All Aboard

Have you ever noticed that when you decide to be joyful and not let anything steal the thunder of your glee, all hell stands up to oppose you? I've had a few weeks like that, but fortunately I am determined to fight back and apprehend my joy from the hands of said criminal, but boy is it a fight.

Of course, the fun free wheeling banter between my friend Carrie and I this past week always leaves me laughing. We both seem to have a comical take on life and amuse each other immensely. The only problem is that now we have to do this via email, because when she decided to take off and move to LA, lock, stock and barrel, I cheered her on! Was that stupid or what?

One of the other things that has helped to recapture my joy this week was my awesome husband, Mark, who randomly read a few verses out of Romans in The Message Bible that rocked my world and put me back straight. I'll share a bit with you. The peace and strategy the Lord brought to me through this portion of Scripture is now in my arsenal of weapons for fighting off the joy robbers.

In this chapter Paul is speaking about Abraham, the father of faith, when in Romans 3:27 he says,

"God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does...our lives get in step with God and all others by letting Him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.vs.4:2,3, "The story we're given is a God-story not and Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point." vs. 9 "It was embracing what God did for him that Abraham was declared fit before God." vs. 12 "...willing to live in the risky faith embrace of God's action for them."

I've been reminded that as I pay better attention to God's movement in my life, I am able to get on board God's train and not strive in my own strength. Isn't striving in our own strength one of the biggest joy robbers out there. We work at it, struggle, twist and turn, meanwhile all we need to do is watch for GOD'S movement in our lives and jump on board, because if He isn't going where we are headed, we might as well stop dead in our tracks before it gets ugly! But usually we haven't the foresight to know where the next God-stop is on His schedule. Instead of walking in faith and hanging on for the ride, we've been known to step out ahead and try to direct the route.

It's amazing how often we have to be reminded about faith. It's not like riding a bike, once you learn you can always ride. Faith takes a different kind of leap, one that requires that the muscles you use continually be oiled and stretched. So try practicing what I do whenever I find that I am sweating to get through the day, agitated and in turmoil(like last week), pay attention to where God is moving in your life, listen for the signals, watch for the cross roads, making sure you're on the God's route and then participate in the ride!