Lord, Please Make Me a Fountain – Not a Drain

I had an “aha” moment as I was adding water to the base of my children’s fountain. In these hot temperatures, the water evaporates quickly so it requires an occasional fill-up. I started thinking about how to be an unstoppable fountain of life and not a drain. Putting it into “people terms” – it’s striving to be a life-giver -- a positive encourager instead of a negative drainer.

I'm sure you can think of a few negative people who can take an intended joyful time and turn it into a draining time. They have difficulty finding the good in anything. We love them, but if we hang around them for very long, we sense our own joy draining. No doubt, they may have had some really negative stuff happen in their lives and it has impacted their heart and soul. We all have a past that tries to bind us, or maybe a present that insists on weighing us down and even a future that shows no glimmer of hope. But, no matter what – there is always the Source of Hope Who dwells within us if we are believers in our God of Hope. And, we want that for them, too!

We can’t always change our circumstances or our past, but we can change how we view our life as it moves forward. If we find ourselves facing life with dread, then I’d like to offer you a few of my personal habits that have served me well and kept my fountain overflowing instead of draining life out of me, as well as those in my sphere of influence.

~ Be positive. It can be a work-out, but when we do, it becomes second nature and it creates a fountain of life to others.

~ Count your blessings. Start right here to find your happy place. We woke up this morning. We were able to get up out of bed on our own. We have a place to live. We have food to eat. We have God Who loves us so much. Keep in mind there is always someone who has a much tougher time than we do!

~ Be hopeful. Hope is a wondrous thing. I’m passionate about this one because “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13.12). We all need to reach down inside for our child-like anticipation for the future. It's possible with God because He provides a hope that makes the heart healthy and filled with joy. God has our best interests at heart. God wants good things for us, plans to prosper us, and not harm us. Sometimes we slip-up or the world throws us a curve-ball, but it doesn’t change who He is. He is always good, and always desires good for us. That is always and forever a reason to have HOPE! Let's blow up that HOPE balloon and let it fly!

~ Surround yourself with positivity. We become those who we hang around if we let them. Sit with an incessant complainer and before long it’s natural to gravitate to their side and we are complaining about this and that, too. Hang out with life-givers and our fountain starts to overflow with life!

~ Encourage others. Who wants to be a drain that depletes others of their God-given inherent joy? Not me! I want to be a fountain-of-life encourager who speaks life. Positive words empower and energize others. Let’s fill up the fountain within us so it has a never-ending spring of Living Water flowing to those around us. God knows they may be going down for the last time in murky waters of unbelief and negativity. God may be sending out a 9-1-1 call for you and I to be His emergency "springs of living water" provider.

John 7:37-38 "Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Rejoice and Go Tell It On the Mountain

Yesterday was the third Sunday of Advent and we should be singing “Go Tell It on the Mountain"! Not necessarily from a mountain. That would mean we'd have to go climbing! Perhaps we can start right here at ground zero to be joyful and full of the good news of Christ's coming to this earth for you and me.

The pink, third candle on the Advent wreath was lit, The pink candle symbolizes JOY and REJOICE. The theme scripture that Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4 is “Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say rejoice.” My pastor shared that the laughter statistics in a single day is 400 laughs a day for children versus 4 laughs a day for adults. Maybe we need to hang out with the kiddos more so our joy "bank" fills up! When St. Paul penned those words, he knew something about making it through tough times. Can you imagine that he wrote that scripture from a dark, cold and damp prison cell? No matter where we are or what we're facing....we can find JOY in the good news of Emmanuel, God with us, right smack dab in the middle of our circumstances.

Typically, PINK is girly. We put our little girls in pink dresses or outfits with a pink bow in their hair to declare "It's a GIRL"! (In my case, my little Staci had NO hair so I scotch-taped a little bow on her head. I know that's hard to believe when we see that massive head of hair she has today! LOL! Sorry -- I took a rabbit trail from my train of thought about Advent. Pink isn't just about girls. Hot pink, pale pink, rose pink are all shades of pink that God painted into a sunrise. And, like the various shades of pink, our expressions of joy can be so different. Joy can be exuberant. We saw that joy and jumping up and down by little children on Saturday at the Birthday Party for Jesus child at the prospect of something that excites them so much. (See my post from yesterday.) JOY is also that calm and peaceful experience of realizing God's faithfulness. It can be calm confidence in His sovereignty or pure delight as He expresses His love. I felt that peace and calm yesterday, as I watched my grandson, play the piano at their yesterday morning’s church service or when my granddaughter, asked to sit by me in church and proceeded to put her arm around me or lay her head on my shoulder. I felt that joy and I wanted to rejoice about it. has truly come to be linked with "Pink" in our culture.

Joy AND pink are also about survival. Oh, the sweet joy we feel when one of our friends expresses "I've just had my last treatment of chemo! I'm a survivor!" A celebration of survival has truly come to be linked with "Pink" in our culture.

On this 3rd Sunday of Advent, PINK is also about rejoicing that our Savior, as a precious BABY BOY Who brought so much JOY to this world.

My pastor said in his message, “This has been a challenging year for me and when I start to feel sorry for myself, I remember Paul who knew suffering. Paul led a challenging life. Paul knew difficulty. Paul had people who hated him. But, Paul expressed the key to overcoming is in rejoicing. He urged us to rejoice and rejoice some more. The joy of the Lord can thrill us AND it can make us steadfast in the secure knowledge of God's presence with us -- Emmanuel. Paul further tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 to be joyful always and Jesus tells us in Mark 9:24 "With God all things are possible." THAT combination of trust should help us.....carry on not just through Advent, but for the entire year to be rejoicing and rejoicing some more.

Because You Deserve to Be Happy

That was the “subject” on my email from Ulta yesterday morning. It jumped out at me. That word, “deserve”, says it all. We live in a self-gratification, self-centered, self-entitlement, and selfie world. I get it! We all want to be happy. Isn’t that the greatest goal in life? I loved Bobby Ferrin’s upbeat, reggae song, “Don’t Worry. Be Happy”. It motivated us to "Be Happy!"

We are hardwired to pursue happiness, so we pursue it, after all, as Ulta’s advertising campaign says: We deserve it!” We don’t have to look far to hear prominent cultural voices, sing and speak about how much they "deserve" their rights, their happiness, and their pleasure. "We’re all about feeling good; We’re all going to die so let’s live it up without regard to morality, being respectful of others or what the consequences of our actions might be. As long as we’re happy – that’s all that matters."

Yesterday morning, my daughter and I were having one of our phone pep talks. We need to record some of those talks because I think we could solve many of the world’s problems if the world would listen to us. We discussed the lack of morality in our world because the world thinks “I deserve happiness, at all costs!” We also talked about how well we sleep at night because of a clear conscience and how happy we are to wake up to freedom from regret of what we did yesterday.

The simple truth is: God REALLY does want His kids to be happy, just like you and I want our children to be happy. God made pleasure because He wants us to be happy. He doesn’t want us shivering in a dark corner, frightened, sad and miserable. He sincerely wants happiness in our lives and He wants to flood our days with a joy that the world can’t even begin to know or take away. This is the God of the Bible. And, no matter what you’ve heard, He’s a joyful and happy God Himself, and He loves nothing more than to make those of us who are chasing happiness to be happy.

This may sound ultra-spiritual but at the heart of Christianity, is the key to happiness. It is happiness through holiness. I can hear some saying now, “There goes Donna giving us the “Jesus Talk” again’. But, I promise you, the way to be happy is found in simple obedience to God and faith in His Son. King David said to God with evident delight AND happiness: "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is the fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

It may appear that being a devoted follower of Christ means we’re floating two inches off the ground if we’re living obediently to His words. But God is infinitely happy Himself and we were made in His image, so “happy” should be our way of life; not because we “deserved it”, but because we are God’s kids so it is a part of our DNA. We can’t help ourselves. It’s because of Whose we are. Obedience to our Father is what makes us happy. Pursuing Him is what brings us freedom and joy.

This way of life allows us to enjoy the world as it is. The gift of physical enjoyment and pleasure comes from Him, not an inebriated version of ourselves or an X-rated movie or one-night-stand. The ability to realize that it’s not that we DESERVE happiness, it’s that our loving and holy Father God created happiness for us. Our hunger for happiness and pleasure are God-given instincts and when placed in the right order, as the children of our King, we never need to worry because we are on the receiving end of an abundance of His unmerited favor.

Look What the Lord Has Done!

My best laid plans were to be in Tulsa this weekend for a very special event, my godson’s little sister’s First Communion and then yesterday, to attend my godson’s swim meet. God wasn’t surprised by me having to cancel because of the flu that literally slowed me down to a snail’s pace for the last 7 days, but I was surprised. I wasn't there, but I still celebrateed with my sweet Claire, Owen and their family from afar.

First Communion is a really big deal for Catholic families. I always had such admiration for those sweet 2nd graders who would attend many months of First Communion classes which would culminate in the Spring, their First Communion – wearing their white dresses and boys in their suits and ties. It is such a holy, joyful occasion. Relatives are invited and parents take lots of pictures. All eyes are focused on them for this very sacred and special time.

Receiving communion is the most beautiful, personal, and intimate times with our Lord for any of us, but it is especially precious and powerful for the boy or girl preparing and coming to know how profoundly united they become with Jesus in a way that they had never known before. So this weekend, precious Claire, who had reminded me over and over “In two years I'll have my First Communion”….then "Next year I’ll have my First Communion!” She was so excited, and you can see in these photos, that little girl’s prayers and dreams came true.

Now onto what wouldn’t seem near the spiritual occasion that Claire had. Owen had his swim meet last night. He placed “first” in all the events he raced. No big deal, right? Wrong! It is a really big, God-is-so-good-all-the-time DEAL! Here’s why it was a powerful physical AND spiritual event. If you’ve followed me and my relationship with this wonderful family, you would remember that this precious, now 12-year old boy, was born with many physical complications. That’s when my husband and I were guided by the Holy Spirit to partner with them for Owen’s healing. Not only was he born with a collapsed lung and was on a ventilator for the first 4 weeks of his life, even after leaving the hospital, many, many times, he’d be back in the hospital because of pneumonia over and over again. We called him "Champ" from the get-go, because each time, he’d overcome and defy the odds. Owen’s Mom told me they had no idea he could swim so well, but of course, Owen-the-Champ defies the odds by his attitude, his trust in God and his "never quit" attitude. I have such a special love for this family because this little child brought us together and Owen, my little man who took over the seat beside me in church, where my sweet husband left . When Owen heard I couldn’t make it this weekend, he said “I wish there was something I could do to help Miss Donna. Oh, I can do something. I can pray.” And his Mom told me, he stopped right in his tracks and began to pray for me. How's that for reciprocating prayer? We prayed for him. He prays for me.

Have you thought about the odds you and your family may have defied? It’s often easy to take answered prayers way too lightly. When we take the blessings in and around our lives and continually to count them one-by-one, we’ll start living on the “Look what God has done!” side and amazement, awe, wonder and gratitude will be a part of the very fiber of our being. Thanks be to God for His love and His wonder-working power! Great is His faithfulness!

“The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:23

Bah Humbug or Good News of Great Joy

"Bah Humbug" is an expression used to show disgust at the Christmas season, made famous by Ebenezer Scrooge in the Charles Dickens novel 'A Christmas Carol'. Ever had that "Bah Humbug" feeling? With all the "Joy to the World", "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and all the other songs of goodwill and glad tidings that describe this season, I would be remiss to think that we are all in that perky, celebratory mood. I know there are many that can hardly wait for this season to be in the "rear-view" mirror.

I get that. I know what it is for my Daddy to pass away on December 17th and witnessing my sweet Mama unwrapping his gifts that she had placed under the tree for him! Bah Humbug. I know what it is for my Sweetheart to graduate to heaven on November 16th and have the first Christmas without him in over 44 years. Bah Humbug. I have friends whose loved one just recently passed away, others who are facing a debilitating illness and still so many others who are experiencing tremendous financial stress -- particularly because they just can't afford to spend another dime, and they're broken-hearted that their little ones just may not get that "Santa gift" that they asked for. Bah Humbug.

Christmas isn't that happy-go-lucky, jingle bells, holly jolly time of the year for everyone. But who wants to be Ebenezer Scrooge any time of the year -- especially at Christmas? Remember the angel's words to the shepherds on that first Christmas night...."Do not be afraid -- I bring you good news and great joy!" There is good news. There is great joy. That news is for ALL people -- you and me -- no matter what we may be facing.

Whether we have family surrounding us, or we are one of our beloved service men and women who are away from their family this Christmas. Whether we live in a palace or a small one room apartment, we can experience that good news and great joy. What matters most is that we remember what matters most. The Christmas story makes our own stories make sense. It offers us comfort and joy. That is the message that all of Scripture offers. It’s the message, invitation, and reality of our God – throughout time, now, and forever.

Here’s a few of those scriptures that explain it:
From Psalm 63 "My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises You with joyful lips when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy."
COMFORT AND JOY.

From Psalm 34:8-10: "Taste and see that the Lord is good! How blessed is the one who trusts in Him! Fear the Lord, you holy ones of His; for those who fear Him lack nothing."
COMFORT AND JOY

From Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand"
COMFORT AND JOY

God-with-us. Emmanuel. Comfort and joy. May it be so. Whatever your circumstances are this year, focus on the face of God and be reminded of why we celebrate Christmas. It isn't really about all the things the world has made it to be. It is about the good news of great joy. Picture the God of the universe handing you his Son, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Hear him say, "Don't be afraid of anything….ever. I give you water that you'll drink and never thirst again. I give you peace that passes all understanding. I give you joy. I give you comfort. I give you goodness and mercy. I give you a future and a hope. I give you my Son, Jesus"

Joy to the World

What makes us all so much more joyful this time of year than any other time? Could it be that the angel's message to the shepherds holds true today? "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of GREAT JOY!" The good news. Christ is that good news that no matter how dismal everything around us might be..,,there is always GOOD NEWS of great joy that can change everything for us.

Yesterday was my girl's birthday and it was packed full of JOY! After a precious time of birthday celebration and gift-giving -- which of itself was full of joy because of our Lexi. She had a huge, heavy bag and said as she gave it to her mother....."I know it looks like Easter threw up on it! (Meaning the colored flowers and tissue which she found that could hold all her treasures.) Staci pulled out a stuffed bunny and Israel flags and kleenexes because she knew us -- that before the day was over, we'd be crying tears of joy. Lexi said, "I needed to add a few things to weight it down." And she had other items of her own as well as a couple of things she had borrowed from her mother, and used this birthday opportunity to return them all wrapped up. She actually did have some really great real gift items at the bottom of her "Easter" bag, but the journey getting to them was, to say the least, tear-making hilarious. Yes, we were joy-filled!

We girls saw where Elevate Life Church had posted on Instagram "FREE Women's t-shirts for women who came into their bookstore and said the word "JOY". In our usual style and form, we went in singing "Joy to the World"! No, we just don't roll with a simple "JOY" -- it's gotta' be "Good tidings of GREAT JOY!

Later, we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch and, lo and behold, a youth choir from LoveJOY, Texas came in and seranaded the dinner guests with "Joy to the World" and other carols. Of course, we thought it was just for us, but since there were other customers there with us, we let them enjoy themselves as well. ;-)

Back to my first paragraph here in today's post. Great joy!! What is that joy that the angel was talking about? Let’s seriously consider that Christmas night over 2,000 years ago. It was pre-electricity era – can you imagine the terror the shepherds experienced when the dark skies became brilliant as the angel appeared to them? But the angel gave them solace when he said, "Do not be afraid. I bring you GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY that will be for all the people."(Luke 2:10). Those terrifying moments were replaced with good news and great joy. The first words the angel spoke were words of comfort and words of command: "Do not be afraid."

“The Bible tells us in Psalm 16:11 that ‘In His presence is fullness of joy.’ If we want joy in our life, we need to revisit the Nativity scene and realize that's where God's presence was experienced in the form of that tiny baby boy. And, I'm here to tell you today, He is now a grown-up boy -- a King -- that, daily, we can experience His presence and know that GREAT JOY! We can experience it at a birthday party or a busy restaurant. We can experience it when facing a crisis or a disappointment. Joy isn't the same as happiness. Happiness is based on those ooey, gooey feelings when everything is going right. But JOY is based on the CONSTANT of He Who lives big within us. He is that GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY and when we sing those words "Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room......" That's the key....preparing room for Him inside to be the joy-giver, and peace-maker

Sincerely, God wants us to GET IT – about why He sent His Son Jesus -- the good tidings of great joy which is for all people. “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy!” I give you Jesus.

Break Free of That Cocoon

I’ve been through some painful seasons when it felt like God had a deaf ear to my heart cries. The seasons of financial concerns, children’s illnesses, broken relationships, disappointments, family deaths – including, my own precious husband’s passing. I was in the cocoon during those times – going through what seemed to be, personal death, but, God was using those seasons to instill in me, hope, trust and belief that He was in control, and that He was creating a butterfly that could soar further and higher than I could have imagined. It was in those dark seasons that my faith grew stronger and stronger. And, I assure you, I have broken free from the cocoon and I am flying today. No question -- the cocoon WAS painful. But were it not for the transition and change, I would have never known the joy, freedom and beauty of flying to such heights today. To be able to dance in the rain, to celebrate each new day with the wonderment of a child, to laugh at myself, to look in the mirror and see LIFE being lived to its fullest is wonderful. Winter and living in the cocoon was yesterday, but Springtime has come -- and my new life as a butterfly was worth the stillness and death and preparation. Isn't it time for you to break free of your cocoon, too? The vantage point from up here to down there as a caterpillar, sure does make a difference!! "You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy." Psalms 30:11

Joy is My Strength

"Joy is prayer - joy is strength - joy is love by which you can catch souls. She gives most, who gives with joy. The best way to show our gratitude to God and people is to accept everything with joy. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. We all long for heaven where God is, but we have it in our power to be in heaven with Him right now - to be happy with Him at this very moment. But being happy with Him now means: loving as He loves, helping as He helps, giving as He gives, serving as He serves, rescuing as He rescues, being with Him for all the twenty-four hours, touching Him in His distressing disguise." Mother Teresa of Calcutta