Seeking Joy

There have been two women that have mentored me on this walk.One is my friend Marty (who lost her fight with cancer two weeks ago) and the other is Sally Clarkson. I have been a fan of Sally for years . Her blog posts and books have helped shape the mother and woman I am and hope to be. I have been reading and savoring Sally's latest book "'Dancing with my Father." As I read, so much of what I am reading resonates with my heart . The book is about living a life of true joy. I often lose my joy, I love the Lord , I read and pray. Life is just hard. It is discouraging. I get discouraged because my own ideals are often different from my reality. I get the most discouraged about motherhood, I love being a mom, I love my kids , but I fall short of my own ideals so often. And let's face it being a mom is hard. So I get discouraged and instead of looking up with joy and hope I keep trudging along. It is these exact moments of difficulty that I want to have joy, that I need to have joy. Not a contrived joy , a forced joy ,but true joy in the Lord. I was thinking about joy this morning. I picked up a copy of “Streams in the Desert” and the page was marked to January , 18. I shared this with my sister four years ago ,about a month before she died. I remember how discouraged she was (she had terminal cancer) she could not summon the energy to go to her son’s birthday party. I read this to her over the phone and she was encouraged , my husband read it at her funeral. The whole devotional was wonderful but I wanted to share the last part;

Defeat may serve as well as victory

To shake the soul and let glory out

When the great oak is straining in the wind

The limbs drink in new beauty,

and the trunk Sends down a deeper root on the windward side

Only the soul that knows the mighty grief

Can know the mighty rapture,

Sorrows come To stretch out spaces in the heart for joy

My sister had her mighty rapture a month later, mine will most likely take a little longer . I want to take all that comes the little irritations, the hurts, the grief , the disappointments and let them stretch out spaces in my heart to be filled with His joy.

My list continues.......
126. Sunshine
127. Great books
128. Birds at the feeder
129. The encouragement of these words -Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you...(John14:27)
130. Quiet mornings
131. Lunch with a friend
132. Early morning chats with my husband
133. family dinners
134. encouraging words
135. watching two little girls play dress up - the ensembles they come up with are quite amusing!