42 and Joy-filled!

Birthdays.
Some love them, some loathe them.
Some celebrate them, some hide from them.
Some get excited, some get disappointed.
Some even choose to lie and say they didn't happen.

Yesterday was my birthday.
I turned 42. That is a truthful age. Honest!
This is my favorite picture from my time celebrating my milestone...warning its a "selfie"...or an "usie"...a picture taken on a cell phone!

You may not be able to tell why I love this picture so much. Allow me to share what I see and feel when I look.
I see joy. Inner joy.
I see the joy of a wife who loves her husband. (He deserves an applaud! He arranged this special day with a dear friend of ours who shared hospitality, love and good cooking!)
I see the joy of a mom who is so excited her children are present in her life.
I see a change.
A change you may not notice, but I do.
The change is the JOY in my heart that now spills out in my smile and my wrinkled nose!
It hasn't always been there, though I have always wanted it! I just spent time chasing the wrong things to get it!
Now I chase Jesus! Well I don't have to chase far, He's always near!

He created me and never left me. I am His marvelous work and so are you!
Not one day of my life is a surprise to Him.
He knew the birthdays I would spend without joy and those I would spend with joy overflowing and He works everything together for good! He is good.
He is the treasure of my heart and because of Him I treasure other things more fully.
My family, my friends, yes.
But also with great joy I treasure sisters!
Sisters in Christ.
Other women who see Him and need Him. I treasure YOU!

 

I'm 42 and one day old.
I have joy in my heart. The joy of a Savior!
And each day I enjoy sharing that joy with others!
I pray you have that JOY also! If you don't can I say a prayer for you today?
Father,
You amaze me. You stir my  heart in ways that no other can. You pour blessing upon blessing. I stand in awe of your love, your patience, your gentle and quiet ways. Your strength abounds and it is present for us all. Thank you. Lord, I know someone today needs your joy. They need you because they are lonely, they are hurting, they are lost. I lift them to you. Not even knowing their name, I lift them. You know them. You knitted them together, you know each hair, each heart and each tear. Nothing about them goes unnoticed to you. Lord, let them feel your love, let them see your blessings. Place someone in their life today that is willing to share your joy with them. May your family be added to today! I will rejoice in new sisters!
Amen

If you need a place to fellowship with other women, explore God's word, share prayer and experience joy with sisters we invite you to Faithfully Fit! Click around our blog and see what we are all about. Hopefully you will notice that "whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we do it all for the glory of God!" (1 Cor. 10:31; emphasis mine)

~Jodie

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him" Psalm 28:7

 

A Birthday Celebration All Stitched Up!







Starting with an idea & a box of yarn...
with hope of encouraging women to live out a few verses from Ephesians 4

" There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

With great expectations we chill the water while we work to "stitch" a celebration....

The new logo has been quilted together by a faithful man of God who lends his talents to the ladies of Faithfully Fit

The Fall Newsletter has been lovingly written and "sewn" together with the help of a computer and tired eyes staring at a screen to see if things are just right...

The linens are spread, the flowers are placed, and then we work on the final touches...spreading buttons, lighting candles. Because the ladies we serve, we serve with JOY & they are beautiful.

“All beautiful you are my darling; there is no flaw in you”

Song of Solomon 4:7

Now the time is near. There are circles of chairs that wait to be filled. The ladies, each with a heart, each with a smile, many with a quilt. The questions lay in wait...just little conversation starters and then we wait to great each lovely lady that God created.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. Psalm 139:13

And they come. Generations are represented in more ways than one. The stories flow, the smiles enlarge across faces. Each quilt is shared with love and adoration for grandmothers, great-aunts, special church members who pieced together each square and finished a gift to be given....

And given. This one for a graduation gift in 1976

These all represent different stories, different lives, different hopes, different dreams.

 

Story after Story reveals love. One grandmother starting a gift of love, another to complete the gift. Scraps from dresses, potato sacks, flour sacks and more, stitched, one stitch at a time. The time spent together sharing prepares the heart to hear....

The Word.

The JOY from the laundry room spills out and over from one heart to another in hopes that we can live out those verses from Ephesians. Those special ladies with eyes wide open watch and listen.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Rom 8:28

My Jesus is your Jesus. He calls us to be ONE. He takes all that we are, all that we have...and works it for the good. If you have Jesus you are ONE with any other who is a daughter of Christ. Let us come together as ONE, stitch by imperfect stitch....let us build the body.

Let us stitch

and stitch

Until everyone is stitched and held together by the one true knot called
JESUS!

And out of that box of yarn, with buttons of love and prayer we smile and we share, Our Third Birthday, with anyone who wants to be stitched into the family of Faithfully Fit!