Reason to Rejoice

Two days in a row!!!  Crazy, huh?!  :) I have started reading a book that one of my closest friends recommended:   Messy Beautiful Friendship .  I am on page 38 and I think it is one of the best books I have ever read.  This lady knows me.  I want to quote something she said in her book and show you how beautifully it tied in with my Bible study for today. "When I am disappointed with my friendships and I take time to dig a little deeper in my heart, I inevitably find that I'm looking for my friends to relate to me as only God can.  I want God to give me good friends and when he has, I've been prone to shove him aside for the attention, wisdom, and companionship of those friends, despite knowing that they were intended as gifts rather than replacements.  People are not fillers for a present God, and God is not a placeholder for future friends." (Messy Beautiful Friendship, Christine Hoover, pg. 38) She goes on to describe how God has the ability to love us

Have you ever started working out and you have those aches and pains and wonder if it is really worth it all?  Your trainer keeps telling you to push through and the results will show up and you will be pleased in time?  The burn and the pain that you are going through you somehow know will be worth it, so you just keep at it. That is kind of how life feels sometimes.  Right now my life is sort of in this painful, dull ache of a time.  I can't really pinpoint the actual culprit but I know that God is doing something.  He is telling me that, in the end, it will be worth it.  Each time my heart feels that stab, I just keep telling myself that there is some purpose in it.  When my happy gets bumped and my feelings are on the bluer side, I simply let out a sigh and know that it will all be worth it.  I have to confess that this type of thing is hard for this girl.  I am an over-thinker and highly sensitive.  I can't say that each time I am disappointed that I just brush it off.

You never change, you are the God you say you are; When I'm afraid you calm and still my beating heart. You stay the same, when hope is just a distant thought, You take my pain and you lead me to the cross What love is this, that you gave your life for me And made a way for me to know you And I confess you're always enough for me you're all I need I look to you, I see the scars upon your hands. And hold the truth, that when I can't you always can. And standing here beneath the shadow of the cross. I'm overwhelmed that I keep finding open arms. What love is this that you gave your life for me And made a way for me to know you And I confess, you're always enough for me You're all I need Jesus in your suffering you were reaching, you thought of me Jesus in your suffering you were reaching, you thought of me What love is this, that you gave your life for me And made a way for me to know you And I confess, you're always enough for me You're all I need Wha

Every year I take some time to reflect on the previous year, and this year is no exception.  Two-thousand sixteen was a decent year and I want to take some time to remember the good things about the 12 months of this past year as well as the challenges that came my way. I started off my 2016 with the desire to be more like Jesus.  That is always where I begin.  Sometimes in my daily walk, I succeed in that pursuit, sometimes I do not.  The thing that I have realized this year is, regardless of my efforts or success, He still loves me.  It was a recurring them from January 1 through December 31.   Looking back on some of my social media posts from this past year, I came across this quote from Beth Moore, and I think it is worth repeating. "We can draw joy from Jesus.  Relief.  Laughter. We can gulp down hope when a moment is hard to swallow.  We can draw buckets from the bottomless well of His love so we can have something to give people in our lives who drain us dry.