JOY!!! Unspeakable Joy!  That’s the joy we all shared at tonight’s Christmas Program performed by all our amazing children.  They spoke about Unspeakable Joy and we definitely felt that joy tonight.  We laughed and cried tears of joy and happiness as we watched our young children and teenagers singing and performing for us.   They shared the story of the birth of Jesus Christ and the unspeakable joy that we are overwhelmed with that just takes hold of us when we are in God’s presence.  You can be having a tough day, a day that you just wish you could redo but the minute you are in God’s presence everything you were just feeling melts away.  God fills you with a joy that fills your soul and holds on so tight.  It’s like a great big hug from our one and only Heavenly Father that just takes away every burden, every sorrow, every bit of frustration.  Being filled with God’s presence and this unspeakable joy our hearts are filled with is the greatest gift we could receive.  When God sent his son, Jesus to be our redeemer, God gave us a gift like no other.  I’m so happy that my boys took part in tonight’s performance.  I could not be any more proud of my boys as I watch them getting closer to God and wanting to be a part of everything at our church.  My boys aren’t little anymore where I can TELL them what to do.  They are grown men making these choices on their own and they choose JOY!  All month I’ve heard KSBJ, our local Christian radio station say a prayer of “I Choose Joy”.  I’ve heard many people speak on the radio of how they choose joy.  This isn’t something you choose just for the holidays.   No.  This is something you choose for life.  Not everyday is filled with funny Christmas programs and silly boys doing ridiculously funny things.  There are days that are just down right frustrating and overwhelming where you just feel your spirit breaking into pieces.  But with the JOY that God fills our hearts with, you can choose to make those tough days a better day.  So I Choose JOY…and I pray that you too will choose JOY.  Let that Unspeakable Joy rise in your soul and take hold of you.  God wants to see you filled with peace and joy every day of your life.

XOXO…Ileen

Psst…God Loves You

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”  Romans 15:13