Rejoice and Be Glad!
February is here and it was 78 degrees here today. It feels like Southern California just doesn’t want to have winter this year. We’ve had some cold days, some rain, but overall it’s perpetually a spring-fall combination. I hear that we might have rain later this week, so I’m looking forward to that.
This weekend we had a great time in the snow up at Big Bear. Bobby and I with eight of our high school leaders took about thirty students up to slopes for a time of fun and spiritual refreshment. Bobby taught three lessons on the “one anothers.” His lessons covered–loving, bearing with, forgiving, considering, confessing your sins to, confronting one another’s sin, speaking God’s Word to, worshiping with others, and submitting to one another. It was a challenging and motivating short series to consider over the weekend and now after as we talk about how we can take practical steps of obedience to those commands Bobby illuminated for us. Ty led us in worship and singing together with 40 people in a garage was moving. One girl submitted her life to Christ Saturday night and that made the whole weekend worthwhile. To see more pictures of our retreat click here!
I am so excited about the things we have going on this month. We had our winter retreat, this week is my husband, Bobby’s birthday and also my friend Missy’s birthday, next week is Valentine’s Day and Tyler’s first birthday. I’m looking forward to just celebrating each day the Lord allows us to have.
The other morning I started singing that song, “This is the day” to Tyler. One part says, “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” This song is from Psalm 118:24.
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
It is fun to look forward to specific days like birthdays, holidays or I know I always look forward to Sundays, but really every day should be a celebration of the Lord’s mercy and faithfulness. He has made it and has a purpose for us in it, one of those purposes is to always be rejoicing (Philippians 4:4).
Each day this month I want to commit to rejoice and be glad in the Lord. If you are a Christian, you have something to celebrate each day. I hope you will join me in choosing to rejoice and be glad in Him each day. It would be so encouraging if you would leave a comment sharing something specifically that you are rejoicing in and glad for or even write a blog about it! This month I will have make a list in my sidebar of posts that celebrate the Lord and His work in our lives.
“You are my God, and I will give you thanks;
You are my God, and I will exalt you.
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever.”
Psalm 118:28-29
February 6th, 2007
Hi Christa,
I am friends with Matt and Kara Rehrer, here in Houston. I have been reading your blog for about a year now. I enjoy your insights, your encouragements, and especially your book reviews. (This blog prompted me to buy The Excellent Wife and War of Words and they are both amazing. I’m sure I’ll be getting Lies Women Believe sometime in the near future.) Anyway, it’s funny b/c recently I’ve been trying to decide on a song I can sing all the time with my 14-month old daughter, so that eventually she will learn it. There are so many possibilities that it was hard for me to choose. But when I read about you singing “This is the day”, it hit me that that’s the song! It’s simple and repetitive, which were my main requirements, and it’s easy to sing any time of day. Thank you!
Oh, and here’s what I’m glad for, today and everyday: God has chosen me!
Warmly,
Aurelie Magnuson
February 6th, 2007
Christa,
Thanks for the great encouragement to rejoice in each day…simply because it is another day that He has given us to love and serve Him. I often sing that same song with Hannah, and you have definitely put it in a new perspective for me!
Today, I am rejoicing in the fact that everyone in our home is finally healthy!!
(I hope you all are too!!)
~Veronica
February 6th, 2007
God is good! I’m regularly amazed and thankful for God’s faithfulness to us - even when we are less than faithful to Him. Specificically, I rejoice and praise Him every time I feel my baby moving inside me - that He has seen fit to bless my husband and I with a new life is still beyond my comprehension at this point. I am touched by His tender grace in my life, day after day…
February 6th, 2007
Christa! Wow, what an awesome post! Then again yours are always amazing! I am rejoicing just be alive, and well, and praising God for forgiving me daily. And for the girl who gave her life to Christ this weekend! Praise the Lord! I had a great time spending some time with you and everyoe else this weekend!
February 7th, 2007
I sometimes sing “This is the Day” to Judah at breakfast time.
He likes it and I hope he’ll learn it quickly so we can sing together.
I rejoice today that love covers a multitude of sins, both God’s love and my hubby’s love. I am thankful that no matter how many times I fail and am grumpy, they both still love me…and that God gives Matt the grace to see me through tiredness and pregnancy hormonal-ness.