Are YOU Rejoicing?

Everytime something happens that is frustrating, no fun, blah, sad, WHATEVER - Rance and I shout at the top of our lungs "REJOICE" or at least remind each other to do so.  Why?  Let me tell you why...

THE WORD OF GOD says so!

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say REJOICE! ~ Philippians 4:4

Paul did not say to “be happy,” but “rejoice in the Lord.”  What does this mean?  We are to “Rejoice in the Lord,” not our circumstances. Our rejoicing is to take place in Christ. We are to delight in Him.

When do you find it difficult to “rejoice in the Lord always”?  I'm sure we would all agree that there are certain things, situations, circumstances that we all find really hard to clap our hands & rejoice in whether it's a sickness, a job, a family situation, a relationship, dealing with a coworker, a death, or whatever the case may be.  We allow Satan to steal our joy and we become so consumed by the situation that we forget the bigger picture.  It's okay to cry, hurt, miss someone - Jesus felt all of those things too when He lived on earth in the flesh.  We don't have to LOVE the situation we are in, that's not what Paul is saying, but we can choose to rejoice & delight in Him because at the end of the day God is still God no matter what this messy world throws at us.  “Rejoicing in the Lord” is something every Christian can do regardless of the chances, changes and circumstances that come...


(Side note:  Keep in mind, this is something the Lord is teaching me so I'm really preaching to myself here)

Think about this...
 If you are a believer in Jesus Christ everything that really matters in this life and the next is yours in Christ.  Is your hope fixed on Jesus Christ?  Rejoice in Him!  Psalm 37 says “Delight yourself also in the Lord.” Do you delight in knowing you have been saved by grace through faith in Christ? If so, Rejoice with all your heart and soul!  Do you delight in knowing Jesus Christ died as your substitute on the cross? Rejoice in the Lord!  Rejoicing is realizing that God didn’t have to save me, but He did, free of charge, no matter how much I fail Him. Rejoicing is thanking God that, one day, Satan will be forever locked up into everlasting torment.  Rejoicing is knowing that “all things work together for our good, who are called according to His purpose,” (Romans 8:28).  Rejoicing means that because we have a SAVIOR that loves us so much - we will never have to spend eternity in hell where there is no possible way to rejoice ever again...

Whatever happens REJOICE in HIM. That is an attitude. Even those hard situations, times of long-suffering, or even small little frustrations in your day...as a believer you can fix your eyes on HIM and REJOICE always. 

Fix your heart on an attitude of REJOICING!

Have you learned to rejoice in everything?

*God's INVISIBLE Qualities*

I have always LOVED the outdoors but I must admit that there is something about the MOUNTAINS and the way the Lord makes Himself so REAL through His creation that He spoke into existence!!!  Rance and I love taking hikes and there is not a single hike that we go on that we aren't completely in awe of His majesty, His beauty, His creativity!  One verse from God's Word that always comes to mind on our long hikes...

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." 

Romans 1:20

Nature reveals God in such an unmistakable way!  There is no way we can look at creation and MISS seeing God, the Creator!  He has been made available and 'clearly seen' by us all 'since the creation of the world'  which means Adam saw it, Cain saw it, Noah saw it, Abraham saw it, Jacob saw it, Moses saw it, David saw it, and every other person that has ever lived since the beginning of time.  God makes Himself overwhelmingly evident to all...

A lil' taste of His creation in Robbinsville, NC

Does He not take your breathe away?

 
~He didn't miss a single detail~

THE VASTNESS OF GOD

 My NEW Family & our Sunday afternoon hikes!

(from left: Rance, Jenni, Cody, Lil' Frank, and Frank)

DADDDDYYYYYYYYYY!!!

(for those of you who have been around us know this is shouted OFTEN)

Love hangin' out with them! 

Cody-Funnest kid EVER!!!
(he was the ring bearer in our wedding!)

Stop whatever you are doing, step outside, take a look at Creation and tell me...

How Great is OUR God?!?! 

Home Sweet Home!

Our Cabin

 My dear friend SNOW.

 View of our neighbors cabins from our front porch!  They live in Florida so they only visit every 6 to 8 weeks!

More coming soon...



Dear Snow!

Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways.  I remember the days I longed for you growing up (in EASTERN NC).  If anyone would see just ONE small flake, the phone chain would begin to inform everyone to go look out their window.  Everyone would rush to the grocery store and basically everything shut down whether it was a light dusting or a whole INCH accumulated.  You were so rare in my life the past 26 years.   

Oh how things change.  The year 2010 changed drastically for me when I moved to WESTERN NC and you became a significant part of my life.  I really do love the way you look, the way you TASTE and the way you so clearly reflect the Lord and His majesty over creation.  I don't even mind the frigid temperatures that are required for you to appear now that my husband and family have so graciously provided me with some serious SNOW boots/gear.  However, you really do some annoying damage to our DRIVEWAY.  As in, you cause me SERIOUS anxiety over the means to get to and from our lovely cabin that sits so HIGH on the mountain.  You see, I really do love our house and the view from up high - but I did not like our driveway from the beginning before I experienced YOU invading it too.  Three words describe this driveway of ours:  long, STEEP, and narrow.  Before I met you on our driveway, it was intimidating enough going up and down.  Now, you come down beautifully and pile up THICK, then you turn to ice, and eventually you MELT producing more MUD than I have ever seen.  Mud that makes you slide everywhere.  Let me remind you again that there is NOT a lot of room to slide on this lovely driveway of ours without going over the side of the mountain.  So whether you are falling beautifully, turning to ice, or producing a pile of mud - you are not doing a great job welcoming me to Robbinsville.  You are SCARING me.  Do you feel my pain?  Not to mention, I've already given up EVER owning a clean, shiny vehicle again.  I now look like a professional mud slinger. 

Here is the thing dear snow.  Just when I think MAYBE just MAYBE you will be going away for a little while (meaning a day or two) and our driveway might have an opportunity to DRY, you make your appearance again.  And when you make your appearance around here, it's no light dusting or 1 to 3 inches - you like to go ALL OUT and snow 10 to 12 to 14 inches!  You are so humorous.  It seems you never end.  I guess reality is - me and you are going to have to become friends.  Can we compromise?  Make a deal?  I mean, it'd be cool to have a chance to miss you ya know?  Distance makes the heart grow fonder right?  The Lord commands me to love thy neighbor as thyself though so I shall be obedient but He also asks me to speak the truth in love!  How did I do?  I do apologize for any harshness because I really do like you - you just take some getting use to I guess. 

Good to see you last night and this morning by the way.  I'm REJOICING even though everyone is off of work today but me.  Is there anyway you could make it possible to shut down public accounting too when you are here?  Every now and then would be suhhweeet!

Goodbye for now.  I'll go outside and see you in a minute and maybe we can chat.
Jenni