Faith....

Quote:  Having faith in God includes faith in His timing. - Neal Maxwell

Worn...
Weary....
Broken.....
Tears, tears, and more tears....

That is how my morning began.  There have been many "quick" changes in just a short time, since my husband lost his job.  I am just a mess of emotions and they come flooding out at the most inopportune time.

Sunday, my pastor, Tim Mills from LifeChurch Birmingham preached from the book of Job.  I'll be totally honest and say, at this moment... I kind of have that Job feeling.  I do thank  God that my health is still good... I'll pass on the boils! :)

I have been reading a book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp lately too.  (Visit my "gifts" tab on my page.)  This book is slowly and radically changing my life and the way I see every day, every "gift" regardless of how small or how large.

Ok, so how does all of this fit together today for me?   Job had everything taken from him, yet he continued to love and follow God.  His eye was on the Gift Giver, and not the gifts.  When all else around him was gone, he still had the greatest gift which was God.

I am learning to see the Gift Giver in every gift.  Even in these broken and uncertain moments in my life.  I am blessed with so much.  And although there is a lot of "unknowns" in my life and that of my family, I still have such an abundance of gifts.  Yet, in counting gifts in the small and simple things ( what I'm learning from Ann's book), my focus becomes in greater on the GIVER of these gifts.

For this Giver is where JOY is from.  My joy does not come from anything I posses, any gift that He see's fit to give me... My JOY is found in Him alone!

So this morning, when I was having my melt down in tears, I looked around me for those small gifts I usually wouldn't see as "gifts" and realize how much I am loved by the JOY GIVER... and I found peace.

May  my eyes remain on the GIVER of all things.  God, creator of all things big and small, help me to know that I have JOY in everything, because I have YOU.  May I feel Your presence and Your joy, even in the tears that fall.  You are so good to me.