365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 209

I was able to get a quilt for my bed yesterday at Khol’s on sale 50% off. It was an exciting moment to see my bed looking so nice. We have been a two-comforter bed for the length of our marriage which is plus 17 years but the heat lately was making me think it was time to do something with our bedding situation and my comforter is falling apart. Of course, I need a new sheet set and still need to get curtains for our bedroom to block out that morning light but I have learned to be content with what I have and enjoy all the blessings that God has already given me. I think this piece by piece putting together aspect of my bedroom is much like how people are put together. There are different areas that we have to develop. We have our soul which I will call the bedroom windows. We have our bed which I will call our physical body and we have the atmosphere within the room which we develop by the colors, light and décor used. The atmosphere is our spirit. All three aspects of our bedroom need to be developed. I may not get to the final perfect bedroom but I focus on the goal and I enjoy the process of shopping for décor, making the bed with a new quilt, envisioning the windows covered with drapes and so on. How content are you with your life? Don’t focus on what is missing. Focus on what you have and keep your eye on the Lord and what is to come and the fruit of joy will fill you.

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God as said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 61

Peace. We see the peace signs, we here the talk of peace vs war on the news but do we know the real meaning of peace. Some definitions I found may help guide me in discovering what peace is: freedom from disturbance, state of security, state of balance and understanding of self and others, calm, contentment in obedience to law, tranquility of mind, harmony, to be quiet, to be silent, to stop.   This last one, to stop, really made me pause. Stop trying to do it on your own, stop trying to be God, stop over-analyzing everything, stop letting the world dictate your actions and on and on… Peace cannot be attained on our own. God is the only source of true peace and it is through our belief in Jesus that we can obtain this peace. CS Lewis said it well, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. If you are searching for peace, I pray you will be lead to the one and only that can give it to you.

John 14: 26-27 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challege-Day 54

As I was reviewing my email last evening down in my studio, I heard upstairs my daughter laughing. It was a rip-roaring kind of laughing, the kind where you get physical. I could imagine her up there rolling around on the floor. She was watching one of her Disney shows on TV and was laughing with such abandon. I had to pause what I was doing just to sit and listen. I think there is an old saying that laughter is contagious. I don’t know about that but it definitely spreads an effect over those within the hearing range. I think the same can be said with a smile or kind words. They can make a sad or angry person feel, at least for the moment, happier. I am sure the joy the Holy Spirit fills us with can lead to outward effects. Though laughter and happiness are not what the Word is showing us about joy, it is an example of what joy can do. True joy comes from the Holy Spirit, not by him cracking jokes or giving us every heart’s desire but just the knowing that we are His. The joy comes in the relationship we have with our Father. He wants us to ask, vent, worship, be grateful and love him in prayer. We may not get what we ask for, we may vent and be lead to solutions, we may worship and love and already we know we are loved by Him beyond measure and we may be grateful in all things which brings about an attitude of contentment but the joy from the Holy Spirit is just because we are doing those things: asking, venting, worshipping, loving, thanking and praying this all to Him. Like a parent that tells a child, I just want you to come talk to me, such is how or heavenly Father feels about us. Talk to Him in whatever way is right for you and do it often and joy will find its way into your heart.

John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.