On 'The Journey and Joy'...

My journey and joy have rarely gone hand in hand.  When life takes an unexpected turn - anger, frustration, melancholy, and bitterness (all in response to fear) - are my "go-to" responses, not joy.  If I have to get through something, accomplish something, do something, not a problem, I will, but usually not in a manner that would attract someone else to join me, to accompany me in my journey.  Joy has also been scarce in my relationship with my loving savior, Jesus Christ.  Time with Him in prayer and in His Word were, more often than not, a thing to get done, not a time to enjoy, bask, reflect on, delight in, and just be in His presence.  I often felt like there were "things to get done" so "let's do this thing I've been told I should do (praying and reading my Bible) and move on to the 'important' things that need to be done..."  Joy wasn't a part of that relationship at all.  Just a box to check off and move on to what I had planned.  And, I'll be honest, because this was my thinking, I rarely found time to even check off the box...

In all the places this journey has taken me, joy - deep contentment, peace, and satisfaction - has almost never been my companion.  But, as my journey begins to make another turn and my family and I head into a new season, I want that to be different.  I want to take the changes that are coming and find God's joy in them.  I believe it is there, present in all things from our Father, and I want to know it, and experience it, and share it with you, and others, if the Lord allows.  

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
​Isaiah 43:18-19 (ESV)

So, why a blog?  Why pursue this joy-searching in this manner, in a world already full of others sharing their every thought, whim, recipe, decorating idea, and photo, in this manner?  All I can say is I feel like it's been through the Lord's leading that I have landed here...

During a Facebook book study I participated this last fall (I AM by Michele Cushatt), I kept sensing the Lord was trying to direct me toward something.  I didn't act on it then, not wanting to rush into it, but continued to ponder the idea of it, what it might look like, and pray about it.  I sensed God leading me toward sharing my heart and thoughts on life, on my life, on the journey, on my journey to find Him and His joy in it all.  I still don't fully understand what that means or what exactly it will look like, but this blog is the starting place.  

I begin this as an act of obedience, only knowing that as I have continued to pray and seek what all of this meant, this is the direction He has led.  Know that I am just a girl (yes, I thought of Knotting Hill, too) desiring to share her heart, her journey, and her growing knowledge of a loving and good God.  I pray that everything I share glorifies God most of all.  I hope you will hold me accountable for what I speak about Him and the Bible, and always check everything against His Word.  I have no knowledge or authority beyond the life I have lived and the lessons God has taught me as I have journeyed with Him.  God and His Word have the final authority on everything...

So, here I am, continuing the journey God has given me, but asking you to join me.  I would ask, that along with reading and sharing,  that you would pray with me - pray that this would be God's work and not my own, that I would stay sensitive to what He is leading me to share, and that He alone would be glorified.  Thank you for stepping out with me and taking part in the journey God has given us.

​~heather