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Are you struggling in your walk today? Have you allowed yourself to get lazy in the study of the Word of God? Have you allowed yourself to neglect your prayer time?

Many of us have been in this exact position in our lives at one time or another. It is easy to allow our spiritual walk to grow sluggish over time. Because the truth is that it takes an effort on our part to keep it active. It takes a real determination of our spirit to make God the priority in our life. 

We let the world bog us down and we allow the things of the world to come in and snatch that first place position from the rightful One. We let our priorities get all out of whack and we began to seek the things of the flesh instead of the things of the Spirit. We begin to neglect our Creator and begin to spend time worshiping the creation instead.  And slowly, our time with Him gets less and less until we barely acknowledge His existence at all. We don't pick up His Holy Word. We don't engage in prayer with our Savior. We don't give Him a second thought. Until the crisis comes.

And believe me, it will come. If we are breathing, we will experience hard times in this life. We can count on that. We will become 'stuck' in this life and need someone to set us free. And that Freedom-giver is Jesus. 

We should never be ashamed to admit that we need God. We should never be ashamed to admit that we have struggles in this life. Sometimes I think that we equate being needy to weakness. And in the flesh that is not a good thing. But to be needy in the Spirit is to be right where God desires us to be!

We are lacking, sinful, broken and in need. In our brokenness, we find God. And in that place is where God wants us to long for Him. Oh, how He desires for us to long! The scriptures tell us we are like a deer panting for the water! Over and over His precious Word tells us to seek Him!

God desires for us to see our sin and our weakness. He wants us to acknowledge it. And then He wants us to sit at His Feet, give it to Him and drink in His mercy and grace. 

For any who are struggling, just look up to the heavens and begin seeking a new and revived relationship with the LORD. It is never too late to begin seeking. It is never too late to begin anew.  It is never too late to receive the new mercies that He promises in His Word.

Get away from all distractions and get out the precious scriptures. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow Him to minister to your spirit. Rise from there with a newly purposed heart to keep God number one in priority. You will never be the same...

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"As God is exalted to the right place in our lives, 

a thousand problems are solved all at once." - (Andrew Murray)

Joy

So many things fill my heart with JOY. First and foremost is my Savior. I am so humbled and so grateful every day of my life, that my sweet Lord reached His Hand down to me 42 years ago and I reached up and became His. There is nothing in this world that can compare to that kind of joy. Nothing at all. 

It's hard to believe sometimes that God has been so good to me when I know I don't deserve it. But that is the beautiful thing about the grace of God - we can never do anything to earn it or merit it. It is undeserved but it is so amazing.  A very loving God bestows it upon His children because of the vast love He has for us. A love that is incomprehensible. A love that surpasses all that we can think or imagine. A love that He has for His creation that enables us to love in return.

""We love Him, because He first loved us"

(1 John 4:19)

What other things fill my heart with JOY? 

My precious grandchildren do it every day of my life.  Whether they are just wrapping their precious arms around me to giving me warm hugs and kisses or crawling up in lap to simply snuggle, they fill me with JOY.

When they ride in the car with me and pick up my bible to read it while we are driving, my heart overflows. And I remind myself that is why I always keep a bible in the car. 

When Eli is reciting all of Psalm 1 to me and Mercie pipes in with some of the verses, I am filled with JOY. I love to hear my grand-kids recite scripture. Whether I hear them in person or they tell me over the phone, it makes me so thankful for a God who works in the lives of those who are His. 

I love it when Mikaela sits at my desk in my study and reads the Word. She has such a precious and teachable heart and it makes me joyful that she loves to read the bible. When she was younger she always said she wanted to be 'a bible study girl' like her Nana. Thank you, Lord, for giving me such a love for your Word that I have passed on to my daughters and grandchildren. 

Prayer has been such a powerful force in my life for over 40 years. From the healing the Lord blessed me with when I was 10 years old to the healing that my children and grandchildren have experienced, I have come to depend on prayer to get me through every day. I can't imagine a life without prayer. My grown children still call me to pray with them and for them at various times in their lives. They know that nothing is too small or too big to talk to our God about. 

The importance that we have placed on our prayer lives have crossed over into the lives of my grandchildren. When they are sick,  even after their mother's have prayed for them,  they will still ask their mother to call 'Nana' to pray. They know that I will stop whatever I am doing and pray with them and for them over the phone. That always fills me with JOY.

"The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD

will receive my prayer"

(Psalm 6:9)

When my children are in another state working, I miss them and  my grandchildren so much. But I am blessed that they call me every day to talk to me and I get to hear those precious grand-baby voices often. Hearing those little ones tell me they miss me and love me fills me with JOY even in the sadness of missing them.

Hearing their little voices singing songs about Jesus fill me with JOY. Seeing them reading their bible  fills me with JOY. Listening to them tell me what they learned in church that day and sensing their excitement fills me with JOY.

JOY.... true joy is only available through the amazing love of Christ. Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. True JOY is only felt when it is in tandem with the love of God. Only He can give that kind of JOY. 

We will never be able to attain it without a relationship with Him. We will never deserve it. But praise the Lord, He has it readily available to His children. When we walk with Him in obedience, we begin to live in the Spirit. When we live in the Spirit and allow Him to guide our lives, the natural outpouring of that  is JOY. 

A JOY that never ends. That is what a life in Christ promises us. Joy unending. Joy in the good times as well as in the bad times. Because when you know the true JOY giver, that is enough. He is enough. And that in itself should fill us with unspeakable Joy.

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Nana and Papa with Sawyer, Liam, Bryton and Laylah Beth

Nana and Papa with Mercie, Titus, Eli, Mikaela and Silas