Mommy Will You Sing Me A Song?

  We have just taken our baths, brushed our teeth, combed our hair, and kissed everyone goodnight.... it is now time for bed. I tuck Faith and Gabriel in their beds to go to sleep. It is now time to say our prayers.

 I took the opportunity to sing them a song one time before bedtime, that has now become a habit. They make sure that I sing them a song every night. Sometimes by the end of the night I am just pooped and ready to relax. I sometimes may get a little frustrated when they want me to sing them each their own song, but this one night in particular made me smile and look at it all so differently!

   As I tucked in Gabriel and had just got done saying his prayers.... He asked me, " Mommy will you sing me that song?"  Now there are a million songs and he's like... THAT song mommy. So now I have to ask him little questions to figure out which song He is talking about. Finally, he says, " That song that you sang to that baby." I finally figure out which song he wants, which was Mary Did You Know!

   You may ask, what is so significant bout this song? Well.... a couple weeks prior, I was in a Christmas play, and in that play I had to sing the song Mary Did You Know! I couldn't believe after a couple weeks that Gabriel had remembered the song that his mommy sang in church to the baby.

   It really is the little things. Our children watch us. He loved that song so much that he now asks me every night to sing Mary Did You Know to him. I was just taken aback that the song stood out to him.

   This took me back to that little frustration about singing my kids a bedtime song. Singing my kids a bedtime song and saying night night prayers no longer frustrates me, but reminds me that it is important to them and they are learning and growing. I want to make sure that my kids get to hear their song and love bedtime prayers. It is important that we show them what is important and raise them to know they are loved. Right now they are soaking everything in.

It also got my attention that sometimes we forget to see the little things..... and not be in a rush. What was I showing my kids when I was frustrated and just wanted them to go to bed, and not have to sing them a song or say a prayer? How did they feel? Prayers are powerful and we need to remember to take the time to pray with our children.... or sing them a little song.

   This not only pertains to just your kids....what about the people around you?  What about your personal time with God? Are you quick to say, I will do that later? Maybe, I'll get to that one day? I'm too tired now! How important is God in your life? How important is prayer? Reading the Word? Maybe God just wants to bless you with the little things but you don't have time. Sometimes we completely miss it!

Be encouraged, we are all human! We all slip....fall.... lose our focus, and get frustrated! The more we take time with God and allow Him to walk with us, the more we will find the importance when our kids ask, Mommy will you sing me a song! or Mommy will you play with me? Or maybe your friend asks, can we get together sometime for lunch? or your friend says, I need you to pray for me today! or God says, come sit with me... I want to bless you! Sometimes we just need to listen and be there! Be all you can be FOR CHRIST! Be the blessing! Be the song! Be the encouragement! Be the listener!

I hope you all have a blessed night and are blessed as you read the little things.




 

Oh How He Loves Us!

           

     The title of today's blog refers to a song with the same title. I would like to dedicate this to my best friend.... and you know why!! : ) But There is so much JOY in knowing HOW MUCH HE LOVES US! The more you focus on His goodness, faithfulness, blessings, promises, Love, and life.... it will start to overtake you and make you smile a little more, laugh a little more, and feel a little more free and full of JOY!
And for anyone else who has have never heard this song... be blessed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC1ec-lYps

Today I began to think about the small things in life. The beauty of nature around us, my children, being able to spend some time here with family, the small country town I live in, and a best friend I can confide and have many God chats with. Its the little things that make you stop to see How much He loves us! The little blessings that bring it altogether and make you take a step back to see God for who He really is! To see what His love does!

He is jealous for us! Deuteronomy 4:24- " For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Do you know how much He loves us? So much that He doesn't want us to worship any other god or idol! So much that God sent His ONLY son! He wants us to know how much love He has for us and wants the BEST!  It also says, " What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can be against? Romans 8:31 A jealous God who is on our side.

How he adores us! Calls us His own! 2 Peter 1:3- " By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence." We are even called His very own. Did you know that we are made in the image and likeness of God? We are God's own design.Then God said," Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the Heavens and over the livestock and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Genesis 1:26 We are uniquely made and have our very own design and look!


How beautiful we are to Him! Psalm 139:14- "I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and your soul knows it very well."
This also goes along with Him forming us in our mother's womb. He knew us.... just how many hairs would be on your head (curly or straight) and ( blonde, red, brown, or black!) Tall, average, or short! He loves you as you are and as His own.

In the midst of life, the busyness, the ups and downs,and highs and lows...... God just wants us to put Him at the center of it all! To know that we can prosper in whatever we do, because He loves us and is for us!

Deuteronomy 31:8 New Living Translation
"Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you."

We can be full of Joy when we slow down and allow Him to have his way in our lives. We can experience the fullness of His love in our lives!

I encourage you to take a step back and see everything around you! Let the Joy of the Lord fill you daily as you allow Him to lead you, as you see the little, but beautiful things, and see Jesus for who He really is!  

I love this verse that tells us exactly how to know that He is God....

 Psalm 46:10 New American Standard Bible 
"Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

Zephaniah 3:17 - "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

JOY In Blessing Others

    I have been pondering a lot today! There are so many things I could write about. Today was more in the direction of JOY!

Matthew 5:16New American Standard Bible (NASB)

16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

   Acts of kindness, pay it forwards.... have you ever went out of your way deliberately to be a blessing to someone else? Maybe you was in the Starbucks line, only to pull up to be told that the person in front of you  paid for your coffee? I know that it would put a smile on my face and make me realize that God still uses people even in the small ways. God is always on time when we need those little blessings.

   If we did more small acts of kindness daily in this world, think how much life and light we would bring! It doesn't mean that you have to have money to be a blessing. Sometimes it is that smile, its the how are you doing today. Maybe you held the door for someone.... or helped an elderly remember where they parked there car in the parking lot! Maybe it's an elderly person  who lives alone and you go spend some time with them or make them some food. Maybe it was a tip you gave. There is so many little blessings we could do to just bring a little light, joy, or hope to someone! 

   In today's society.... we have become so busy that it becomes just about your family, or getting somewhere and getting back home. This is one way the enemy distracts us. If we slowed down just a little and became a little more observant to who is around us....we could be someone's smile that made their day, someone's hope when they felt like there was no more! We never know what the next person in line at the grocery store is going through, or the person we always see everyday at that gas station, or even your neighbor. 

   God calls us to be like Him. What does this consist of? Take a look at Jesus' life here on earth... he came to serve those who needed a Savior, hope, joy, love! The time he took to sit with the least of these, fed the hungry, and taught about His Father. It was never about Him, cause if it was he could have easily walked away from being hung on that cross. He knew what His purpose was, and He did just that for you and me. Let us walk in His light so that we can bring a little more light in this world.

1 Corinthians English Standard Version 
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Ephesians 5: 1-2 English Standard Version
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

   Don't wait to be served or be blessed by someone else. Go out and be the JOY someone else needs, the hope to keep going, the light to maybe bring salvation. You never know what your next act of kindness could bring for someone else, and you may never know what that meant to them, and that's OK. Great will be your reward when you stand before the Father! In doing these things for others and unselfishly, will bring so much overflow of JOY  to your heart that only God can bring to us. Happiness is temporary but JOY is everlasting when you experience it straight from the Father!

Matthew 5:12 English Standard Version
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Be blessed to be a BLESSING! 

And feel free to comment.!

 I would also like to challenge you to at least do 1 act of kindness this week. : )

 I would also love to hear back from you on your act of kindness! 

Let your light so shine!

GROWING PAINS

What more can I say than this? When I read this... it caught my attention! So are YOU just living life? Or have you found more life in living it fully when reading the Word and having that deliberate relationship, rather than just living day to day with no purpose?

It's like growing pains, In order to grow sometimes you actually have to go through pains in the process of growth! Like babies getting their first tooth. I can remember my middle sister having growing pains in her legs, and it would be at anytime throughout the day. I also remember they were not comfortable pains either. 

I believe that God wants us to not only grow physically, but spiritually! How do we do that, you may ask? It is a process... kind of like a baby. You are born ( Saved), drink milk to grow ( read the Word to know), then you start to crawl and walk ( allowing God to teach you His ways and guide you),  then you began to learn to speak ( you begin to use your gifts and witness), and now you begin to grow up ( this is where God takes you in a deeper walk with Him and more knowledge of who He is and what His Word says).

But Somewhere in there about the time where God wants to use us and He wants us to read our Word, we find a way to stay right there. This causes us to stay in that baby stage. That stage where we can't go any farther and we wonder why? That place where we want more, but aren't fully ready to surrender! That place where we know what God wants or is calling us to do, but we won't trust God to guide us?

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 English Standard Version

I too have been in that baby stage, and I was comfortable... or so I thought. Deep down I knew there was something more! Something deeper! I didn't want to be a plain Christian! This is where I realized that I needed to take God out of the box that I had put Him in! He was drawing me and longing for me to know who He truly is! I know it sounds crazy when I may say you can have a relationship with God, but you really can. Now that I decided to take God out of the box, this allowed Him to use me and the gifts that He gave me when I was born. Each one of us has a gift/gifts that God didn't intend for us to keep to ourselves, but to use it to bless/minister to others. Even our pasts can be used to minister to others.

I heard someone say it like this: Your testimony is someone else's medicine! Think about that real quick.........

What you have been through... what gift that you have can be used to help someone, heal someone, bring light into someone's darkness!

I just want to say... allow God to grow in you to be the woman/ man that He has called you to be! Draw close and let Him walk you through! He longs for you to grow in Him. It's a relationship that will GROW you! You will begin to experience the goodness of God, the peace that He intends for us to have, the love that He longs for us to know, the JOY that happiness could never buy, and so much more! 

So Yes, you will experience some growing pains in the process, but it will all be worth the while in the end! You will be so thankful that you take that next step and see the blessings that God has been longing for you to receive! Even blessings to see how it all changes everything.... from YOURSELF... to your home... to your family... and How God will use you in the simplest way to be a blessing to another.

A Testimony of Faithfulness

   2015 is finally here! I hope you all had a wonderful New Years. This is the time we are all making our New Years resolutions and hoping for the best! What are some of your New Years resolutions or did you make any?

   As I sat here and began to ask the Lord what He would really want me to share and talk about... He told me to just share about my testimonies and His faithfulness! What a good way to start the year. Remembering the goodness and faithfulness of what He has done in my life and what He is capable of doing in each of our lives.

   Being that we are military.... this calls for changes all along the way. I was born and raised in a small country town. One caution light (later became a red light), one grocery store, and 2 gas stations. Those small towns where everyone knows everybody. I never dreamed that God would take me out of my small town and never would I have dreamed of being a military wife. I loved my small town and still do, but in my dreams as a child I never wanted to move away. I always wanted to stay close to my family, being that we were so close, but God had different plans for my life. This is where my relationship with the Lord began to blossom and grow. This is where he takes me to learning what it really means to completely trust Him and not lean on my own understanding or try to do it all on my own.

So in January of 2011 my husband got orders to Fort Worth, TX. This is about 12 hours away from my home. I was thankful it wasn't farther away and that we were still in the South, for a southern girl! As we packed up both our vehicles and loaded up and took off with our little family, including our 2 kids, we were out on a whole new adventure and new way of life, COMPLETELY! Before we left I asked many people to pray for us on this new journey and to pray that God would help us find a good church. God did just that!

   As we finally made it, after more than 12 hours of driving, stopping to eat, are we there yet, and potty breaks, we finally arrive in Fort Worth, TX! Not knowing anyone, and not knowing my way around.... this was most definitely out of my comfort zone.

   So here is what I really want to share with you. As every Sunday came around we tried several churches and they were good, but not quite what we were looking for. You know that place where you feel like it's home and you belong. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to find the church where God wanted us to be.

   In Texas, they have this ice cream place called Braum's. You ask, What does this have to do with finding a church? Well.... when we first got to Fort Worth Brad and I both said we definitely have to try that place. Who doesn't like ice cream? :) We had been there now in Forth Worth for about 2 months and by this time its March. As I was driving down the road one day and I was coming up to pass Braum's, I just really felt like I should stop and grab some ice cream. But little did I know that God had planned this day and would lead me to our soon to be new church home. As I walked inside I was waiting in line and I had already been asking people everywhere I went if they knew of a good church, but was fighting with my flesh to not ask. I didn't want to ask.... I was to the point of really not wanting to ask anymore feeling like wouldn't find that church. But I just felt like God kept pushing me to just ask. As I stepped up to place my order I finally just gave in and asked the lady at the counter if she knew of any good churches around. Boy, did her face light up! To my surprise I had finally found someone who was excited when I asked about church. She said , "Yes! Let me tell you about my church, The Destiny Center!" She was so excited and you could see the joy of the Lord on her face. I placed my order and she told me have a seat that she was going to ask for her break. I was like, WOW! She was really wanting to share about her church, and to her it was important enough to ask for her break to be able to sit and share with me! As she took her break and she came and sat with me and my son and began to share, in my heart I was so overwhelmed with JOY! My heart was so glad that there were still people who cared, who were excited about Jesus! So we ended up at The Destiny Center the next Sunday. We were so blessed!

   Now let me fast forward about a year, and let me explain the great significance of Braum's! The lady who sat with me and took her break to share about her church, later told me that she only ended up working 2 weeks then quit due to her husband getting a new job. This blew me away because how awesome and amazing was it that God knew the exact timing? How awesome was it that He used a lady at an ice cream shop? How awesome was it that He put me right where I needed to be? I just began to thank God for being so faithful and amazing all at the same time. He put the right person in my path and at the right time, in a little ice cream shop!

   Now, to you this may sound like a good simple story, and it is! I get excited every time I get to share it! But let me share with you this..... No matter where you go, no mater what you do, God is ALWAYS faithful! When we open our hearts and allow Him to have His way and allow Him to guide us where He wants us to be and not what we want..... the result is always amazing! In this simple, yet profound story, God showed me that I needed to learn to lean on Him, that He will take care of you! He also showed me that He is faithful to take care of His children and that we are important!

   I'm not sure where you are, where you are going, or what lies ahead, but I can tell you one thing.... God will take care of you and put you where you need to be when you trust in Him. He truly cares about each one of us.

This became my scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6 AMP

5 Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

6 In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.

   We were a new family, in a new place, and God put my family right where we needed to be.... and He did just that!

  I hope your New Year is blessed, that Jesus is the Center of it all, and you too find how faithful He really is!

   Hello!! And welcome to my blog: Jesus and Joy! My name is Candace. I am a military wife and a stay-at-home mother of 2 kids. I am new to this blogging and you will have to overlook my English!

  The title Jesus and Joy came from a little inspiration from the Lord. I never dreamed that I would ever write after college. The Lord just kind of dropped this is my spirit to share my heart, and to be real! I want to be able to share about Jesus, share a little of what Joy He wants us to have, laughter,  and whatever he puts in my heart to write and share! You know, even Jesus has a sense of humor! 

   I have been wanting to write for a while, but procrastination got the better of me. I have not wrote in a very long time, but here lately I have been inspired to write. I am the type of person that will sit and think a lot... my mind is constantly running, and I know that there are many times I get these ideas, thoughts, or even revelations from God, but never write them down. I have been told many times to always keep a pen and paper with me so when that insight, idea, or even revelation from God comes... you can write it down! I wanted to somehow incorporate my journey, my testimonies, God's promises, His joy, and a little bit of laughter in my blog. I hope this is a blessing to you, and I hope in some aspect this brings joy, inspiration, and a little bit of Jesus!