Shore

A mentor in my life sent my husband and I a note recently that said: “You’ll  never discover unchartered waters until you’re willing to lose sight of the shore.” This encouraged me so much so I had to share it!

With that said, maybe you’re in the boat sitting on the shore when God is calling you to take your eyes off of the shore and trust Him. One of the verses that has comforted me over the years is Hebrews 13:5 – “For He Himself has said,  ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.'”

God is so faithful! Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).

My husband shared this song with me and it encouraged me. I hope it encourages you too!

http://youtu.be/Et00UNFDjVM

Joyfully His!

Agreement

Matthew 18:19-20 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Yesterday morning I was sitting on the couch praying and my daughter came up to me. She was very interested in what I was doing. I gave her my finger to hold on to and she was thrilled!

As I continued to talk to God, she began to watch me intently. After I finished praying about a specific thing she said, “Oh yea!”. Then I started praying for another area of our lives and she chimed in and said “Uhmmm humm”. Throughout the rest of my time with God she would continue to nod her head as if she were in agreement with what I was saying.

My day was already great but this just made it so much better! 🙂 It’s nice to have someone agree with you!

As cute and sweet as it is to have a 20 month old participate in prayer, it is vital to have agreement in prayer! Obviously it’s important to spend time talking to God privately but it’s powerful to take time to pray with others about specific needs and desires.

I pray that God would give you the desires of your heart! (Psalm 37:4) I hope you were encouraged today!

Joyfully His!

Bring It!

 “And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.” Philippians 1:6

God has a wonderful plan for our lives, not a wonderful life for our plans (I can’t take credit for this, it’s something I learned at Bible School). When I read this verse, I noticed that God is the One making things happen. He began, He will continue, He will develop, He will perfect and He will bring it! The only thing we need to do is allow Him to do this work in us!

On our wedding day, we had a picture for people to sign (rather than a guest book). One of the best parts of this “signed” picture was that in several places someone (or several “someones”) anonymously wrote “BRING IT”! This was a phrase that my hubby and I would say often…ya know, as a challenge (in a playful way). 🙂

This verse meant a lot to us so we put it on our wedding invitations! How appropriate it was for our friends and family to write “BRING IT”.

Are You ready for God to BRING IT? 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Joyfully His!

Like Rewards?

Hebrews 11:6

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

I have been thinking about this verse. What a great verse! There is so much to this verse, I could probably write a book about it! I just want to focus on the last part — God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

I don’t know about you but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE rewards. I am a part of several different rewards programs. Ya know, the programs where you get points for purchases you make so that you can get a gift card, free items or money off of a purchase.

I have to do something in order to get my rewards. For example, in order to get a free vanilla caramel avalanche from Gloria Jeans, I have to purchase 8 drinks!

So thinking about all of the rewards programs I am a part of, none of them compare to the rewards from God! This verse tells us that we are rewarded by God as we diligently seek Him.

I pray that God would bless the work of your hands! Thanks for reading!

Joyfully His!

Fall

“For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again…” Proverbs 24:16

I have lost count of how many times I have fallen! Thankfully, I got back up each time (I may have required help on some of the occasions). 🙂

I remember the time when I went to get into my mother-in-law’s car and my foot got stuck in between the driveway and the yard. Needless to say she saw me and then she didn’t! Could you imagine if I decided to just sit there?!?! I wouldn’t have accomplished anything else in my life (besides maybe picking at grass). 🙂

Another time that comes to mind was when I was climbing Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica. A friend of mine reached his hand out to help me get to the top and I said (with my little independent attitude) “I got it”. Guess what? I GOT IT alright! I slid a few feet back down the falls. Yep! Me and my bad self! It was quite entertaining!

That’s why it is so important that when we fall (mess up) we get back up or we ask for HELP! If we don’t, then we won’t accomplish our destiny!

Thanks for reading! EnJOY your day!

Kick off those flip-flops!

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).” (Amp)

2 Corinthians 3:17

I was thinking of this verse after my walk with my daughter yesterday. She loves to go for rides in the stroller. She was excited as usual during our walk but there was one point during the walk that she started whooping and hollering….weeee weeee! I happened to look down and her feet were bare! Yep, that’s right, flip-flops (with the straps on the back) were GONE! The best part…I was almost home. I had walked to the Village Office to pay a bill and then to the Post Office. There was no telling WHERE the flip-flops were!

To make a long story short, I finally found them after driving down the main street a few times. During the search for the beloved flip-flops, I heard my daughter saying “Oh no, flit flot…hehe”. I’m so glad she could find humor in it because at that time, I didn’t. 🙂 I am learning a lot from a 20 month old.

I started thinking about how my daughter loves the freedom of bare feet. When we go for car rides she typically has her shoes off by the time we reach our destination.

Freedom is a wonderful feeling! Not only can freedom be a “feeling”, it can be a reality. This verse tells us that where God IS, there is freedom. As we give God the reigns to our life, we experience true freedom (I am still learning this).

Kick off those flip-flops and enJOY your day!

Scared at night?

Proverbs 3:24-26 “When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden
terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.”

Ever been scared? I remember watching a scary movie with friends (thankfully I don’t remember much of it) and it scared me so bad I vowed to never watch a scary movie again! I have no desire to be scared silly! 🙂

The Amplified says (verse 26) “For the Lord shall be your confidence, firm and strong, and shall keep your foot from being caught [in a trap or some hidden danger].”

This is a great verse to pray over yourself or your family!

My mom would always tell me there is no fear in love (I John 4:18).

God is love so there is no fear (when we are) in God.

Joyfully His!

Wear It!

“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” Colossians 3:14

I have read and have also prayed this verse over my life for years but within the last few months I have more of an understanding of this verse. First of all it says above all these things (the things are mentioned in the verses before). So to me, it is saying this is IMPORTANT if it’s above all these things.

The other part that has really stood out to me is “PUT ON LOVE”. I started thinking about how every day we need to put on our clothes, put on our make up (some of us), put on our shoes, etc. So just like we need to put on all of those things, we need to PUT ON LOVE!

Walking in love is not an option (it can be challenging sometimes); just like putting our clothes on before we leave our house isn’t an option.

It would stink or be toxic if we didn’t put on deodorant (in all aspects). The same is true about love.

I love how the Amplified Bible puts this verse – “And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.”

Don’t forget to WEAR love today! Thanks for reading! EnJOY your day!

And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Hears and Ears

Proverbs 15:29 “… but He hears the prayer of the [consistently] righteous (the upright, in right standing with Him).” (AMP)

I love this verse! It’s encouraging to know that God HEARS my prayers. I think sometimes we think that we have to live a perfect life. It’s not perfection that God is looking for; He’s looking for consistency.

So be encouraged that God hears you! It’s not like when us ladies talk to our hubbies and they are looking at us (with that “deer in the headlight look”) but aren’t totally hearing us? Ya know what I mean? It’s amazing how men can totally repeat what you said but they still didn’t HEAR what you said…you just gotta laugh.

By the way, I think it’s interesting that the word “ears” is in the word “hears”. I just noticed that tonight (sorry, I’m probably behind the rest of you on that one).  I love it!

EnJOY your day! Thanks for reading!

Pity Party?

James 1:2 – “My brethren, count it all JOY when you fall into various trials,”

The word “count” means: “command with official authority”. Sometimes we have to speak or even command JOY in our lives! We may not feel joyful so we need to do what David did (I Samuel 30:6) — encourage and strengthen ourselves in the Lord.

My challenges seem so tiny when I think about how David faced men (who were on his side) who wanted to stone him! David chose to take his eyes off of the circumstances and put them on Jesus.

Another thought on this verse: When things aren’t going as planned or you’re feeling discouraged, begin to count all the things you are thankful for. I have done that many times (trust me, I am not perfect at this). If I even think about having a pity party for myself (p.s. I’ve realized that no one wants to come to my pity party) I try to think of the many things that I am blessed with.

Let’s skip the pity party and have a JOY party! 🙂