Faith Brings Joy

Saturday, August 24, 2019 (6:16 a.m.)

Blessed God,

Thank You. Praise You. I love You. We need You.

(7:03 a.m.)

You helped me sleep last night. Well! Thank You Lord.

Arm bones were badly broken yesterday. Blessed Father, how I thank You for Your underlying presence in it all.

My natural bent is to focus on the sheer horror of all that transpired. Instead, You reminded me over and over to rejoice in You always (Philippians 4:4). “FAITH” [forsaking all I trust Him] came to mind. As did the three things that remain. “Faith, hope and love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Holy, Holy God. Oh yeah! That happened too. A very early stirring had me singing ♪Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee♪ And I went right back to sleep.

You amaze me Father. Putting our focus on You changes everything. The tears keep falling. My thoughts continue replaying the events as I know them.

Lord, I love You. Thank You for empowering by heart to trust You. And will You just look at this! That other elusive verse that kept flitting in.

Romans 5:3. Under the title Faith Brings Joy. “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us - they help us to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.”

This is exactly what I am counting on. The Holy Spirit filling each of us with Your love. Yes please Father.

I love You. I believe You love us far more than we could ever even fathom. This is where faith and trust come in to play.

Do for us all that we are unable to do for ourselves. We love You Lord.

For some reason ♪Act Naturally♪ keeps singing to me. I have no idea if You have a message for me in there somewhere. As I prepare to go out into this day, I ask You keep me real. Honest. Open. And willing to share all the hope we have in You.

Thank You Father. Bless the ones You know are in such need of Your presence. Use me as You know is best. I love You. Thank You. Amen.

(418 words ~ 8:05 a.m.)