here to share words of Hope on the hard days to the hurting, broken & lonely.
“God, the sound which brings me the greatest joy is hearing Your voice. Help me to frequently tune in to Your frequency, and lock on to Your signal. For I cannot become the me You desire me to be, nor bring You the greatest joy possible when I am not listening for or to You. And hearing You be full of joy? Ultimately, what brings You joy should be what causes joy within me!”
My prayers for #freeversefriday
#experiencingjoy #howjoysounds #hopefortheharddays
There are several sounds which bring joy to my soul, besides bible verses and songs of faith.
What sounds cause joy within you?
experiencingjoy #howjoysounds #hopefortheharddays
“Lately, I’ve been reading, watching the nightly news. Don’t seem to find the rhythm, just wanna sing the blues. Feels like a song that never stops, feels like it’s never gonna.
Gotta get that fire, fire, back in my bones before my heart, heart, turns into stone. So somebody please pass the megaphone, I’ll shout it on the count of three. One, two, three!
Oh, hear my prayer tonight, I’m singing to the sky. Give me strength to raise my voice, let me testify. Oh, hear my prayer tonight, ’cause this is do or die. The time has come to make a choice and I choose joy.
Let it move you, let it move you, let it move you. Yeah, I choose joy. Let it move you, let it move, let it move you!”
lyrics from JOY by 4 King & Country
#experiencingjoy #howjoysounds #hopefortheharddays
I love listening to the bible read out loud (my Dwell app starts each morning off this way) and imagining God speaking them out loud to me. This verse is one of my favorites to hear, and let soak into the places within me which desperately need the touch of the joy it brings.
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re Mine. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end— Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in! (and in the NT, through Jesus’ death on the cross) That’s how much you mean to Me! That’s how much I love you! I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.”
Isaiah 43:1a-4 MSG
experiencingjoy #howjoysounds #hopefortheharddays
P.S. If you’d like a FREE screensaver of my fave joy verse, head HERE to download my July screensaver. 🙂
I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making His home with men and women! They’re His people, He’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.”
Revelation 21:3-4 MSG
The Good News has arrived once in the person of Jesus, but God’s story for His people doesn’t end with that first arrival here on earth.
In Revelations, we are reminded the Good News yet to come…Jesus is coming again.
He is going to come back and make His home with His people, Beloved.
He will live with us, not just within us where He currently resides.
And once He has moved in, look at the next things He does….
He wipes every single tear from our eyes.
For He brings peace with His presence.
In fact, He will stop us from crying or weeping at all.
For He brings joy in His Presence.
We will never experience or suffer another pain. Ever!
For He brings hope in His Presence.
We will never die again.
For He gives life to those in His Presence!
The Promise will come to pass when we are with Him forever. No more tears, crying, pain or death!
Now is not forever, as You remind us all, God!
What a promise to celebrate! Sing, journal, dance – however you best offer your thanksoffering of praise for His promise yet to come!
Let this truth soak deep into the hearts and minds of the Beloved, Abba. Bring it back to the forefront when we need the reminder in the hard moments, Holy Spirit. May we entrust all we are, pain and tears, hopes and dreams, grief and loss, joy and hope, into Your loving, more than capable hands, Jesus.
Joy to the World, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing….
the wonders of His love!
This season is meant to be a shining beacon of hope to a weary world spinning in darkness.
Joy entered the world.
Not only does Jesus represent God’s love in His very essence, He is infused with joy.
You see, God not only loved everyone He created, He enjoys them!
That includes you, and me!
No one is left out.
He takes sheer delight in you, and enjoys your company, because you’re you. And He loves you for it!
Instead of His people holding back and speaking only through tradition, God broke through the barrier between us. He ripped the veil separating Heaven and earth, and entered the story as a living breathing physical man. Fully God wrapped in humanity.
Because He wanted to get as close to you as He could, to make you sit up and notice Him, feel His love for you, know His joy at being near you.
This beloved Christmas carol captures the majesty of God with us, the miracle of God one of us and the mind glowing joy we can have when we accept His gift, His Presence in and with us, always.
Heaven and earth unite to sing of this wonder.
He enjoys His people. For love’s sake, so much so He, our Creator, became one of His own creations to give us the fullness of that love right where we were, are at.
The enemy may be whispering how terrible you were for yelling at your kids last night, or shaming you for something you didn’t do or forgot.
Love is reminding you He is with you.
Your bank account may look smaller than usual, the illness ahead seem insurmountable, your loved one gone on ahead being missed beyond words.
Love is waiting to refill you with the hope and joy of the season.
For this season, Christmas?
Its not dependant upon you or I to become a reality.
It already has!
Because of His love, we have God with us.
It’s sign, sealed and delivered, this gift beyond time and space. And yours, forever.
So regardless of what is happening about you, you can have joy.
For Love came down at Christmas time not only to restore us to Him but for us to enjoy one another, as love tends to do when you draw near to the One you adore.
Joy to the World!
Jesus is born!
Our Carol of truth, love and joy, forevermore!
Historical Background:
Joy to the World’s music and lyrics were written by Isaac Watts in 1719. It is amazing to me that this piece still sounds like it has just been written by every generation that sings it. I truly believe it is one of the songs we will forever sing when we move Home one day!
God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy!
We can have rest because Jesus was born.
Shocking, isn’t it?
That the birth of a child can turn your whole world upside down?
If you are a parent, as we chatted about yesterday, you know it’s true.
But if that baby is God Himself, tucked into human form, supernaturally growing in a virgin’s womb, announced by a choir of angels to some of the lowest of the community, born in a stable?
You know miracles are going to happen. They are in His very DNA.
So like God, we can rest after creation.
Jesus came as part of God’s plan to restore, make right what was broken in the garden.
To remind us God hadn’t & hasn’t forgotten about us.
Jesus always was part of His story for reaching His people.
And because God is with us?
We can be merry for the Good News has come.
We can also rest, knowing we are not alone, and God has done all the work to make the way Home for us.
If this is a hard Christmas for you, missing your loved ones, or Christmas’ past, take comfort and joy.
The One we have been waiting for has come. He will always come to those He loves, Beloved.
Rest in that truth today!
I can’t hold it back
my love for You
it bubbles up within
waiting for me to
open my mouth
and release it
I only want to be with You
the Lover of my soul
I long to be always
in Your embrace
gazing upon
Your Holy face
seeing Your love
reflected in Your gaze
I’m a lover of Your Presence
and it’s all I wanna be
Until that day
when I move Home
and there will be no
further space
between us
I will jump
at every chance
to be Your partner
in this dance
as I learn
to depend on You
for everything
and seek You
through this life
laid down
for You
I’m a lover of Your Presence
and it’s all I wanna be
evermore
I sense
You smile at me
as I pen these words
and sing them
from the depths of my heart
You sing back to me
and your reply
shakes me to my core
with love and adoration
I’m a lover of your presence, Beloved, and
all I want
is all of you
forevermore!
#SundayPsalm
I am hurting today.
My body is yearning for relief,
my soul is crying for release.
And the first Word I read today as I open Your Word?
This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life.
Psalm 119:50 ESV
I choose to believe You answered my heart cry in those Words, for as soon as I read them, I felt peace wash over me.
The peace which passes understanding.
The Promise which endures.
For all Your promises come to pass God, for You cannot lie.
What You speak, comes to life.
It’s who You are, not just what You say.
Hope reentered my weariness, and assumed readiness for my day ahead.
I am holding the peace & joy You have so lovingly & kindly refueled within me again today.
Knowing if I rest in You, Your rest will be in me.
No matter what.
If like me, you are in desperate need for Him, draw close….
Come as you are.
Find rest for your soul.
Be filled to overflow.
In His Presence, become whole.
Continue to follow Him all your days.
Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace.
– 2 Cor 13:11
I don’t know about you, but when I see a list like this in the Scriptures, I am reminded of my daily to-do list.
We are to show our joy, our maturity, our love for one another through encouragement, and harmonious peaceful living.
His to-do list.
On the days when I can’t see that being possible, God always reminds me that I was never meant to do any of this life on my own. He is with me, in me and guiding me through each moment.
My job? To let Him live His to-do list through me!
Lord, i am ready to do the living You have for me today, as You live it through my words, actions and thoughts. May time with You head up my to-do list every day, and may all I do flow out of where You are leading me, for Your Kingdom & Your glory, always.
KARLA LEES 