Good Morning JUNE.
We welcome you into our LIFE,
because we have no choice,
as the calendar has turned the page.
But oh we do have a
CHOICE
to make this
JOYFUL JUNE.
Sounds so
HAPPY HAPPY
and
IMPOSSIBLE
especially if nothing around you is shouting
JOY.
But what if
JOY can be your
WAKE UP
call every morning,
because
JOY
is your new REALITY?
Sounds impossible
because
we are way too human
and way too feely feely.
Well, this feely feely Italian woman
was convicted heavily
when
I listened to a sermon on PRAISING GOD.
While I was listening
I was being a wee bit sassy thinking
"that is easy for your to say",
as PRAISING GOD was far from my FEELINGS.
Oh
BUT GOD is so persistent that HE was not going to let me off the hook,
because HE never leaves me
in the "woe is me" hole
because
HE SO LOVES ALWAYS
and
has so much MORE in the middle of less.
HE is so creative and sneaky (a GOOD sneaky)
as
that before you knew it I was reading
the words of
Psalm 34~
"I will praise the LORD no matter what happens.
I will constantly speak of HIS glories and grace.
I will boast of all HIS kindness to me.
Let all who are discouraged take heart.
Let us praise the LORD together and exalt HIS name"*
And my reaction to this PSALM was not what I thought.
TRUTH be told,
these words of PRAISE pricked a nerve in me.
I was mad at GOD.
Ouch!
Yup.
I had not idea that a PRAISE verse would bring out this
TRUTH
that was hidden deep in my heart that I didn't even
know that I had.
A hard stop for me.
I had to confront this ugliness of my flesh.
But oh how gentle the HOLY SPIRIT is when HE convicts you of
something that HE wants to RELEASE from you.
For a CONVICTION is for your GOOD.
It leads you to VICTORY!
So I had a talk with GOD.
I realized that I was mad at HIM
because HE was not answering my prayer
in the way and means that I wanted HIM too.
Oh how I felt holier than though,
thinking that I DESERVE more from GOD,
then what HE has already given me.
Ouch again.
Oh to be so HONEST with GOD
is the place where
HIS GRACE washes you clean.
And then it happened.
GOD HAPPENED.
HE GOT INTO MY HEART,
that place in my heart that I had to
SURRENDER
to make room for
HIS JOY.
Oh JOY flooded my being.
And then the mission began.
JOYFUL JUNE.
Get Ready. Get Set. Go.
Do you want JOY?
It is yours.
So let's begin.
Put your name in HIS TRUTH~
"I, __________________, will praise the LORD no matter what happens.
I, __________________, will constantly speak of HIS glories and grace.
I, __________________, will boast of all HIS kindness to me.
Let all who are discouraged take heart.
Let us praise the LORD together and exalt HIS name".*
Oh you just wait.
"For I cried to HIM and HE answered me!
HE freed me from all my fears.
Others too were radiant at what HE did for them.
Theirs was no downcast look of rejection!
This poor man cried to the LORD—
and the LORD heard HIM and saved him out of HIS troubles"
*(Psalm 34 :1-6).
Oh
make a
JOYFUL NOISE
as we start off
JUNE with
JOY
for
"GOD IS NOT AGAINST YOU"
(listen to the song below)
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