Joy

Hello all,
There's nothing like being sick in bed to make me realize how behind I am in the blog world. I am terribly sorry you had to look at that Oreo picture for so long Mrs. Victoria!
In the past few weeks I have been struggling with being joyful as I go about my day. Earlier this week I was talking with some dear friends, and discovered that they were struggling with the same thing! So we all purposed to look up scriptures about joy to encourage each other in the LORD. Here are a few that I found, I hope they encourage and bless you as much as they did me.

"But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful." Psalm 68:3

"yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior." Habakkuk 3:18

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
Romans 12:12

^"being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,  and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves," Colossians 1:11-13

We have so much to be thankful for and joyful about, but sometimes with all that is going on in the world it is so easy to forget and get bogged down in the doom and gloom of things.  I sure don't feel joyful when I remember that 120,000 babies are killed through abortion every day, or when the cow tips over the milk bucket, or when the president annouces that he is in favor of gay marraige, or when I think of my precious grandfather struggling with cancer. And I certainly did not feel joyful yesterday when I spent the whole day in bed with a fever and headache, while Mom was down with a stomach virus. But the above verse is a great reminder of what I should really be joyful about.
The knowledge that God sent his son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross to rescue all of us from "the dominion of darkness", and that by beleiving in Him we will enter "into the kingdom of the Son", should have me singing all day long. What an incredible promise!
"Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man." Psalms 112:4
Anyway, this is what has been on my heart the last week. If you have a verse to share, I would love to hear it.

I, Angela, type this on my own keyboard. :)

Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. Ephesians 6:24