First part of my time away.........and there is JOY!

 So, as I mentioned, I am away scrapbooking with the gals!  I can not tell you how much being with these ladies fills my soul and just plain makes me feel good.  We are at a new location, and so far, it is really nice! 

While you might think this is the treat aisle at Walgreens, this is just the food to share section of our room. Yeah, this is not great for someone doing Weight Watchers!  Anyway, I have actually accomplished about 10 pages, so all in all, not bad!  When I went to get in the shower this morning, I realized that my shower gel bottle is almost empty.  And so was my shampoo.  I guess I should have looked at my travel kit before I left home!  Then this morning, as I was getting dressed, I looked in my suitcase and discovered that somehow I had forgotten to pack a shirt for tomorrow!  This is certainly not a great start to living out of a suitcase for the next two weeks! Fortunately, I am going to be at home tomorrow before we leave on our vacation.  So I will be able to not only change my shirt, refill my travel shampoo and soap,  but also take a quick check of my BIG suitcase to make sure that I have what I need.  This is really nothing to stress over since as we all know, there is a Walmart in every town and a Walgreens on every corner! But I would much rather be prepared. 

Last night (very late) as I was laying in bed, I was thinking about joy.  What makes me the happiest.  It really isn't about things at all.  It is always about people.  It doesn't matter what I am doing, it is always about WHO I am with.  I guess that says something about me.  I find the greatest joy being with family and friends or surrounded by others who love Jesus.  It doesn't take much to make us all laugh.  And laughter is good for your soul.  I love Psalm 126:2

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.  This it was said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them."

I think this is true.  When others around us see us laughing and having so much joy, it causes them to stop and think, "Wow, I wonder what they are so happy about?"  It may just not be so true that they realize that it is God that has helped us to be joyful.  This is a good reminder for me (and all of us) to be quick to give God the glory when we are happy and having fun.  For me, it is much easier to talk about how Jesus has helped us when things are really bad.  Somehow it is a bit harder to remember to give HIM the credit for all the laughter and joy.  I think I will be doing more of that in the future!

Thank you Jesus for the joy and laughter that we experienced in this scrapbook.  Thank you for filling our mouths with laughter and our hearts with joy.  Holy Spirit, thank you for the reminder to be ready to point people to Jesus, even when things are going great and we have lots of joy and fun.  Thank you for your Word that speaks to us in our everyday life.  Amen