Friday Randomness (Vol. 22)

Scripture speaking to my heart

"The joy of the LORD is your strength" ~ Nehemiah 8:10

I'm sure this appeared in a previous post as the scripture speaking to my heart but God has been using it to speak to my heart again.

Favorite Quote

"O believer. Let gratitude be awakened; let humility be deepened; let love be quickened." ~ Charles Spurgeon (Shared by Lisa Buffaloe)

Joy - My One Word

"As we've all heard time and time again, life is about celebrating the small things and relishing in the uncomplicated pleasures. These moments will stay with us long after the stress has settled. To spark your own love affair with life again, here are 50 simple ways to welcome joy back in..." ~ 50 Ways to Love Life from Darling Magazine // I was going to pick a favorite but I loved all 50 ways.

"The thing is: we only repeat the sounding joy, re-joice, re-joy again and again, when we remember to give thanks — and again repeat." ~ The Best Gift for the Overwhelmed: Sometimes You Need Joy-in-a-Box, by Ann Voskamp // I just want to meet her and hug her to say, Thank You.

"We need to fight for joy and be joy-warriors." ~ Ann Voskamp || Watch a moving video with Ann Voskamp and Tara Jenkins from IF : Equip here.

I love that God choose JOY as my one word for the year.

Circles of Faith + Three Word Wednesday

On Monday I shared with Circles of Faith and on Wednesday one of the co-founders of Circle of Faith shared with us for Three Word Wednesday. Read here and here if you missed these posts.

I truly love the hearts of the two ladies behind Circles of Faith. If you have not already, come meet them here and follow them on one of their social media outlets. You will be happy you did.

A few of my favorite blog reads

"Create your art and continue to put it out there! God is the one who makes a place for your talent." ~ Pursuing Passions and Experiencing Rejection by Diane Bailey // I thought a quote from Jennifer Duke Lee's new book Love Idol went well with this post: "She risked failing, for the sheer joy of trying."

"The feeling of not being included, not being valued, can hurt us whether we're five or fifty five. It can strike us when we see on Facebook that a group of friends had a get together without us. It can strike us when there's a conference or retreat that everyone's going to except us. It can strike us when our gender, or our skin color, or our age is used as an excuse to exclude us or make us feel devalued." ~ When you're feeling overlooked and left out, by Elizabeth of Just Following Jesus // Encouragement for something I know we have all felt at one point in our life.

"Be awed by His unlimited, unconditional love, His unmerited, undeserved favour ~ poured out freely." ~ Calling for hush, by Joy Lenton @ Poetry Joy // A beautiful poem.

"I am praying for God to help us find joy in our reflection. We are made in the image of the One who is Beautiful and He, God, delights over our bodies the way He has created them to be." ~ Delighting over our significant image, by Tracy of One Degree Ministries // Don't skip over her video. She gives a beautiful message.

Just for fun

Have you ever photobombed? Alison of Embrace the Struggle had me smiling with her post Enter the Photobomber.

A giving opportunity with a giveaway

Head on over to read this post ~ Clothed in Love Matching Gifts of Love Opportunity, by Kristin Smith via God-Sized Dreamers. // Because I want to contribute I've decided I will pick a winner from those who leave a comment and send you one of the $20 priced items from Delonna Gibbs' Etsy Site. Winner will be announced on Wednesday, April 16th.

Online friends become #INRL friends

When you mention you are headed to a particular city there is surely a writing friend who will chime in saying she lives in the area. I just think that is SO cool! Don't you?

I had the opportunity to meet my friend Satin of My Heart, His Words while in San Diego. We had breakfast at a lovely place called Sulaluna Cafe. Their coffee is SUPER good. My son and his wife joined us too. Afterwards we did what girls do . . . we went shopping (my son went golfing)! It was a delightful morning. I adore this lady even more than I did before we met in real life.

Song of the week

"And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known."

~ In The Garden

One of my grandma's favorite hymns . . . she is missed dearly.

Hymn Radio on Pandora has me inspired to pick up the piano again — time to make use of the beautiful one sitting in my living room. Oh, how I'd love to use the gift (even if rather rusty) to worship Him.

Finding JOY in a deployment #JoyDare #1000gifts

#234 ~ Canvas and Cocktails night with friends
#235 ~ Finding my inner artist
#236 ~ Blending colors
#237 ~ Adding stars to my painting
#238 ~ A painting made by me (oh my!)
#239 ~ Seeing the inner artist in others
#240 ~ A day of shopping with one of my best friends
#241 ~ Buying a few new outfits with a gift-card from my boss
#242 ~ Finding a beautiful dress made for an evening in Hawaii
#243 ~ Sharing bread and wine with a dear friend
#244 ~ The love of a brother-in-law and sister-in-law
#245 ~ A warm and sunny day; perfect for an extra long walk
#246 ~ Singing praise to Him while I walked
#247 ~ Spring . . . it's surely here
#248 ~ The American flag held by my husband while on the other side of the world
#249 ~ My plane touching down safely in San Diego
#250 ~ Being able to hug my son again
#251 ~ My sons willingness to listen to me talk about my faith
#252 ~ A quiet morning in San Diego
#253 ~ Stories from others . . . seeing pieces of you in their stories
#254 ~ Coffee ~ always coffee ~ really good coffee
#255 ~ The joy of meeting writing friends in real life
#256 ~ Thrift stores
#257 ~ Sexy shoes . . . high heels
#258 ~ A girls day
#259 ~ Cocktails on Coronado Island by the fire
#250 ~ Game night
#251 ~ Sunday morning church with my son, DIL and their friends ~ Glorious!
#252 ~ Fish tacos. Yummy!!
#253 ~ Relaxing by the pool
#254 ~ A walk ~ a cute cage ~ and delicious sangria
#255 ~ Movie night . . . time alone with my son and DIL
#256 ~ A delightful partial family photo
#257 ~ Grandma to a cute little puppy
#258 ~ Good-bye's ~ they only happen because we are together again
#259 ~ A new ability to sleep on the plane
#260 ~ Daily evening walks again