Friday, July 27, 2012

Musings...

Dear JOY Blog readers,

I am thankful to all of you for reading JOY Blog. God gave me JOY Blog as a Christian alternative to what the culture offers girls and young women! JOY Blog has always been a place where I want to see God glorified above all else! In the past few months, I have not been able to dedicate as much time as I think this ministry deserves.

As Ecclesiastes 3:1(NIV1984) says, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." At this time, most of my writing is being done on my personal blog, Musings Made By Mandy. While you may see some postings on here every now and then, most of my writing will be done on Musings. If you would like to read more of my writing, please follow me on my personal blog: http://musingsmadebymandy.blogspot.com/ I would love to see you over there!

In this season, I feel God is calling me to focus in this one place. So in this season of down time for JOY Blog, come visit me on my blog and see how God is working in my life. On Musings, you will see random thoughts, stories, the hard times, and the times filled with JOY. 

So come on over to Musings!

Joy and hugs,

Mandy H.


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Author favorites - Summer Activities

Hey everyone!

Summer is half-way over, yet there is plenty of time for some more fun summer activities! I thought I would share some of my favorite summer activities. Please comment what you love to do during the summer! I'll add them to this list! Have fun!

Mandy H.

Mandy's Favorite Summer Activities

  • Volunteering! (I love to volunteer! There are so many fun things you can do - visit the elderly, become politically active, help in the Church nursery, babysit for free, be creative and come up with your own ideas based on things you love!)
  • Being at the lake (or in the pool). I love to play on the lake. Boating, fishing, tubing, knee boarding, and this year I hope to learn how to wake board!
  • Spending time with my family, especially my nieces and nephews!
  • Having bonfires.  Even though sometimes it is too warm for that, I love the gathering of people around the fire!
  •  Bicycling. I haven't had time to do a lot of it this summer, but I enjoy it!
  •  Reading books, watching movies, or blogging on here or my personal blog! This is one activity that I like if it is SUPER hot out and I need to cool off, I head on down to the basement to do these!!!
Remember to share your ideas below and I will post some of them on here! Have a great summer! 

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Consider Your Calling...

This is something I posted on personal blog about a week ago.  I have been thinking a lot lately about the place in life that I am. Am I where I am supposed to be? Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing? Most importantly, am I living my life to the glory of God and boasting in Him?

So what is my calling? Many times we get catch up in thinking we are no good enough, strong enough, or smart enough, and we are not...But through Christ's work on the cross, God gives us the strength and the wisdom we need. He takes what we see as unusable and creates new life! So, let us boast, not in ourselves, but in the Lord, because it is through Him that we are who we are today and He will use us to do His work!


These verses show that God uses us all, just as we are, for His glory! Our weakness demonstrates His power! We are to boast in Him!


1 Corinthians 1:25-31 ESV
 
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."


Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day 2012

Today in the United States, we observe Memorial Day. For many of us, we think of it as a weekend to have fun, the start of summer, and an extra day off of work or school.

We forget the meaning behind this day. Take time today to remember those people who have fought for the freedoms you are enjoying at this very moment.



While we are remembering these heroes, we should also take time to remember the One who gave everything for us and paid the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Jesus demonstrated the greatest love for us by laying down His life for us.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
(John 15:13 NIV84)

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:7, 8 NIV84)


Take a moment this weekend...to be grateful for the freedoms you have and for the greatest freedom that you can have- freedom from your sins through faith in Jesus Christ. If you do not yet know this freedom, I encourage you to go to: http://peacewithgod.jesus.net/god-so-loved-the-world/  or email JOY Blog at: joyfilledgirls [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

National Day of Prayer 2012

The National Day of Prayer is Thursday, May 5, 2012. This is a day that people across the nation come together to pray. We pray for our leaders, pastors, government officials, teachers, and more.

I encourage you to answer this call of prayer and gather with your family, friends, and community to pray together for our nation.



Matthew 18:20

  [Jesus said,] "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17

  Pray continually



To find an event near you, go to: http://nationaldayofprayer.org/about/find-an-event/

For more information about the National Day of Prayer, go to: http://nationaldayofprayer.org/

Monday, April 16, 2012

Blessings and Gifts


Blessings and Gifts

A small yellow flower blossoming
God’s blessings are all around us. Small ones. Big ones. Some we are surprised by. Others we take for granted. Sometimes, we don’t even see them.

I see blessings as a gift from God. One of the first verses that I remember memorizing as a child was James 1:17a. It was a verse that I put in my heart and claimed as my own. In that verse, James says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17a). Those gifts from God are blessings to me.

Last month, I felt God’s blessing in two ways; first by being able to recognize the blessing, and second by receiving the gift.

Receiving

Somewhere around this time of year, my family and I like to head south for a few days and get out of the cold climate that we live in. We are not able to do this every year, but if we can we try to do it a few months into the New Year. This year, we picked a week that was free. I had a week off in between college terms and it looked like a good week to go. But due to several different things going on in my family, mostly the health of an extended family member, none of us felt like we could commit to this vacation. We did not want to leave our loved one, no matter how much we wanted to go on this “warm weather” vacation. We all felt it was the right thing to do, to stay home. At the same time, we all wanted to go and get out of the cool weather. But we stayed home and trusted that that was the right thing to do.

And God blessed us. In an area of the country that averages anywhere from 30 degrees at this time of year to 30 below, God blessed us with warm weather, and I mean warm! It was 30-50 degrees warmer during this week than it usually is and it broke several warm weather records for that time of the year.

While it may not seem like a big deal to others, maybe not even to my other family members, it was a big deal to me. It was God’s gift to me. I felt His blessing for trusting Him.


Recognizing

The other part of the blessing that I received was recognizing this gift from God. Sometimes, as I said before, we do not always see God’s blessings and we miss them. I could have done this. I could have missed this gift. But God gave me a double blessing! He blessed me with the gift of warm weather (which meant a great deal to me!) and He blessed me by letting me see it!

I challenge you to see blessings every day. They can be small and you may think they are not there, but I guarantee that God has blessings for you if you are willing to let Him work in your life and if you are open to see them.

Proverbs 10:6a
Blessings crown the head of the righteous…


Do you have any stories of blessings in your life, small or big??? I would love to hear about them. Comment here or email joyfilledgirls [at] hotmail [dot] com.

By Mandy H.