OK…this is a first.
I’ve gone an entire month not “reporting in” my joy count.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t been counting though. Because as Ann Voskamp, who inspired me to take a Joy Dare wrote:
”Habits can imprison you & habits can free you & when thanks to God becomes a habit– then joy in God becomes *your life!*”
Once you make it a habit to count joys, it becomes part of you. It’s never too late for you to take the Joy Dare and record the joys that God brings to your daily life. Get a journal book, start a blog, write it on a chalk board…whatever! Just count and give God the praise for it!
I’ve been writing over here about the passionate love God has for us the past few weeks. Now it’s my turn to give love back to Him. I give Him the gift of my joy. The Bible says to “thank God in all circumstances”. (1 Thess. 5:18) So, I’m loving on God by thanking Him for the gifts He’s given me.
Here it goes…a little late but never too late. {and you’re invited to keep going down because I reached a milestone!}
#1959 our washer and dryer
#1960 neighbors to join together to help each other in our yards picking up broken tree branches
#1961 protection from ice storm
#1962 didn’t loose electricity
#1963 beauty in ice even though can cause trouble
#1964 cheering on another who’s counting joys and reaches 1000!
#1965 sharing a dream with a friend in a laundry mat
#1966 meeting in bakery with odd sort of gals who’d never all met before to go through Restless
#1967 daughter playing with neighborhood girls
#1968 a fun sign in Hobby Lobby
#1969 opportunity to wholly trust the Lord after having to cancel and reschedule brunch for 400 women
#1970 group of women who’re trusting God has this!
#1971 Gathering with over 350 women to fellowship over delicious food, the story of a mother and daughter overcoming cancer, and several other women being beautifully vulnerable to share their trust story.
#1972 taking pictures of women having a fun time!
#1973 women worshipping the Lord in music, hands raised, all praise to God
#1974 the song: “Oceans” by Hillsong United
#1975 husband calling me from the other side of town to see if I see the sunset
#1976 buying daughter a new bike
#1977 I’m finding joy in being restless
#1978 hearing the gifts, sufferings, people, places and passions of other women in Panera one morning each week.
#1979 a friend cheering us on
#1980 free tickets to ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament game…thanks DeAngelos!
#1981 friends who play with our kids while hubby and I go on the tourney date and spoils them…thanks Smallings!
#1982 glorious sunrise
#1983 sun shining through fog on drive to school in the a.m. ( I wish I could’ve gotten pictures!)
#1984 the joy of sun after several dreary days
#1985 glorious first day of spring….promise
#1986 the bird swinging loudly and boldly on the tree beside our house
#1987 a small room prayer room where a few people 70 and older meet together to pray for our church
#1988 reading the Word on the porch
#1989 meeting for the first time and having a conversation with a neighbor I didn’t know while volunteering at picture day at middle school…what joy she has through Christ! Hearing her story as she battles breast cancer was a gift to me…because she’s being a gift to so many others in battle with her.
#1990 seeing the joy through others that can only come through Christ
#1991 80* day
#1992 sun shining through Bradford Pear flowers
#1993 Mollie can always make me laugh
#1994 family coming to visit
#1995 little kids running!
#1996 going to the Harlem Globe Trotters basketball game for family night!
#1997 The Spirit giving me a nudge…and the same nudge to a few others…having no idea we were thinking the same thing
#1998 surrendering and praying those gut prayers with sisters
#1999 starting to make some plans
#2000 My hubby surprising me with a new camera lens!
#2001 finding 2000 joys!!!!
#2002 goal to find 1000 more!
#2003 colorful pansies (even if they’re sprinkled with a little bit of pollen)
#2004 proud of son having a great, spring soccer season so far
#2005 opportunity to trust God
#2006 hearing stories from new believers and excitement that oozes from them!
#2007 a friend telling the story of a goat, a road and prayers and it being a real example and proof of how God really does answer prayers according to his will.
#2008 how I get chocked up every time I tell me latest “God moment”.
#2009 completing Restless with a that crazy group
#2010 celebrating a birthday with friends
#2011 sun-setting rays stretching through clouds over the interstate on the ride home from a soccer game
#2012 first smell of the spring of freshly cut grass
#2013 it’s a joy beyond measure that Christ died ‘to present me holy in his sight, without blemish”. (Colossians 1:21) Me? Holy in His sight?! Amazing grace! Amazing love!
#2014 taking pictures on a spring day with my daughter
#2015 watching daughter taking pictures with her own camera
#2015 watching daughter taking pictures with her own camera
#2016 my daughter’s class performing at school for multicultural event…love those kids!
#2017 my daughter’s 5th grade teacher who loves on them well and teaches them well.
#2018 our family participating in a Sadar Meal…or “The Messianic Passover Haggadah” where we experienced the festival that originated thousands of years ago to remember the first, real Passover, where God brought the Israelites out of slavery. What a special and beautiful occasion.
#2019 beautiful weekend for a soccer tournament
#2020 proud of son who was given a new position on the field and scored all the goals in the first 2 games!
#2021 being paraded down the highway with red bud trees in bloom waving their beauty branches at us for miles as we zoom by.
