Well my friend, hope you are enjoying the Christmas Season, it is like we have to enjoy it all on our own, with others who do too, because this World of ours seems to be so blind to the glory of it all................
What Hope, Joy and Peace we have only because of HIM!!

Merry Christmas!!
Love and Blessings Abundant to you and yours,
Nellie
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"We simplify, not just to be less busy, even though we may be right to pursue that. Rather, we simplify to remove distractions from our pursuit of Christ. We prune activities from our lives, not only to get organized, but also that our devotion to Christ and service for His kingdom will be more fruitful. We simplify, not merely to save time, but to eliminate hindrances to the time we devote to knowing Christ. All the reasons we simplify should eventually lead us to Jesus Christ!" (Donald S. Whitney)

Dedicated to my sister-in-law, Beth--a TRUE home manager....

"I work for a King. He has put me in charge of his home. When He comes to see how I have managed His possessions and His children, I do not want to be found wanting. I want to do my best. Everything I have is on loan from Him. I have room and board and a job to do, but it is all for Him. Therefore I want to dress my best and do my best in all my work. I also want to be creative, for this is a sincere attempt to glorify Him and His beautiful creation. How I manage my home is a form of worship to Him." --Lydia Sherman

"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry,
and see a fine picture every day of his life,
in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul."

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Contentment makes poor men rich.

-Benjamin Franklin

"What I am gradually discovering is that in the writing I come in touch with the Spirit of God." ~ Nouwen

~~"Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting."~~Edmund Burke

C.S. Lewis: "To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in trusting a person if you wouldn't take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him."

"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common--this is my symphony." William Henry Channing

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Apostle Paul: "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

"It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand. It stops us from taking anything for granted. It has also taught me alot about living in the immediate moment. I am somehow managing to live one day, one hour at a time." Madeleine L'Engle

FIVE CERTAINTIES
WITH WHICH TO
START YOUR DAY

God holds you. Each day he carries us in his arms. Psalm 68:19 NLT
God sustains you. THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack. Psalm 23:1 AMP
God covers you. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust. Psalm 91:4 AMP
God pours His love upon you. Through each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me. Psalm 42:8 NLT
God will not fail you. The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! Lamentations 3:22 NLT

THE BLOGGER'S PRAYER Lord, help me to learn to spell without spellcheck, manage to visit all that visit me, and post regularly - all in 5 minutes a day, so that I can clean house and take care of my family. Help me to not look at every occurrence in my life as a blog post, and to quit taking pictures of weird things to share as well. Please Lord, help me to stop talking about my blog friends as though they are next door neighbors or someone I have known all of my life. And help me, dear Lord, to think of something witty and wise to post tomorrow.
Love, The Dust Bunny Hostage

Sane, Simple, Sacred

Mercy

Joy

6 comments:

Writing a Song a Week #3