Tag: joy

Don’t worry – this little math teacher hasn’t lost all her marbles…yet.

Though you couldn’t tell it from our classroom, I really am an introvert. Sure, I love all our fun review games, great discussions during lectures, and making memories with these sweet kiddos through learning and laughter, but at the end of the day, you’ll find me quietly curled up with a book or trying out a new recipe in the kitchen. So, of course, God figured I could use a little loving pruning in this area.

At the end of 2020, I felt God leading me to start sending out “happy mail” to connect with other Christian ladies. Can I tell you how much fun this has been? Oh my goodness! I love the creativity behind trying to find little “extras” to include in the cards I send (Bible verse cards, washi tape samples, stickers, drawings, confetti, etc.). These fun “visits on paper” (as Debbie Macomber calls them) are a way of connecting that my little introvert heart could appreciate (and great preparation for our new note card ministry at school), but as soon as I found myself getting comfortable, God called me outside of my comfort zone again.

At the end of 2021, God began putting a new project on my heart to dive deeper into connecting with Christian ladies. The idea was simple enough – find six other women to participate in a group text, each taking a day of the week to post something encouraging (a Bible verse, a devotional, a song, a prayer, etc.). I quickly found six other women willing to give it a shot, and we started January 1st, ringing in a new year with a new commitment to pursuing God like never before, and I’m not being dramatic when I tell you that this has changed my life!

We are just seven women (some starting as strangers) who have walked alongside each other for about six weeks now, and I’ve never felt more encouraged, more uplifted, and more connected. Through our group texts, we’ve prayed for each other, shared our struggles, become each other’s cheerleaders/life coaches/sounding boards, and done virtual happy dances as God has shown up and answered prayers week after week.

What’s so funny is that what we share would look so random to anyone on the outside looking in – one day a devotional, the next day a song – but God has been in EVERY ONE. I can’t tell you how many times we have all said, “that” was EXACTLY what I needed to hear or “that” was EXACTLY what God has been putting on my heart today. It blows me away!

So, for Valentine’s Day today, I can’t think of a better “gift” than to share this idea with you so that you can know what it feels like to stand shoulder to shoulder with a group of warrior princesses each and every day. If you are interested, but don’t know how to get started, please contact me – I will help you in any way I can. Then you can see that when you commit to pursuing God with six others, HE shows up in the most powerful, loving way, and then 1+6=8.

Guys – I know this post was more for the ladies, but if you want to start your own group text to encourage other men to pursue God and be the rockstar men you are called to be, PLEASE go for it! Imagine how many lives we can change, seven people at a time.

Saturday night as my husband and I were getting ready for bed, he said something that always melts my heart. No, it wasn’t how much he loved me or even how cute I must have looked in my comfy fuzzy PJs (LOL). What he said was, “I had fun with you today.”

That day, we had tried a new restaurant in the morning and then (for the first time that I can ever remember in our relationship), we watched 3 movies back to back! While my husband enjoys unwinding with some screen time, I can hardly ever sit still long enough to get through an entire movie unless I’m doing like three other things at the same time. But Saturday, we just enjoyed being together…on purpose instead of just as background noise in our relationship. We didn’t wake up that morning with epic movie-watching plans; it just happened, and it turned out to be such a great day. So, of course, I said, “I had fun with you today, too.”

Then, I realized how often we actually say this to each other. I think, without realizing it, I stumbled upon one of the core values in our marriage – to have fun together! And it’s something we really are intentional about – we ride motorcycles together, go on trips together, try out new restaurants together, and enjoy having a million inside jokes together.

But standing in the kitchen this morning, I started digging deeper, wondering if there were any other lessons to uncover. Then I began thinking about my relationship with God and if there might be any connections. I almost laughed out loud imagining God telling me during my evening prayers that He had fun with me that day…then, it became the most beautiful picture of complete surrender to God.

I stood there imagining all the ways that God and I have had fun during a day. I thought of beautiful sunrises and sunsets my Artist Friend has painted. I thought about all the little “God winks” throughout the day that let me know He cares. I thought about all the times I’ve felt that tug on my heart to say something to someone and felt the joy of actually doing so. And I thought about all those big belly laughs – the laughing until you cry (or snort) and start laughing all over again!

Then I thought, what if I’m crazy?!? I mean, imagining God giving me a virtual spiritual fist bump at the end of a fun day together…I know how that sounds. So, just as I began talking myself out of it, a verse came to mind. “Delight in the Lord…”

Ha! I was onto something, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember the rest of the verse, even though I was sure it was one I knew by heart. I headed downstairs to my computer, the whole time repeating the same phrase, “Delight in the Lord…” “Delight in the Lord…” No luck – I couldn’t come up with the rest of the verse.

I searched it up online, and almost had a literal face palm moment…

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

You see, every time I thought of that verse, I had focused in on the second half about God giving us the desires of our heart. Sometimes it was as part of a prayer asking God to fulfill a dream I had for my life or answer a big prayer request, and other times, it was surrendering my dreams in exchange for His will. But either way, I’d focused way too much on the second half, because there in black and white was the part that I’d been dreaming up in my kitchen – having fun with God, truly delighting in Him.

So, now, I plan on being even more intentional about seeing all the ways I can delight in the Lord – more belting out Toby Mac lyrics on my way to work, more impromptu solo dance parties in the kitchen, and more opening my eyes to the God of joy who asks me to delight in Him!

While updating the website this morning, I was drawn back to a blog post I wrote over a year ago entitled “Joy Unspeakable.” As I read back over that post, I was almost in tears. Not because it is any less true today, but because it rings truer than ever!

For so many reasons, the last year has been the hardest one I’ve ever faced, but as I was thinking about the year in terms of that old blog post, one word came to mind: more.

There were more phone calls that made me instantly sick to my stomach, more hospital rooms, more tearful prayers, more pleading with God, and more questions than answers.

But for each of those “more” moments that broke my heart, there was more of God, more of knowing new facets of Him that I had never known to that depth, more light in the darkness, more laughter through tears, and more stretching of my faith.

I wouldn’t wish those phone calls and hospital visits on anyone! But what I do hope for is that you are blessed with knowing the abundant more that our Sweet Savior has to offer. He has met me and held my hand through each of these struggles, and He promises to do the same for you, dear friend!

Most importantly, what I have learned through walking through the impossible is that each time that “joy [came] in the morning,” a little bit of muscle memory was added to my faith. The next time I faced something hard, I could lean not just on God’s beautiful promises, but also on the divinely specific and nuanced details of how He walked me through the last valley. And, friend, that muscle memory of faith is priceless! Because, as promised, “in this world you will have trouble.” But do you know what the rest of that verse says?

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” -John 16:33

Friend, our Heavenly Father, our ever-present help in times of trouble gives us this guarantee: He has overcome the world! So, we can STILL say that even in the darkest of nights, JOY comes in the morning because it is the great Overcomer of the world that holds our hands, hears our prayers, and catches every tear we cry until the day when those tears of sorrow are exchanged for tears of joy unspeakable!