The Gleeful Journey

"Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord." - Psalm 89:15

I'm 12 weeks into my journey of being gleeful. If nothing else, this journey has taught me that I must continually be seeking the good things and the blessings because they aren't always obvious. When you seek and count your blessings, it causes you to have a thankful heart. When you are thankful and worshipping God, it is pretty hard not to have joy. To be happy. To be gleeful. 

Life isn't always good. In fact, sometimes life is very difficult. And sometimes our season of life makes us question whether there is anything good at all. But there is always something good. There is always something to be thankful for. God always has a reason for giving us one more day. Sometimes our hard days help form our ministry, so that we can help another person. Sometimes our hard days make us cause us to look at the great days and worship God.

Here are some things I've noticed about my joy in this 3 month process. 
- My family brings me more joy than I could have possibly imagined. 
- The sunlight has a huge impact on my mood. I'm definitely not a cold weather kind of girl. Sunny days make my soul happy. 
- Focusing on my blessings, whether small or large has really helped me see how good God truly is. 

Here are some of the things that I've praised God for in the past 3 months. 
-My children's health, my mom being okay after a bad fall, music, youth retreats, quiet times with God, creating things, coffee dates, restful nights, good school days,  snow days, long days at home with family, hard working hubby, baby chicks, baby showers, friend's spiritual retreat, and beautiful spring days. 

I pray that those of you following along in this journey with me are feeling the positive impact of recording our gleeful moments. If you aren't, please join the Facebook group and join us in sharing throughout the week on the things that bring us glee. We'd love the company! 

Friends, we are happy when we take these things that make us gleeful and hear them as the joyful call to worship our Creator.  We will walk in the light of His presence.  I encourage you to take time out of your busy lives and figure out what makes you gleeful. 

~Peace out, homies. 
#BeGleeful

Being Gleeful - the first real week

It's been 9 days since I wrote my first post in the #BeGleeful series. Let just tell you. It has been harder than I thought it would be. I published my post on Saturday January 3rd. That evening my daughter got sick. She started throwing up late that night. She seemed mostly fine on Sunday, but we had to miss church and that always makes me sad. Then Monday, she puked multiple times an hour all day long. We had to get her meds so that she could stop puking and get rest. Poor thing had bloodshot eyes from barfing so much. That lasted through Wednesday. We had planned on starting our homeschool week back on Wednesday, so needless to say that didn't happen. 

So Thursday we are in the clear, right? Nope. Not at all. My mom fell down the stairs and it was super scary. Thankfully, she is okay. Just some bruises. It could have been really bad.

Friday I overslept and didn't take Sam to preschool. For those of you who don't know, Sam is a little cling-on with me. He pretty much has to be touching me in some way. It is really hard to school the big ones with him being like that, so we send him to preschool 3 days a week. It really helps. 

I work part-time 3 days a week. Work was insane. 

I suffered from my night time anxiety issues which kept me up all night almost every night  this past week and therefore felt like a zombie. 

But guess what? I'm going to #BeGleeful that my daughter is back to her normal self and feeling healthy again. I'm super thankful that she never got dehydrated.  My mom could have been badly injured, but she wasn't. God was there. No doubt about it. Oversleeping helped me catch up on rest Friday morning. Work won't be nearly as insane this week. I'm praying the anxiety won't be an issue this week 

Here's what I'm clinging to this week. 

1 Thessalonians 5: 16 

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 

Romans 12: 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 

Psalms 46: 1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. 

Romans 8: 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 

Zephaniah 3:17 (one of my favorites)

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in your with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. 

Psalms 29: 11 The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace. 

Psalms: 13: 5 But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. 

I'm pretty sure God is telling me to be in constant communion with Him. It will keep me joyful and help me be thankful for all things. If I'm having a hard time, I should be patient and keep on praying. No matter how tough things are, He's going to be right there with me. He is always for there for me. He calms me and loves to see me when I'm happy. He give me strength and peace. He has rescued me. I'm pretty sure I have many things to be gleeful about.

I've been trying to capture some of the gleeful moments of my week. Here ya go! 

 

My first ever granny square. I'm making an afghan this year. It's a little wonky looking, but I still need to block it.

A stashbuster/scrappy afghan I'm also making.

My sweet little girl with her new glasses.