Overwhelmed by Joy...

This is one of those posts I wasn't sure how to start so I'll just jump right in. This week Caleb had his first cold. It started Tuesday during the day he just got progressively more stuffy as the day went on. We put him down at his normal time that night (8 pm). Now on a non-stuffy night we wouldn't hear from him until about 6:45ish the next morning, but with him not feeling so well he awoke whimpering around 10:30ish. I went to check on him, which ended with me picking him up to rock him. As I was rocking him I did something I do often when I rock him and that is to pray for him. I pray for his salvation at an early age, for him to have friends who love the Lord, for all the temptations he will face (and those are scary to think about), for his future wife - all kinds of things, but on this particular night I was, of course, praying for him to feel better and get a good night's rest. During this precious time with Lord (and Caleb) I also began thanking Him for Caleb and for the abundance of joy this little gift of God has brought into our lives - the joy we get from his smiles, his laughs and especially the way he has started reaching for our faces when we hold him. I'm not sure if I have a big nose or what, but he especially likes to grab it! Anyway, as I was thinking about the pure joy he has brought us just in his little time here, it made me think about our relationship with God - how we are His children and how He must take so much joy in us; even how He delights in us.

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

After this thought crossed my mind, I stopped. Do I do enough each day that God should take joy in me? The answer is no. But, the good part is that he will rejoice over me anyway because I am His. Isn't grace so wonderful and yet so unexplainable? The more I thought about this, the more I was convicted to do more, give more, etc to bring Him glory. I want Him to have every reason possible to rejoice over me with singing. Will I accomplish this? No way. Every day I have oh so many times where I do not deserve to be rejoiced over. I miss opportunites to share His name. I let my toungue run away from me. I think things that I shouldn't. I get wrapped up in life and forget that my life should point to Him. As a matter of fact, I deserve to be put in a corner and forgotten about, but instead, I serve an awesome God, a God who I cannot even fathom the goodness of, a God who chooses to treasure me despite it all - and that makes my cup not just run over, but spill all over the place!

"The wildest part is that Jesus doesn't have to love us. His being is utterly complete and perfect, apart from humanity. He doesn't need me or you. Yet He wants us, chooses us, even considers us His inheritance (Eph. 1:18). The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us."

(from Crazy Love by Francis Chan)