Journal Entries
In reading over my journal for
the rest of August of 2003 I noticed that they were for the most part calm
ordinary days. I decided to glean
statements from that time period and just see where God leads me.
August 21-31, 2003
“Good day."
“’Thank You Lord for friendships that last.”
“Good day.”
“Pat and Bill are taking me to Praise Gathering!”
“What a great day!”
“Wonderful Bible study and worship.”
“God is revealing things to me.”
“I’m going to have myself a retreat this weekend.”
“Spent day at home-didn’t see or speak to anyone but God.”
“Stayed home. Listened to sermon Pat sent me.”
Ordinary
days. I hadn’t had too many of those
during this time. There were so many new
things, new experiences, new people, and new places in my life. And I was just getting started. I know God gave me this respite because He
knew what was ahead for me. September
would bring several major changes and decisions into my life. I would experience some extremely difficult
days that were necessary for my ultimate healing because they led me to a life-changing
decision which I will be sharing in a later posting. However, these eleven days were peaceful,
calm, ordinary day given to me by an extraordinary God.
In these
ordinary days I see extraordinary events. "Good days, friendships, great day, Bible study, worship, God is
revealing, retreat, home, sermon" are words that reflect for me the joy of the
new everyday life with which God was blessing this wounded soul. I’ve learned that it isn’t just in the spectacular
or amazing events that joy is found. In
fact, I think the joy that comes from deep inside because I know Jesus is experienced
on those ordinary days in a unique way. On
wonderful days I feel joy because of what I’m experiencing. On difficult days if I truly have joy in Jesus
it runs as an undercurrent to remind me of who holds me in His hands. But on ordinary days it’s just a quiet
peaceful stream of joy that flows through my life. After all the years of abuse and fear I treasure
those days and enjoy them immensely.
“Pat and Bill
are taking me to Praise Gathering!” I
highlighted this statement in purple because it’s anything but ordinary. Praise Gathering was a wonderful weekend
worship event that Bill and Gloria Gaither hosted in Indianapolis for many
years. If you’ve read my blog much you’ve
seen entries of “watched Gaither videos”.
Pat actually introduced me to them by giving me my very first video from
their Homecoming series. During my years
of healing they became a lifeline for me.
I cried, laughed, worshiped, and sang my heart out. So when they invited me to go with them I was
ecstatic. You will hear more about this
when I reach the October entries in my journal.
At this time however the anticipation filled me with joy to
overflowing. To this day I’m still
grateful for the gift of this wonderful experience.
I’m ending this
posting by sharing a song from the Gaither Vocal Band that reflects the joy
found in the glorious freedom God has given me on this earth and for
eternity. Glorious Freedom features my
favorite singer of all time, David Phelps.
Enjoy!
Father,
Thank You for ordinary days that bring extraordinary joy.
Thank You for extraordinary events that bring extraordinary joy.
Thank You for the joy that comes only from Jesus.
Thank You for Joy!
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
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