Just the other day I was reflecting on the first couple of months of 2019 and how --even with all the surgeries and slow recoveries and difficulties in healing, this year is ALREADY so much better than 2018 and I was thinking it was probably time to check in with my OneWord365 and see how it has been showing up for me!
Do you guys have OneWord that you pick --or that picks you? If so, have you been intentional in finding it... in staying alert and aware in case it shows up for you in random ways or unexpected places?
I only ask because I know how easy it can be to claim a word and then just move along with your living and forget to pay attention! (In fact, my OneWord is a
Normally those New Years' Resolutions are fading away by March --at least for me. However, with my One Word --if I remember to look for it, it's usually all around me if I will just focus my eyes and expectations!
So I was already feeling the need to reflect back and take note of how (and where!) JOY has shown up for me this year when during my devotional time yesterday --the Lord whispered a specific Psalm to pray through. He does this from time to time and I am never disappointed in following His lead.
For much of the last couple of years,
He has been quieter than usual.
I'm not a fan of it...
I much prefer His chattiness!
I had spent the morning thinking over January and February, listing off in my mind where Joy had shown up for me...
* A miraculously successful first surgery... JOY at being able to see immediately better than I ever have! Relatively no pain and fast healing.
* JOY in our great friends who are like family who offered us respite and a place to stay and heal after surgeries.
* JOY in going out to breakfast with My Honey to celebrate the new vision and being halfway done with eye surgeries before the road trip back home!
* A more difficult second surgery with complications and lack of clear vision --but JOY in knowing it was over... it was expected to improve, and --huge praise: the whole thing was covered by our Insurance.
* New Worship music that sings my heart when I couldn't find the words... JOY in giving a sacrifice of praise!
* JOY in how God provides for us in this strange season... checks in the mail, groceries dropped off on our doorstep, prayers of friends and family, meals shared or delivered, etc.
* JOY in silly tv shows or movies or stand-up comics that make us laugh... and private jokes or old stories retold that only we find hilarious! Laughter is good medicine, and oh how we all are need of extra doses of it, right?
* JOY in listening to and reading through various Voxer recordings and prayers... Facebook messages and online friends checking in on me/us!
* Post-Oral surgery, even while in desperate pain, hearing My Honey whisper-pray and encourage me by saying, "We're all done! We're on the other side of it all! It will only get better from here!" JOY in how he loves me like Jesus.
* JOY in getting a great report from the doctor. Bloodwork and other tests came back with zero concerns.
* Lil Miss --because, of course... and always! Hearing her say, "Papa" and praying with her and drinking in her giggles like I'm desert dry and dying of thirst... JOY... She exudes it in all she does and it seems it spills out of her in supernatural proportions!
* JOY in getting back to a nearly normal schedule of writing and podcasting and even READING ALL THE THINGS AGAIN!
* JOY in being able to go to church... to worship in a crowd... to take Communion and hear the Word and even though we haven't found a place to call Home... JOY in the hope that is arising that we will! One day... yet again... we will!
* Feeling Hope around the Edges and the returning of routine... JOY in feeling released to do some things --and released to not do some things (--Amen?)
***
So... as you can see, I was on a roll in finding all the ways JOY had come looking for me already this year when I heard Him interrupt my thoughts and my reading plan! He told me to pray Psalm 66 so immediately I flipped the pages in my Bible to begin.
The 'title' of this Psalm is, "Thank You, Lord." and the subtitle, if you will, is, "For the Pure and Shining One... A Song of Awakening."
Alright!?!
I see you, Lord!
I'm on board with this!
It talks about lifting up a Joyful shout and telling the world how wonderful He is.
"Everyone everywhere, lift up your joyful shout to God! Sing your songs tuned to his glory! Tell the world how wonderful he is. For he’s the awe-inspiring God, great and glorious in power! We’ve never seen anything like him!" (Ps 66:1-3 TPT)
It goes over a few testimonies of miracles and talks of how we are safe in His hands.
"Praise God, all you peoples. Praise him everywhere and let everyone know you love him! There’s no doubt about it; God holds our lives safely in his hands. He’s the one who keeps us faithfully following him." (Ps 66:8-9 TPT)It talks of going through hard times, through flood and fire and then, in verse 12, it says this:
"...yet in the end you always bring us out better than we were before, saturated with your goodness."
Wait... what?
Saturated with His goodness?
YOU GUYS?! You may not remember this, but this is the EXACT PHRASE that He gave me prophetically for this entire year!
I wrote about it in our annual Prophetic New Years' Day post. (You can read that one here if you'd like.)
Someone had asked me in an earlier post if that phrase was from the Bible and I had no clue! I mean - I know it's scriptural --but I didn't know there was a translation that actually used it word for word in a verse!
How amazing is our God?
How great and wonderful
and loving and faithful?
In The Message it reads like this:
"Road-tested us inside and out, took us to hell and back; Finally he brought us to this well-watered place." (Ps 66:12)
You know this speaks to me due to the meaning of my name! "Karrilee" is aboriginal and means "a resting place beside deep waters."
In other translations, the last phrase of verse 12 reads:
"wide-open spaces"...
"a safe place, a land rich and abundant"...
"a place of great abundance" or
"a broad place of abundance to be refreshed."
Just ALL the Yes and Amens,
and Please and Thank You's, right?
"Thank You, Lord."
Indeed!!!
So there you have it...
JOY is surrounding me and I am finding myself
Saturated in His Goodness already...
and we are just getting started!
This Prophetic word or phrase,
however, was not just for me!
If you recall, I pray and ask Him
for a word for ALL of us for the New Year!
So this word is for you, too!
Grab hold of it!
Focus your heart and your eyes
and your expectations to find yourself
drenched in His goodness this year,
my friends! He's wanting to do this!
No matter how 2019 has started...
whether it's been good or hard
(or maybe a bit of both!)
--His word is true, and,
as Ps 66:12 says, in the end,
He always brings us out better
than we were before,
saturated with His goodness!
For the King and His Kingdom,
And, all God's people said, "AMEN!"
ReplyDeleteAmen!
Deletexoxo
YES! Saturated with goodness! So much joy my friend, so much joy!! xoxo
ReplyDeleteWe are both OVERDUE for it! xoxo
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