CREATE JOY Joy's my blog.....

  A well balanced day. Thanksgiving is almost here.  For many it is their favorite holiday, to cook, eat, watch TV, and sleep............🦃🦃👀😴   I want to give you a new challenge.   This year, be present.  Love those people who are with you right now, this second.  Talk, maybe let them help you make the food, working together builds relationships......  Eyes and ears open.  Slow down.   At this particular moment in time God has set before you some very special people you can influence, with your love and guidance, and ATTENTION.   Make some new traditions.  Ask which special dish each child (or adult lol) loves, and make it!   MOST importantly, put God at the center of all of your holidays. Talk about what you are Thankful to God for........ Happy Thanksgiving, ~love Jackie

  Listen, this world is a tough place. I don't believe there is anyone on planet earth, who doesn't "feel" how tough things are in this world. In many ways. That doesn't mean we get to sit down and stop trying.....as my sister likes to remind me, our reach and affect go much farther than we know. Everything we do matters. 1 Corinthians 16:13, 14 "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.  Let all your things be done with charity." The battle is now.  Soon our King will come and take us on to His heavenly kingdom, but not yet....... YOU are not to old, or to young, or to busy, or to tired....... YOU are the very one God has chosen to love the people He puts before you. Chin up, Get up, get your love on....😉 ~love Jackie

  Sometimes when we hang out with our elders we get a chuckle.  We used to love spending time with our MOM.  There was one time in particular when Mom sucked all the chocolate off some nuts we had bought, and then she put the nuts back in the bag.  Julie and I did not know she was doing that and continued to eat the chocolate free nuts....  After a bit, our Mom started laughing so hard she couldn't walk or talk.  😳 Imagine our surprise when she told us. The elderly can be a joy. They can also share great wisdom with us if we will listen.   A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in frames of silver. Proverbs 25:11 That priceless golden wisdom that is passed down from generation to generation, framed in silver as a remembrance that we share with our children and their children....  Yes, the young have much to offer and we will listen and take what is good, but do not neglect the precious wisdom from the aged who have seen it all before. ~love jackie               

In case you haven't noticed,  there is a labor shortage ............ everywhere.......... If Jesus were here on earth today, what would be His urgent message to us, to our world? I don't think it would change.  The harvest is ready, the laborers are few. Matthew 9:37 Then saith he ( Jesus) unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborer's are few; Maybe you are one who, since covid, decided God doesn't  "need" you to help spread the Gospel......maybe you think, I have done have my part let someone else do it now....I have my own things I need to get done. Or maybe you are just tired and want to stay home away from the problems in our communities, and sit on your couch... Look around you,  time to get busy folks.     No hurt feelings, no distractions.... ~love jackie now is the time to get back in the race. The race for souls.   It is time to get back to work..... Work for the Lord. 

  I remember hearing as a child, "worth your weight in salt".   Salt was always something easy to come by for us.  We went to the store to buy many varieties of salt.  Course, pink, kosher, fine grain, you name it we could buy it. Today as I thought about why God would choose something so plentiful and easy to get as salt to illustrate our value, steadfastness, and impact, it hit me!   Salt has to be mined.   It isn't easy to get.  It's value was comparative to gold.   It isn't easy to be salt for this world.  As a matter of fact it is very hard work......but it is needed more now than ever before. To be salt that has value is to dig into God's word and allow it to change us and make us strong and purified, devoted and a little spicy 😏. Salt.   Yeah , Salt   Matthew 5:13-16

Self analysis,   well right off the bat, let me share with you the style of font I am using is quicksand 😆 I hate to admit this,  I guess I have become a glass half full kind of gal.   I am not sure I have always been, or if it has just become my default mind set. I am still not even sure how I  became a preaches wife, it wasn't my plan.  There are a lot of things I am just not sure about..... I started out with gusto.  Listening to everyone's problems,  excited to teach God's Word..... and  now, now I am 61  (and just like I didn't know how I became a preachers wife, I don't know how or when I have become 61). There are those who tell me 61 isn't old.   It is beginning to feel old.   I have listened to thousands tell me their problems, and thousands tell me my problems.... I wrestle with God daily, unlike Jacob who wrestled for one night,  hey, did you know Jackie is the female equivalent the name Jacob,  hmmmmm?     excuse my wandering mind..... back to wrest

The children of Israel had a real problem with longing for what was and  being disappointed with what is.....in short, they were unhappy with God and His provision. How sad that must have made God....... Psalms 107  8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Living in the present is an acknowledgement of how amazing God is -  "your awareness is completely centered on the here and now.  You are not worrying about the future or thinking about the past." (Merriam Webster Dictionary) Today, simply trust God with your future and your past.....and praise Him for his goodness, and for his wonderful works! Praise you Lord...Praise you Lord! love,  jackie

  The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. Wondering how many of us can say we live in peace. There is a common graciousness God bestows upon everyone the same.  The blessings of being alive on planet earth. There is another blessing that is more uncommon, it comes to the one, not who is perfect but who stands perfectly before God because of Jesus Christ and His payment for us..... This is how we stand in peace. It is because of HIM and His graciousness. And so we pass on to you today... The Lord bless you!  

  Home I have always been of the mind set that home is a place.  Like my parents house was home, Ohio was home, here in Michigan is home.  I recently recognized that some folks say "I stay at my parents house, or I stay in Ohio", you get the drift. I think they are more correct.  Home is not my house.  Home is absolutely where those I love dwell.  Peace and love are found in the arms of family and friends.   But every now and than,  I get an unrest in my soul and I long for more than family or friends can deliver. Some day we will be home.....really home, but not now.   Now we have a job to do.  To be that follower of Jesus that will give those around us a small taste of what heaven is like. They should see  heaven in me, in you. What a thought!  We are ambassadors, yes you have all heard that before, but have you really thought about what that means? It means when people are with me I represent heaven.  A place of peace, confidence, enjoyment, love, rest, knowledge, worship,

Being gracious is the most extravagant gift of all. Sometimes people are just plain mean.  No matter how nice you've been, no matter how many times you have happily endured their behavior.... So at what point does Jesus say "Ok, that's enough you don't have to be gracious any more." You and I both know the answer.....seventy times seven.....:-o.....seriously God?  On paper, it sounds possible.  I am here to tell you my patients get tried in this area more that I care to expound on. People who accuse,  say hurtful things both to your face and behind your back..... How do we have extravagant grace toward those people? First, a reality check.  If it weren't for God's extravagant grace I would be as lost as a goose and have no hope on my own.  He is my everything, my breath, my sanity, my Redeemer, the Lover of my soul, my Rock my Hiding Place! Woe, He is so good. Second, it's not our grace we are extending, but rather sharing the