JOY

FAITH:

"She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. '...only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'" Luke 10:39, 42 (NIV)

I remember driving down the road with my verbose 3-year-old son riding in the back seat. He had been talking for quite some time, and this listener was getting tired. I broke into his monologue with a suggestion. "Anson, sweetheart, why don't you take a breath and rest a while?" With only a pause for my words, he blurted out, "But Mommy, I don't like to breathe. I like to talk..." and he continued his stream of speech. I sighed, chuckled and resumed listening.
Years later, that scene came back to my mind after a dinner with my friend Maggie. I had been listening to Maggie talk excitedly about the work God was doing in her life. She was a new believer, and she was experiencing the transformation of her life with wide-eyed wonder. Everything about her new relationship with God was fascinating and fresh. She emanated joy.

Although I was enjoying Maggie's passion, I started to wonder, "Where did my joy go?" I too could think of times when I had been consumed by watching and participating in the awesome work of God. I remembered mountain top experiences when I felt full of passion, fire and overwhelming joy. Yet here I was in the midst of one of the greatest times of kingdom building that I had ever experienced, and I felt empty, depleted and downright exhausted. "How did I get to this place?" I wondered to myself. I was teaching Sunday school, speaking and writing with regularity. God had opened doors wide for ministry, but my batteries were running low.

At the end of dinner, Maggie and I exchanged prayer requests. She gave me a few, and then it was my turn. I struggled internally with how real I could be. Maggie was a new Christian. Surely I would discourage her if I confessed a lack of joy and passion. God's still voice urged me to be transparent, though, and I found myself pouring out my heart in frustration. "I'm in God's Word every day as I prepare to teach," I explained to Maggie. "I'm always praying for the events and women where I'm going, but I feel wrung out and joyless. Please pray for me."

My sweet, wise friend looked compassionately at me for a minute before she asked an essential question, "When was the last time that you spent time reading the Bible and praying when you weren't preparing for something? How long has it been since you just spent time with God to enjoy Him?"

She had seen through all the spiritual rhetoric right to the source of the problem. Like my young son, I had been so busy talking to God--preparing, studying, delving, interceding, teaching, speaking--that I hadn't taken time to breathe in a deep breath of His Spirit. I hadn't taken time to worship God for who He is, to meditate on a juicy piece of His Word or to bask in His presence. In my drive to do all for an audience of One, I had forgotten to slow down and take time with the One I love.

Every day God reaches out to us with an incredible offer to spend time with our Creator and the Lover of our soul. Through prayer, Bible study and silence He faithfully fills us with His riches. We can walk away from time with Him full instead of empty; hopeful instead of despairing; peaceful instead of tumultuous.

After my discussion with Maggie, I chose to set time aside to just commune with God. Preparation time was separate. God is faithful! Joy returned and my passion was stoked. Join me now...one...two...three...breathe deep! by Amy Carroll


FRIENDS:
Dear Lord, still my heart. Silence my voice. Open my ears and eyes. Help me to breathe in a deep breath of your Spirit. Only You are sufficient to fill me, and I long to find fullness in You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

DAILY BIBLE CHALLENGE
1. LUKE 20:27-40; HEBREWS 1:1-9; PROVERBS 18; ISAIAH 1-2
2. LUKE 20:41-47; HEBREWS 1:10-14; PROVERBS 19:1-14; ISAIAH 3-5

10 Things To Be Thankful For
1. Someone that imparts an aura of serenity
2. Being able to face the truth
3. Rural roadside stands selling pumpkins
4. Little girls playing house
5. Public transportation
6. A book that makes a difference in your life
7. Being missed
8. Things that are quiet and old and simple and ordinary and very real
9. The sight of the sun shimmering on a lake
10. Two people listening to each other.

FOOD:

Italian Sausage Meatball Soup for the Crock Pot

Sausage Meatballs
1 pound mild Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Soup
4 cups hot chicken broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup mini pasta shells*
bag (10 ounces) baby spinach leaves
Grated Parmesan cheese
salt to taste

Directions

1. Combine all meatball ingredients. Form into marble-size balls.
2. Combine broth, tomato paste, garlic and red pepper flakes in 4
1/2-quart CROCK-POT® slow cooker. Add meatballs. Cover; cook on LOW 5
to 6 hours.
3. Thirty minutes before serving, add pasta. When pasta is tender,
stir in spinach leaves. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with Parmesan
cheese and serve immediately.

FUN:

Coffee filters ..who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar STORE for almost nothing.


1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave.
Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2.. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll
leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China
Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a
wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to
absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined
with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a
kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with
a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes..

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in
a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of
coffee filters.

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken
fingers, etc on them. Soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."