I really enjoyed our Women of Hope gathering last night.  Our pastor's wife, Abigail, shared from her past and her heart and there was a lot of laughter.  I am not sure if she meant for us to laugh so much, but I think there is so much freedom we can feel when someone is vulnerable because others are allowed to identify with the all the chaos, hurts, desperation, emptiness....well, really the crazy women that we know have all been and are all still capable of being as our days and our seasons remind us that we cannot do this life on our own....and we are not meant to just live in "survival" mode.

I know we all can identify our struggles and I believe we can admit that God has been very faithful to us over the years to show us what these are in multiple trials and attempts to allow us to work through them with Him.  Many of mine involve patience, surrendering my expectations and finding contentment in what is, learning that God is with me through all of it and I can trust Him.

Abigail brought our attention to something a little different in the passages about Mary and Martha when Jesus says to Martha in Luke 10:41-42, " you are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her."

Many times we hear that verse and people summarize it that Jesus was saying, "you need to stop all the busyness and just sit at my feet"....whereas it is very important to intentionally be with Jesus and priorities may need consideration throughout our lives, Abigail suggested there is more about joy in these verses and understanding that Jesus is the source of our joy.  Mary CHOSE the GOOD PORTION....and the word good in this verse is also the word, joy.  The JOY PORTION :)  We can still be buying groceries, helping with science fair projects, taxiing to a million places, picking up sticks in our yard after the storms, looking around our untidy house wondering where to begin (like I am this morning....haha, so why not blog for a bit), reminding our kids to put away their shoes and CHOOSING THE JOY PORTION.  The truth of our existence is that we have JOY in the Lord because He first loved us and through His love, He has saved us.  When we are in Him, we experience His joy....and His joy is soooooo great that it completely fills us and THIS is our strength....and this strength cannot be taken away from us by our circumstances.