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Delight
What a simple word – DELIGHT. It has been wonderful this week to just “sit” with. Have you ever delighted in a flower, a bee, a hummingbird, or a sunset? How do you feel as you sit still and enjoy what you are seeing? Does it bring you joy? encouragement? hope? peace? Are you able to “sit still” and “delight” in it?
At a recent retreat, I was introduced to Joni Eareckson Tada’s book, The Practice of the Presence of Jesus. She has clips from Brother Lawrance’s, The Practice of the Presence of God. Here’s what I read:
My King, … He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. ~ Brother Lawrence, p. 34
Delight means – “a feeling of joy or satisfaction; something that gives great pleasure, excitement, and happiness.”
I encourage you, as I was challenged, to just sit and ponder HOW God delights in you!? Does He delight in you as His created child? Read that quote again, realize God doesn’t just delight in you for a moment, but He delights in you incessantly!
There are many verses in the Bible that remind us how special we are to God that He delights in us. Here are a few:
For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. ~ Zephaniah 3:17 NLT
The LORD delights in those who fear Him, who put their HOPE in His unfailing, HESED, love. ~ Psalm 147:11 NIV
He led me to a place of safety; He rescued me, because He delighted in me. ~ Psalm 18:19 NLT
What makes God’s delighting in us so special is when we delight in Him as well. God delights in our delight of Him.
Take delight in the LORD, and He He will give you your heart’s desires. ~ Psalm 37:4 NLT
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness. ~ Isaiah 61:10a
Some questions to ponder and journal:
- How do you feel when you think of God delighting in you? As you sit still, can you imagine His arms around you, or Him talking to you face to face, or both of you sitting side-by-side watching a sunset just “being still” together?
- What does it look like that God delights in you?
- How do you delight in God?
- Are you struggling to delight in God? If so, I encourage you to just sit still with Him and ask Him to show you His presence in your life. This takes time. It takes surrendering your self. It takes opening up and trusting that God is who He says He is.
I pray you will find time to be filled with wonder that the Creator of the universe takes time to delight in you! He is an amazing God.
God’s abundant blessings to you, Faye
Thanksliving Blessings
I am abundantly blessed! I know this because I’ve just spent some time reviewing my journal. It’s the time of year to prepare the annual Christmas letter. So reviewing some of the blessings and ways I’ve seen God’s hand has been such a wonderful reminder of His providential love and care.
For several years I’ve kept a journal in a planning calendar that gives me just enough space to fill in thoughts for each day. Usually I don’t miss a day unless there are some health issues that keep me from it. There are days where the praise of seeing God’s hand at work just flow on the page. And there are days where I haven’t “seen” God, but I know He is providing for my needs. Thankful for a “warm furnace on a cold day, a bowl of hot soup, energy to exercise, or medicine to help improve lifestyle through chronic illness.”
However there was a period this year where I went from mid-May to July of not journaling. Some of this was because we were abundantly blessed to spend 5 weeks with our active 7 year old granddaughter who took up a lot of time. But most of it was a time of introspection, frustration and anger at God for “not being there,” at least not in the way I wanted Him to answer my prayers and show Himself to me. There were several big changes and losses that had happened from January on. I just wanted God to “give us a break” when it came to health, finances, relationships, etc. It seemed like we were living on a perpetual rollercoaster.
In retrospect I realize I didn’t want to write things down on paper that I was grateful for or ways I’d seen God because I was mad at Him. I was angry that God, Who is in control of all things in my life, was allowing these things to happen. During a time of vacation and rest with friends’ who live on a lake, I did a lot of thinking and praying about why I was so angry at God. I realized that wasn’t how I wanted to continue living. One of the first ways to change that was to pick up my journal and start noticing the blessings again.
Thoughts began with the simple things like “air conditioning, a bed to sleep in, and granddaughter cleaning up”. But quickly came the “see Your hand guiding me toward words of encouragement.” Things didn’t automatically get better because 3 days after starting the journaling, I had news that the meds to help the RA symptoms were potentially damaging my liver, and so had to change meds once again. But this time I stayed focus on the blessings. The first week back to journaling ends with “For the blessings of seeing people worship you – How Great Thou Art!”
We have a great and awesome God. We are abundantly blessed to have God’s Word to fill us, refresh us, encourage us, and draw us back to Him.
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one—for God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:31-39
Thank You God, I am abundantly blessed that You do not leave me nor forsake me even when I turn my back on You in anger. You continue to hold out Your arms for me to come back to You. Thank You!
Abundantly Blessed by God ~ Faye
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. www.Biblegateway.com
God's Abundant Blessings! 