God's Heart

                                                  

John 15 New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus, the True Vine

15 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

                       

                          

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

                    

The World’s Hatred

18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. 21 They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. 22 They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.23 Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. 25 This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures[a]: ‘They hated me without cause.’

26 “But I will send you the Advocate[b]—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. 27 And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.

~My church is reading this passage daily for the month of January.  New insights daily.  Love God's heart!  ~Heather

Morning of Affirmation

Do you ever wonder if you are the only one that feels or reacts the way you do in life?  Who struggles with various situations?  This morning I got onto Pinterest to look something up and a friend had created a new board about her personality type.  So I looked up mine!  There is nothing like getting a truckload of affirmation that shows you are not the only one wired by God to navigate life the way you do!  It has really picked up my spirits and brought me JOY! :-)  My personality is a complex one in a world that wants outgoing, people-persons for every thing.

The following quote made me laugh out loud!

Sometimes there are so many things to focus on to be a good communicator and so many thoughts swirling, I completely forget people's names right after the introduction!  Then the mind takes a rabbit trail on how to get the person to give you their name again and the entire conversation is missed.  This is an incredible frustration when your business is connecting with people.  

My personality type is 

What type are you?  I'd love for you to leave me a comment!

The world is a beautiful place because we are not all the same and do not all act the same way.  If we were all talkers, who would listen?  Understanding how to best relate to each person is the key to Joy-Filled relationships.  Tawnia and I compliment each other in friendship so well because we have opposite personalities.  

~Heather

I Choose Joy!

What is Joy, other than my middle name (literally)?  It is not the same as happiness.  Happiness is a feeling that comes and goes.  My experience is joy is a choice that leads to peace.  There have been many experiences I've lived through the past three years that I would not have chosen, did not make me happy, and often threatened to overwhelm me completely.  In each instance, however, I was able to stop, refocus on what was important, and find the joy in the moments.
                                     

When my son was a one year old, my husband was battling Leukemia for the second time, and I was working full-time, there were many days I wanted to pull the blanket over my head and stay there.  It was in those moments that I needed to stop and refocus on what small task I could complete at that moment and enjoy time with my little one.  We had lots of special times while I was cooking and he was playing on the kitchen floor at my feet.  The mess didn't matter, the memories did.

Today, being able to make plans and leave my son at home with his father who is now well, is a miracle and blessing!  Even in those times, though, coming home to my son throwing himself at my feet and hugging my leg while telling me, "I missed you Mommy!"...this is the highlight of my day.

Please don't misunderstand me.  I am not saying that I've mastered finding joy in everything, but I have come a LONG way from where I was.  I used to jump on the negative train at the drop of a hat and then regret it.  Now I avoid that train as much as possible.  I'm finding it is easier and easier to find the positive in situations and see how complaining and griping won't change anything but will definitely make it more miserable.

Finding and CHOOSING Joy in life's journey is what this blog is about.  You'll see our struggles, our victories, and our day to day values and I hope you'll see Joy interwoven throughout all of them as a common thread.
~Heather

                               Meet Tawnia and Heather... friends, "sisters", your Joy-Filled Life Bloggers.