Joyfully After All

Here it is, you are the first to read the official title of my book! How exciting is that! I am so excited to have finally found a title that I really like! The full title is Joyrfully After All: A College Girl's Journey From Rape to Christ

Sound off and let me know what you think!

I came up with the title because it is my life goal- to live joyfully no matter what the circumstances. I do not always succeed, but I am always trying. One of my life verses is James 1: 2-6

"2My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. 3You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. 4But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.
5If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won't correct you for asking. 6But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm." (CEV)

Joy comes when we know that we are serving the Lord, that we are being obedient and we are focusing on the prize---eternity in Heaven with HIM!!! There is nothing on this earth that is so bad that it can steal our joy and our future. That doesn't mean that the tears, sadness and frustration don't come our way, because even if we are living in the midst of joy we can still be sad, but it means that those things are momentary, they will pass and the joy will bubble up again. Tears may last for a night, but comes through the mourning. It is OK to be sad---Christ was, but we can't remain that way forever, we have to dig deep and allow ourselves to rest in God's love, peace and joy---it is one of the fruits of His spirit!

So other than coming up with a Pulitzer Prize winning title (I hear international awards are just being thrown at people these days!) I have had a busy October. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis which is somewhat deceiving in that it is NOT arthritis, it is an auto-immune disease (think lupus, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia). On the R.A. scale I'm at the high end of moderate (so PTL I'm not in the severe category). I'm learning to live with R.A. On Monday I am meeting with a specialist who gets to answer a whole slew of questions and discuss things I've come across in my research. Knowledge is power and I plan to amass a lot of power over the R.A. soon I'll know everything there is to know about R.A. because that is how I work.

Aside from the R.A. it has been a blessed month for me. I am really enjoying choir and practicing for the Virginia Christmas Spectacular. I have already memorized most of the lyrics because I listen to the music all the time! I have a valid reason why I have to listen to Christmas music in October! PTL!!! God is good to me! Christmas year round!

Currently I have quite a few friends that are deployed right now and I've been enjoying sending them letters and little care packages. Yes our troops have access (amount varies based upon where they are) to phones and internet, but mail call is still an important part of the day for our troops, and there is nothing like having a letter, card, post card to read and re-read when you are half-way around the globe, it helps in so many ways and troop morale is very important.

If you don't know anyone that is currently deployed there are many organizations that will connect you to a service member that doesn't have anyone to write to them. I work with Angels N' Camouflage. http://www.angelsncamouflage.org/ This is a great non-profit group that will match you with deployed service members or with vets that need someone to write and pray for them. There are others as well, but this is a group that I use and I have to say I've been blessed by my involvement.

The Packers will be hosting Favre and the Vikings this weekend. I'm anxiously awaiting that game! I earnestly hope and EXPECT that Favre and the Vikings will get the thrashing they so richly deserve! I have been a Packers for quite awhile and I grew up watching Favre play. I love the guy---he plays like he is playing neighborhood ball. It is just fun to watch him, he loves it so much, and on top of that he is still at age 40 one of the best players EVER and he is great form. That said, I do think he is a bit of a traitor to have gone to the Vikings. OUR rivals!!! WTF (what the fubar!) Yes, I know all the arguments for it---the V's are giving a great shot at an awesome season and a chance to do well in the post season, any QB worth anything would want to play for the most well rounded team. But still the VIKINGS!?! It is just NOT right! But, I wish him a safe and successful season, and next year will be the Packers year!

Have a blessed last few days of October and try to savor snatches of time in November. These last couple of months of the year really seem to zoom by, so try to steal a few moments to just rest and really count your blessings, we are always more blessed than we think--no matter what is going on in our lives we are certainly blessed in some way.

My prayers go to the Lord for each of you!

-ME-