Filled up with JOY

Saturday evening into Sunday, June 15 and 16:  I dropped Kaity off at her house at about 7:00 and picked Emma up to take her back to my house. This has become a new habit of ours ... Emma spending Saturday nights and then coming to church with me Sunday mornings. I hope it is something we continue to do for ... years! I love being with Emma so much. She has become a very dear friend--which is probably difficult to understand being that she is my granddaughter. But truly ... we just seem to understand each other in a special way. I love her more than I can say with words.

Last night, we watched the second Left Behind movie. These are really good movies for getting us to think ahead a little bit and wrestle with future events. It can be scary to think about some of the things that could happen, but it is also challenging to think about what kind of Christians we are in this world. Will Jesus find us ready when He comes? Are we looking forward to His return? 

This morning's worship service was ... SO encouraging to us. Pastor Jim talked about the LAVISH love of God for us, how amazing that He would call US His children, how far He goes to chase us down and demonstrate His love for us. I pray that our faith will grow as we listen and are challenged to believe this great news. WE ARE LOVED. If we believed this deep down in our hearts, we would want to tell everyone we knew that God loved them enough to die for them so that they could have a relationship of peace and love with Him. Please, Lord, increase our faith. 

Emma and I had so many good talks this time. I'm finding out more and more what it is like to be in her shoes. I need to listen closely to her. I need to be able to give her courage and affirm the beauty inside of her. Please help me do that, Lord.

We went shopping for a hand/hair dryer because Emma's is super old. AND, thankfully, Emma was interested in trying out my electric curlers that I never use! I'm so glad she might actually like them and get some use out of them. 

I don't know how long it will last--Emma coming over and sharing her life with me--but I cherish each and every time she does. Loving her fills me up with JOY.