Considering It Pure Joy

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."  James 1:2-8

I was reminded of this passage yesterday (thanks Mom).  This year has been especially hard to "consider it pure joy".  Great loss has consumed all of us in many ways.  Though we know through Christ we have hope, we have felt several voids in our lives.  We have faced trials this year and yet we know we have been incredibly blessed even in the midst of these trials.  But to consider it pure joy... that's hard.

A dear friend and teacher of the Word has said several times, "God didn't put things in the Bible that were easy for us to do.  What He tells us to do is what our flesh does not want to do.  It's the things that don't come easily."  And this idea of considering it pure joy has hit me from many angles this week, so I'm pretty sure God has this message for me!

I've been reading "Joy! to Your World!  A Countdown to Christmas" on my Bible app.  The focus of the devotional one day was that "Christmas is a reminder that we must always keep our focus on His Divinity and not on our frail humanity."  Later it says, "Our plans pale in comparison to His interruptions!  The most significant desire that you will ever embrace is to ask God to interrupt your life with His love and His plans."  That word "desire" reminded me of a time a few years ago when my heart ached to adopt a child.  Through that process there was much heartache, ups and downs, but I chose for several months to focus on one scripture, "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4.  He knew the desires of my heart, but I hadn't done much delighting in Him.  So for days, weeks, months, I focused on what it means to delight in the LORD.  Every day I found something to delight in.  And even in my heartache and sadness, I began to truly delight in our Maker, Creator, the Lord of lords.  My desires were later fulfilled as a little girl was added to our family, Eden, whose name means "Delight".  She is and I did!

So I went back and read that Psalm.  I read the first seven verses and I saw "do not worry... trust in the LORD.... delight in the LORD.... commit to the LORD.... be still before the LORD.... wait patiently for him".  In my grief, in my sadness, in my full-on pity party, I hastily wanted to fix things myself.  I wanted to make it all better, though I hadn't a clue how.  I was at a loss.  And there it was.  God himself had given me the answer long before I had questions.  "Delight yourself in the LORD"  "Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds"

Today in my reading I read about disappointment and heartbreak and allowing that to be changed because of the promise of Christmas.  A Savior was born!  Hope came to the world in a manger.  And then the scripture for the day was from Romans 5.  Verses 3-5 say this, "We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience.  And patience produces character, and character produces hope.  And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts.  He gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us."

Yesterday, I pulled out our family gratitude journal we kept at the dinner table a few years ago.  We wrote in it again at dinner for the first time in years.  As a family we will look for the goodness of God together, we will delight in Him together, and we will consider it pure joy even in these trials.  And ultimately our faith in these trials will develop perseverance and perseverance will mature and complete us.  Oh, I long for the day!

Thankful for OUR SCHOOLS

Three of our four kids are currently enrolled in a school and loving every bit of it.  Andrew and Hannah are doing very well in the Lovejoy school district and Eden can't get enough of her preschool at North Texas Christian Academy.  All of them are being taught by impressive professionals who are in tune with the needs of each student.  As a nod to our kids' education they received in MO, I will say in several areas here they are each ahead of the game.  It appears that the curriculum choices in the MO schools they attended were challenging at times, but have set our kids up for great success here.  We are grateful for all the teachers who have made an influence in the lives of our children.  It is exciting to watch them learn and succeed!

Thankful for NEW FRIENDS!

So on Sunday we were blessed to meet new friends.  We met them at church and then ran into them while eating lunch out and had them join us.  We sat and talked until the restaurant emptied out, our kids played and visited, and our hearts were filled.  One of the hardest things about moving is making new friends and especially finding those you really connect with.  After being in a small town the last six years and now breaking out in the big city, we are learning the dynamics of making friends are very different here.  You don't just see the same people over and over around town.  You have to be quite intentional about making friends here.
We were blessed by the conversations and the new friendship on Sunday and look forward to the many more God will bring our way.  It did my heart very good to just sit an chat...with adults.  :)

Thankful for MY TREE

With the house emptying out, I was looking forward to putting up our Christmas tree.  The kids love decorating it, though they never last through the entire process.  As we pulled out the ornaments and began hanging them on the tree, I was very thankful for the story behind each one.  

I have ornaments from students I taught years ago and I can remember their faces with each ornament.  I have ornaments from parties and exchanges.  I have ornaments from special friends and as I hang each one I say a little prayer thanking God for the influence they've had on our lives.  I have ornaments from our very first year of marriage when we put up our first tree and had nothing.  Some of my most treasured ornaments are from my Grandma.  When we were little she began collecting an ornament a year for each grandchild.  She was good about writing the name and year on each one.  The first Christmas I was married, she gave me a huge gift bag.  In it was each ornament wrapped up in tissue paper to carry on and use for my tree.  I love these ornaments!  Even though I'm not that old :) some look antique, some look cheesy, some are barely staying together now and some are awesome!  My kids love hanging them and looking at the years..."Mom you were alive in 1983!"  (Well yes, and much earlier than that too)  It's very nostalgic to hang these on the tree.  So I've started the same collection for my children.  Every year they pick out an ornament.  We put their names on them and the year and then each year when we decorate, we make sure they specifically get to hang their own ornaments.  One day when they are grown and married, I will pass them on to help decorate their tree.  They love picking out their ornaments.  Each one tells a little more about each child's personality or interests.  One day my tree will look very different as those ornaments move on to their homes, but for now it is splendid!

Thankful for GIRLS NIGHT OUT

So on Friday, Caleb and his brothers and Andrew enjoyed a little Top Golf with each other.  Us girls countered that with a night out.  We don't typically counter their golf outings but this year we did and it was fabulous!  Though our hopes were to see a movie, Skyfall to be exact, we knew the chances of staying awake after some of us had shopped all night  earlier were slim.  So we opted for dinner at P.F. Changs.  It was delicious!  The company...Nancie, Natalie, Margaret and myself.  The food...unbelievably good.  The setting... nice restaurant, no kids begging for chicken nuggets and fries, no messes to clean up.  Yep, it was relaxing!  So thank you boys for graciously accepting our counter and allowing us a quiet, relaxing night out.  Much needed and much appreciated!

Thankful for THANKSGIVING WITH FAMILY

Thanksgiving might be my one of my favorite holidays!  I love that so many people take a break at once and reflect on things they are thankful for.  I feel like for a small moment, there is peace,  no chaos, no selfishness, no hatefulness, no baggage.  I know I probably have a Norman Rockwall vision in my head, but it has been there for years and I refuse to let reality ruin my Thanksgiving.
This year was our turn to spend Thanksgiving with Caleb's family and since he was on call, they all came to our house.  I loved it!  You see, there's a Donna Reed/Martha Stewart side to me that loves to host a party and cook a huge meal.  When I was in high school I worked for  a local caterer and loved every minute of it!  I would love to one day own my own bakery or restaurant.  In the meantime, I just enjoy hosting a good party.
Caleb's family doesn't know this, but they truly did me a huge favor.  I was dreading the holidays in general because all I really want is for my Dad to just walk into the room and tell a corny joke and then wrinkle his eyes when he laughs at himself.  Knowing that wouldn't happen, I was anxious to go through the holidays this year.  I'm pretty sure God was taking care of me and that He knew Caleb would be on call and we would get to host Thanksgiving this year.  The distraction of getting to plan and host this day was a huge blessing to me.  Oh, Dad and I had our moments of reflection.  Many times leading up to and throughout that day I remembered all the things he had given me that I had to be thankful for.  But it was pure joy to host my in-laws on Thanksgiving this year!
Mom always says Dad invested more in people than in things or money.  As I stood in my living room giving thanks to our Father with my extended family, I took it all in and then in my heart made a pledge to follow my Dad's footsteps and invest more in people.  The return of investment in great!

Thankful for GIRL TIME IN THE KITCHEN!

On Wednesday, both Nancie and Natalie were here to help with Thanksgiving preparations.  I loved having their company as we pulled out party dishes, set tables, and baked.  But I think the most precious thing was watching my daughter Hannah jump right in and help us out.  She baked cookies, made place cards for everyone, and used her designers' eye to create our centerpieces for the tables.  They were beautiful!  I love that she is enjoying helping me in the kitchen and she definitely loves a party.  The company in the kitchen made my day and was good for my heart.