Happy Monday, Family!🥰
This week, we praise God for:☝🏽
Answered prayers and breakthroughs for Skylar and her family. May God keep working in all of their lives.
María, and her continued healing after knee surgery. May the same powerful God who knit her together mend whatever needs mending.
This week, we are praying for:🙏🏽
• Sori Cardona, widow of Pastor Cardona. She is a very dear person to so many of us who came from the Spanish church. She fell at home last week and needed emergency surgery and is also experiencing kidney failure. She can use our most fervent prayers!
• Virginia and her family as they move through the grief process for her mother, Soledad Rodriguez. Also keep Virginia's marriage and family in your prayers. Still asking for a miracle.
• Rose, who needs a miracle!
• Norma’s friend, Tracy, as she moves through her cancer treatment.
• Evelyn's cousin, Maribel. Her family is searching for an institution that can care for her needs. May God guide their search.
• Charen's aunt and uncle, still battling cancer. May every step in this journey bring them closer to Jesus.
• Our little brother, Alex, as he becomes a licensed driver.
• Charen's cousin, Elkie, who is battling cancer and needs healing.
• Awilda, Peter's mom, throughout her recovery. Please keep her in prayer.
• Our beloved SETH, that God would continue to shield and protect him while at school. Also for the Lord to touch Seth's legs with His healing touch.🦵
• Jordan Gonzalez and his puppy, Zeus; while he's away from home pursuing his ⚾️ career.
• Michael, Angelica's boyfriend, that the Lord will help him to find a job.
• All of the families who are grieving, including: The Guzman Family, the Bosques Family, Wanda's family, Mr. Bouchard and his family, Timmy's family, John's family.😢
• Lynn, as she continues to battle cancer while holding on to Jesus!
• Antoinette, also diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and is in need of a miracle.
• Skylar, and SUPERNATURAL healing of heart and mind for her and her family: Jackie, Heaven Lee, and Doris.
• Nelson's son, Santi, and his family as he seeks the Lord and His influence in their lives.
• Carole and her family as they wait upon the Lord for Elijah's custody resolution.
Today's gratitude glazed Devotional, submitted by Vanessa Guerrero, will help solve a problem we all struggle with from time to time. 😔 Thank you, Vanessa, for sharing the secret to your enduring JOY! 😊
When I was asked to deliver a devotional this week, I was really stumped about what to share. I couldn’t think of anything to offer my wonderful church family and all those who read these devotionals every day. But then, I thought of just how good God has been these past few months. I know a lot of you may be asking, “What? Have you lost your mind, Vanessa? You think God has been GOOD these past few months?”
I know that looking at life through the lenses of our own human eyes is what sometimes blurs our focus away from God’s GOODNESS. Many times, we get caught up in the WHYs and the HOWs. We think to ourselves, “Why did this happen to me? Why did my school or job close?” "Why did I get laid off?""Why can’t I see my closest friends and loved ones?""Why did I have to lose that friend or loved one so soon?" ... or “How long will this virus last?""How much longer do I have to wait until I can finally host my family or celebrate things like weddings and graduations?” "How long will it be until I can find another job?""How will I ever get back to feeling normal again?”
Well, for all of our questions there is an answer: JOY. I’m not talking about circumstantial happiness or temporary pleasure, I’m talking about JOY. Joy that only comes from God. I want us to take a moment to put into practice what Brendan talked about this past Sabbath: GRATITUDE.
The reason I want to backtrack to Brendan’s sermon about gratitude and thanksgiving is because our JOY is actually the product of our GRATITUDE. If we are not grateful for the house, the food, the health, the people, and the many other wonderful things that God has blessed us with, we will not be joyful. There is no way to find joy in things if you do not appreciate them or express gratitude for them. That’s why, when we lose our JOY, we need to reevaluate if we are practicing gratitude. When we are so caught up in this world and its troubles, it gets really hard to see anything else. It gets really hard to hear God’s voice.
Sometimes, we feel like this world is our forever home and we forget that it is just temporary and that our eternal home is in Heaven. When we live with gratitude, our joy will no longer be attached to things, feelings, circumstances, to others, or to world events. Our joy is attached to our loving relationship with God. So, yes I know without a doubt that God has been so GOOD these past few months, because I am looking at things with gratitude, which fills me with joy!
I learned from being in quarantine for so long that I cannot just sit around and complain or point out all the negative things and the unfortunate situations that are present around me. I realized that I needed to unleash the JOY that God had prepared for me. I needed to stop looking at life through the eyes of doubt/fear/negativity and I needed to put on my GRATITUDE GLASSES, kinda like my little cousin here! 😍.
When you look at life and start giving thanks for every single thing, whether you feel it is enriching your life or destroying your life, God will use every expression of gratitude from your mouth, to give you EVERLASTING JOY. As Proverbs 17:22 says, “A JOYFUL heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
I pray you will start to unleash the power of God’s joy over your life today. It might sound crazy coming out of your mouth, but I hope that you are able to declare today that: “God has been SO GOOD.” As God promises in Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may last through the night, but JOY comes in the morning.”
God bless you, church family! ♥️
So well put. Thank you Nessa for the powerful reminder. I too started to count it all joy. Guess what - it keeps me in a good mood . I love it ❤️