Joy

Joy. What does joy mean to you? The word joy has been on my heart lately. It was on my list of girl names that I liked. Still kind of there, but has moved down. I feel that I am a joyful person because of God's grace. My pastor back home did a sermon on the difference between joy and happiness quite a few years ago, yet it was a sermon that stuck with me. Basically, here is what was concluded: happiness is based on your circumstances and joy comes from the Lord and is always in your heart. Back then I really took a survey of my heart because I thought I could consider myself a joyful person. When I began to do that, I began to get closer and closer to the relationship I wanted to have with the Lord. Many people often ask me, "Why are you always so happy?" or "How come you and CR are always so happy and getting along?" "Why don't we ever see you upset?" My response is simply ... "I have joy down in my heart." This weekend was a blast for us because we finally got to go to Montgomery (January was the last time we were there!) and we got to celebrate 2 very joyful occasions of graduation. While we were in Montgomery, for some reason I kept noticing the different people who were happy and those that were joyful. It was a real revelation to me. My prayer is that everyone I know would be joyful ... I actually pray for joy in the world, but especially those close to me. I truly believe that if more people were truly joyful that so many issues would be solved or not even brought up. I must say that everyday since Ken's sermon I have been purposefully seeking joy ... and because I have it from the Lord, it isn't hard to strive for. It is there because it is not circumstantial. Thank you, God, for not being a circumstantial God.

"Once more the humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord." Isaiah 29:19a

Walking to the seats.
Getting excited!

She made it on the big screen.

The top of her hat said, "Mom did it!" Way to go!

We did it!

Oh ya ... while we were gone they got all of the windows put in except our big bay window in the kitchen! Whoohoo!