When I don’t post, I get kind of nervous. It’s the old, I-hope-the-internet-doesn’t-forget-about-me lie. Yesterday I really wanted to sit down and write, but I just couldn’t. My brain, my heart and my spirit were…heavy. It was one of those days where even thought I vacuumed the house, had dinner ready to go in the oven before lunch and even did a load of clothes, I felt blah. Being a mother and a wife was just weighing heavily on me.
So, while the kids were upstairs playing I opened up my Bible Study plan (I’m randomly doing a 14 day study called Hearing From God Each Morning on the YouVersion app) and began to read Psalm 63:1-3…
(see the end of this post to download the above art!)
And I felt like *I* was the one that had written it. In a dry and weary land? My soul thirsts for you? That’s where I was. Dry. Weary.
Yet, I have seen the power and glory of the Lord. I know He has good—even great things for me. Why can’t I suck it up enough to stop moping around in the desert?
I read the verses probably 10 times, pulled out my computer and listened to the Seeds version of the verse on repeat. Then I wrote it out by hand word for word. And I cried.
Cried because I know God’s love is better than life. That my first-world-rich-people-problems should barely be a blip on my radar. And I realized the ball was in my court–it was my time to lift up my hands. My time to praise Him as long as I live.
This isn’t something we should be surprised by. Jesus promised this to us, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10.
After literally sobbing through the first two chapters of the book, I realized God was speaking to me. I need some joy. Or rather, I have it. And I need to start living in it. I need to throw my hands in the air because His love is better than life. I need to live in and act on the fullness of life that Jesus has given me.
Well, God didn’t stop there. This morning in my YouVersion devotion, I read Ephesians 3:16-17 which talks about the Holy Spirit being in our inner being and Jesus dwelling in our heart. The question was, “Is your life a comfortable place to live?”.
Just as if you walked into a house for a party and the hostess started screaming at her husband while the guests got more and more uncomfortable, does Jesus reside in your life only to be bombarded with grumbling, fear, anger and jealousy? Or do you wake up and choose to have praise and thanksgiving on your lips and in your heart?
Whew. That’s a rough one. Do I wallow in how I feel? how my kids behave? how my husband wittingly or unwittingly slights me? how my house looks? how my schedule weighs? Or do I choose to navigate those “problems” with joy? with assurance that God’s love is better than life?
You think it would have ended there. But it didn’t. Every morning I read a chapter from Power of a Praying Parent and what do you think today’s prayer was? Inviting the Joy of the Lord. I took a picture of my favorite part and posted it…
But really, it was a prayer for me: Don’t allow YOURSELF to be stuck with a sad, depressed, angry, moody or difficult personality. PRAY YOURSELF OUT OF IT.
And those, my friends, are my marching orders. I’m pulling joy out of me. I’m resting in the joy Jesus has already given me. And I’m putting on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness and lifting my voice to God.
Even when I feel sad, depressed, angry, moody and difficult. I want to be a joyful woman, a joyful mom and a joyful wife.
Are you ready to do JOY with me?
ps–you can download that Psalm 63 art here! I *think* it should fit in a frame, if not, you can print it out and put it in a notebook or tape it on your kitchen cabinets! 🙂
