Good morning, DearOne.

My girls helped me decorate the tree about a month ago. That was a precious day. Sweet chatter as they loosened and placed every branch on my old tree. As I sit this morn in the stillness by this tree that is heavy-loaded with treasured ornaments from every year of our lives, I can hear the Oklahoma wind gusting outside. Maybe a sign that just as the Christ Child came to bring a new law and order, He sends winds of change to blow away the old to make room for new directions,

new roads,

new blessings.

Maybe the things we have learned this year are just the beginning to each of us walking in ALL that God has for us.

ALL.

Each struggle,

each pain,

each tear,

each laughter (come on, we can’t say it was all bad),

the connections,

the disconnections,

the challenges – maybe each one was exactly what we needed in order to go into Christmas a bit more humble and go into the new year accomplishing what He has deemed for us.

Just maybe.

Realizing this, I thought: there truly is a holy beauty when we can see that the thing we thought would kill us truly did not. To realize that perhaps that very thing the enemy designed to kill us & thought for sure it would, has served the purposes of our God in our lives. Our God –

-Who CHOSE US knowing all that this year would hold;

-Who loved us in spite of ourselves;

-Who adopted us knowing that we had something to add to HIS FAMILY;

-Who accepted us just the way we are knowing what we would become (there’s hope yet!!!);

-Who redeemed us and will redeem all that has happened in our lives to His great praise & glory;

-Who has forgiven us not because we deserved it but because He so loves us that deeply;

-Who blessed us because He delights in us.

How amazing to think of all that this morning.

The verse I turned to said this:

“You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of Your presence and the pleasures of living with You forever.” (Psalm 16:11 NLT).

This morning I am so grateful that we have God, who shows us the way. He doesn’t leave us stumbling & wondering. He shows us the way of life. He grants us the JOY of His Presence. His very Presence in our lives = JOY.

How amazing is that!?

He grants us the pleasure of living with Him forever. And, He began that in each of our lives the day we accepted Him into our lives & that gift is ours forever. Today may you find that joy & pleasure in a God that has found joy & pleasure in you.

Yes, He has.

Wake up.

Sit and experience the joy of belonging to Him.

Go.