Author: joyouschild

God in the Details

joyouschild Joy in the Journey ,

My oldest, Alex, can usually be found in a Christian t-shirt and jeans.  On Christmas Day, he had just gotten new shirt (black, with a guitar on it and scripture) and was sporting it with his new jeans.

Being the helpful kid that he is, he was loading the dishwasher for me as I rushed busily around the kitchen preparing for company.  As he was filling the well with dishwasher detergent, however, I cringed.  I had forgotten to warn him about the dangers of the bleach in the dishwasher soap.  Before I could stop him, he swiped the excess detergent down both his shirt and pants.

I  hustled him upstairs to change, hoping to avoid the bleach spots which I knew would end up on the shirt (I have several such shirts myself).  I hoped that maybe washing the shirt and pants right away might take the bleach out before it could do any damage,  Needless to say, Alex was bummed.

Later in the day, I moved the clothes to the dryer and discovered that, indeed, there were bleach spots on both the shirt and pants.

Here’s where God came in.  When I pulled the clothes out of the dryer…THERE WERE NO BLEACH SPOTS ON THEM.  No kidding.  The spots I had seen with my own eyes were gone!

Why did God, in His infinite wisdom, choose to remove the spots from the jeans and shirt?

It could have been because of the money I would have to spend to replace them.  It could have been because He likes to see Alex in a Christian t-shirt, proclaiming His name.

I think there might be another reason.  This incident is an excellent example to me, and to Alex, of just how much God is in the details.  It is an example of His extravagant love for us played out in a shirt and pair of pants.  Any time he wears the shirt, Alex will think of God’s infinite care and love for us, and so will I.

I hope you do, too.

“And even the very hairs on your head are numbered.”  -Matthew 10:30

Joy as a Verb

joyouschild Faithwalk, Joy in the Journey, Praising God ,

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” – Habakkuk 3:18 KJV (emphasis mine)

I have always thought of joy as a thing, something to possess.  It is storing memories and moments in the scrapbook of your heart.  It is that rope you cling to when you are at the end of yours.  It is something beautiful and precious, but almost something past.  When Keith died, we still found lots of joy.  It was present in the care of our Savior, the love of our friends and family, and the remembering of the life of a godly man.  This joy was good and right and real.

This passage talks of another kind of joy, though.

I have this print by the artist Michael Podesta in my living room:

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http://www.michaelpodesta.com/images/products/417.jpg

This is joy…the word made into action…dancing!

This is how I want to live – with joy as a lifestyle – embracing whatever comes my way.  I want to recognize that the Father planned my days, or at least allowed them to play out as they have, and that regardless of the outcome, it is for God’s glory.  I want to dance in the rain and in the pain, to see beauty around me even in the midst of the hard and ugly!

The verse our family has relied on through Keith’s death and other stresses has always been Jeremiah 29:11:  ” ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord.  ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ”  This verse has given us a lot of comfort, but I would submit that it speaks of the first kind of joy, resting joy.

If you read just a bit farther, though, to the end of the verse, I think you get at this dancing joy:  “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (verse 13)

So, I’m going to work at joying my way through 2012 — seeking God in all the moments, good and bad, and dancing to His tune as I go!

The Audacity!

joyouschild Doing it on My Own, The Power of the Witness, Widow Walk

Okay, so now I have decided to start a blog.  Part of my brain is thinking, “How arrogant of me!  I sit here and think that my words are worth recording for posterity and releasing to others!”

This morning, though, I read Matthew 5:12 in Eugene Peterson’s The Message:  “Let me tell you why you are here.  You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.  If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?  You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.”

We all have a God story — you do, I do, everyone does.  If we share these stories in whatever venue we have, we can make God shine a little brighter here on earth — encouraging fellow believers and maybe helping others make a choice for Christ.

So, in humility I will start sharing my God stories — how He is working in my life.  My prayer is that it will benefit someone — even if it is just me.

I am a widowed, homeschooling mom of 4 active boys, ages 13, 10, 6 1/2, and 4 1/2.  Welcome to my roller-coaster, God-infused world!