My Greatest Joy- Day 38

Greatest

Good morning all! So quick question. Can you guess what my greatest Joy is? This is one of those blog post ideas that I had once upon a time and I wrote down this great idea (a title) and no other details! UGH! Yes I have learned from my mistake But each week as I read through my post idea list this one almost taunts me. Coming out of a season where I had to be super intentional about my gratitude and having to REALLY hone in my sights to what brings me true joy- I struggled to remember what laid behind this blog post. That is until this Sunday.

So what makes something the “GREATEST”

When I think of “the greatest”. I think about the absolute best And coming out of the Olympic season we heard the term GOAT. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why on earth it was a compliment to be called a GOAT…..that is I finally put two and two together and realized it stood for “Greatest Of All Time”. AHA but as the Olympics continued on we began to see that GOATs weren’t perfect. They might be considered the Best in the world (at that time) but it didn’t mean they were perfect.

Since Sunday and realizing and remembering what my greatest joy is I kept coming back to this word perfect. Greatest does not equal perfect. Jesus is my perfect joy- I get so much joy from Him….and that is where my greatest joy stems from.

I took a step forward

But not like you might be thinking. I was in the middle of praising Jesus and all of a sudden a thought came to mind. So I took a tiny step forward and glanced down our row of chairs. And what I saw and heard struck the deepest sense of joy I have felt in a long time. And all I had to do is LOOK. I didn’t have t do anything. I didn’t need to get anything. I just needed to pay attention. And then in that moment my reason for putting that post title came flooding back….

What I saw…and heard

Looking to my left and right I saw 4 kids who were worshipping Jesus in their own way…without any reservation. They weren’t being judged they were in their own spaces one on one lifting the name of their Savior in song You could tell it was personal. AND THAT brought me my greatest joy and made me praise Jesus all the more.

And as that welled up in my soul, thoughts came flooding back- of a teenager asking me (very sheepishly) if I could read the Bible with her. Or another teenager asking if I would go forward with her at a youth conference. Seeing tears flow down her faces she prayed which in turn made me ugly cry because I had been praying for this girl for oh so long.

To see a group of 17 teenagers- boys and girls embrace and love each other like I have never seen any other group of humans ever do. Such different backgrounds….such different experiences….such different economic backgrounds…encourage each other lift each other up…and just care. Yes they had their moments of disagreement but that was rare.

To watch on any given Sunday morning a herd of children run up to new kids and invite them to “come play with us in the gym”. To swallow up the new ones, it wasn’t an exclusive club for these kids. They wanted to include everyone because they themselves had been included.

Teens who would share their deepest burdens of their hearts because they felt safe.

Women who were honest about where they were at- tears shed as they shared their broken places.

And then I remembered – my Greatest Joy WAS perfect every single time-

Changed Lives- It didn’t matter how it happened or how messy it was. When people were honest with themselves and really let Jesus change them- there is nothing better (except for seeing them all in heaven someday.)

BUT My greatest Joy is also linked to my greatest sorrow

This was a harsh reality for me Monday and I am not going to lie all of the emotions that flooded my soul was rough. I was angry I was sad I was disappointed. I was crushed.

I’m not going to tell you what happened but I will give you a breakdown…..

  • selfishness (putting oneself before others)
  • mistreatment of others
  • a limiting of grace to someone else (the idea that You only deserve this much …………because of………….)
  • Rejection
  • judging

The list could go on. There was this realization that people aren’t willing to change.. They know what is right and wrong. They can even verbalize it BUT they are unwilling to let that change them. Their hearts are hard. They think they are entitled, They make an exclusive club and they limit God’s grab for certain people. THAT is my greatest sorrow because that isn’t what God teaches in his word.

Jesus says “Love your Neighbor as yourself”

We ask “who is our neighbor?” looking for a specific easy to love group of people -mostly the ones just like us.

Jesus answers EVERYONE.

We don’t get to pick and choose who get’s love, grace and mercy. But we tend to think that we get to be that judge. We don’t. we are commanded to (to quote NIKE) -“JUST DO IT”

And at the end of the day

My realization was this

  • I’m glad Jesus doesn’t treat us like this.
  • that I am called to be like Jesus so I need to treat people like Jesus treats me
  • It’s not my job to withhold grace mercy and love- it’s my job to lavishly give it out- just like those kids. who didn’t see backgrounds, color, economic standing , or anything else for that matter
  • I need to die to self and put others before myself
  • I need to not just take in the information from God’s word I need to apply it . And Not just bits and pieces that make me comfortable
  • It’s not about what is easy for me. It’s not about my time, my money, my strength. It’s about serving Jesus with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength- REALLY my whole life- not holding anything back. It’s not about Convenience. (It wasn’t easy or convenient for Jesus to die on the cross)

All of this from a bunch of teenagers and a bunch of kids. Oh how we have lost sight of what is most important. I promise you if you can learn these lessons from children you too will experience the greatest Joy because it’s not MY greatest Joy- It’s Jesus’!!!!!

Thanks for joining me for Day 38 of my Choosing Courage 100 day blogging project. If you are new here you can check out this blog post that explains it all. 

And if you have fallen behind or missed some posts you can check it out here

Joy Dare – One Thousand Gifts

Joy

Happy Thursday everyone and welcome to this week’s installment of the Joy Dare. I cannot believe it has been 8 months on this journey.

I have found this most helpful in my prayer time. In recent years as I have sought to grow in my prayer time but I always struggled with feeling and knowing I was forgetting important parts of prayer. So I went back to the very simple but effective Acrostic ACTS

ACTS

  • Adoration (Praise)
  • Confession (admitting and repenting of sin)
  • Thanksgiving (Gratitude)
  • Supplication ( prayer Requests)

I don’t strictly follow these in order though it REALLY helps my scatter brained nature in line. So I just added the Joy dare into the Thanksgiving section of my prayer time

8/27/2021-9/2/2021

Joy
Day 27- 3 Gifts New
  • New Beginnings
  • New School Year
  • New Journal to start next week
Day 28- 3 gifts long awaited
  • New church- still waiting- making closer steps
  • Soccer season has started
  • Wrapping up a study
Day 29- A gift one, two, three
  • One – God to worship and Praise
  • Two- more days left in August
  • Three-Planners- school, mobile (as in it goes with me)
Day 30- 3 Gifts small
  • little changes that change a church culture
  • words of encouragement- insignificant on their own- powerful when put together
  • a smile- full of love yet often taken for granted
Day 31- 3 miracles
  • every new day-to write a part of your Story Lord through it we get to share Jesus with the world
  • Jesus- everything about him!
  • flowers- They can withstand storms, poring rain and some can even withstand Cold and snow. They remain beautiful through the storm- what a testament to God’s care
joy
Day 1- 3 Gifts of summer
  • Adventures with Friends
  • warm sunny weather
  • longer days (aka more sunlight)
Day 2-3 gifts cut
  • Rosie’s haircut she is much cooler now
  • Family time Cut out of a very Busy Schedule
  • Paper Scraps cut to make cards

So how about you? What are some of the little things you are thankful this week and bring you great Joy. I know as I get older I am discovering that it’s the simple little things that bring me some of the greatest Joy!

Want more information about Joy Dare or One Thousand Gifts You can check them out on Ann Voskamp’s website.

And you Can check out my other Joy Dare posts

Also this is Day 18 of My Choosing Courage 100 day writing project. You can check out the rest of the series here

Joy Dare- One Thousand Gifts

Joy

Happy Thursday and you know what that means! It’s Joy Dare Day. (It is also Day 11 of my Choosing Courage 100 day writing project) it’s the part of my week when I share about all of the little joys God has brought into my life. Those simple little blessings that I take for granted on a regular basis and this daily act of gratitude brings them front and center..

Joy

Day 20- 3 gifts in serving

  • watching people grow in their walk with Jesus.
  • seeing God meet unspoken needs
  • my own personal walk with Jesus growing leaps and bounds when I trust him to use me.

Day 21- A gift straight, curved, turn

  • Straight- colorful pencils (I got a great deal on a nice brand of colored pencils
  • curve- bananas
  • turn- the next bend in our path

Day 22- 3 gifts in Light

  • a new day
  • Christmas
  • our table outside

Day23- 3 gifts old

  • our parents -Both sets(they aren’t very old but older….) No way I can say this will turn out nicely! but I don’t mean it in a bad way!
  • our furniture handed to us from family. we have someaniques passed down from family and friends
  • Books!

Day 24- 3 gifts meaning

  • Our kids- they are always going on an adventure
  • Our animals are always doing something comical
  • our vehicle getting us from one place to the next.

Day 25- 3 gifts Fragile

  • Eggs- from our neighbor
  • cute little birthday gifts from my parents
  • Hearts opened to each other

Day 26- A gift cut, sewn and buttoned

  • Cut- A freshly cut lawn (I love that smell)
  • Sewn- A patched set of bean bag chairs that are well loved
  • Buttoned-Details all buttoned up- I love to finish things. and move forward.

I’m glad you could join me on this gratitude journey. It really is amazing just how much our hearts change when our perspective changes! There is always something to be grateful for- even in the hard stuff.

How about you? What are some little blessings that you are grateful for? What brings you Joy? Let me know in the comments below.

You can check out more about the Book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp by clicking here and you can check out more about the Joy dare by visiting her website here.

You Can also check our my other posts in my Choosing Courage Project by clicking here

Thank you again for doing me on my journey. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments

My 2021 Joy Dare- Week 5

Joy

Good evening everyone. I hope you have had a joy filled week! I cannot believe that we are in week of this year’s Joy Dare! This year is already flying by so quickly and I don’t know about you but last month with my theme of Intentional Gratitude I found myself growing leaps and bounds.

This month’s theme is Intentional Love and I will have posts. based on that but for right now let’s just into. what we are thankful for this week.

Joy

January 29- February 4th

January 29th- A Song heard, a soft word, and a light seen
  • A song heard- actually many songs heard- it brings me great joy to see and hear our kids singing their hearts out for Jesus. Such Joy in their hearts. I appreciate the lyrics that are being embedded on their hearts
  • A soft word- early morning conversations with Ron as we get ready for our day
  • A light seen- the ever so faint of a glimmer of morning kissing the oh-so-black sky
January 30th- 3 old things seen new
  • A stack of picture frames ready to be repurposed into new
  • Old jeans ready to be used for new projects, specifically a hanging organizer for the craft room
  • Old wood ready to be repurposed for a room remodel
January 31- A gift on paper, in person and in a picture
  • On Paper- A card sent my a dear friend to encourage and make me laugh
  • In Person- seeing our teens back in Youth Group- it’s such a gift.
  • In pictures- The pictures that pop up in our facebook memories: toothless kiddos, quotes from Faith Giants spurring on from heaven, verses of encouragement, and funny pictures to make us chuckle.
joy
February 1- 3 Gifts Red
  • a Beautifully hand painted Red Cardinal Card from a good friend
  • 2 red Scarves both gifts from friends that keep me cozy on cold winter days
  • two frogs and a sloth gifted to me by my hubby with big red bows on them
February 2nd- 3 Gifts found on Paper
  • An artist print hanging on the wall in the doctors office
  • Get well cards pinned on my inboard written with words of encouragement and love
  • Countless journals of a life lived relying on Jesus
February 3rd- 3 Gifts found in writing
  • God’s Word- all of it
  • Goals written down- reminds me of my purpose.
  • Words found in comments on my blog encouraging me to keep going.
February 4th- 3 Gifts when bent down (I’m going to give you five)
  • Mia
  • Tia
  • Rosie
  • Nugget
  • Daisy

These are our 5 current fur babies which are such a HUGE blessing to our family!

And there you have it another week of the Joy Dare. to learn more about the Joy Dare you Can check out Ann Voskamp’s website here.

And you can also check out Ann’s Book One Thousand Gifts on Amazon. (This is not an affiliate link)

My 2021 Joy Dare -week 2

Joy

Hey Welcome back to this weeks Joy Dare post. so glad you are here. Let’s jump in.

Joy

January 8th- 14th 2021

January 8th- Dusky Light,, Surprising Reflection, Lovely Shadow
  • Dusky Light-the bright crispness of the snow under moonlight.
  • Surprising Reflection- seeing our children hearts reflected back in how the serve God and others
  • Lovely Shadow- The cat sitting watching the Christmas tree lights in the dark
January 9th- Held, Passed By, Set With
  • Held- Miss Mia (one of our twin orange Tabby Cat) She is such a sweet and cuddly cat.
  • Passed By- lots of craft supplies as I packed a box for a friend
  • Sat with- I enjoy just sitting with hubby. It’s one of my favorite things
January 10th- Sour, sweet, and Just right
  • Sour- Cranberry juice- helping my kidneys and bladder
  • Sweet- Christmas Treats hidden away for just the right time
  • Just right-Chocolate covered pretzels or salted caramels
January 11th- 3 Yellow gifts of fresh mercy
  • A painting a friend did for me of purple and yellow tulips with my favorite hymn printed on it.
  • A Christmas Cactus given to me by my church family while I have been recovering . Its wrapped in a very cheerful yellowy gold foil!
  • I have a cute yellow and black stuffed poison dart frog named Charlie gifted to me by one of my kiddos.
January 12th- Something Above, Below and Beside
  • Above- lights, I am so thankful for bright lights I can see to the best of my abilities
  • Below- sleeping puppies with sweet snores at my feet- ok so they aren’t REALLY puppies!
  • Beside- my hubby who has done a marvelous job taking care of me
January 13th- 3 Things about me. (This one was tough)
  • my creativity- Thank you Lord for fostering my creativity through my hubby encouragement
  • my small hands- so I can get them into tight places
  • My spiritual gifts- I am so grateful for them so I can serve God for His glory

January 14th- 3 Startling graces of God

  • Seeing God use something that just happened in your life to help someone else
  • Watching God take something horrible and transform someone
  • seeing yourself in God’s word specifically something I need to work on

Want to join me on this Joy Dare, Check out Ann Voskamp’s website for more details by clicking here.