WORKING ON MY 'JOY' GOAL

Learning to blog has been pretty comical here at my home. My husband would come in now and then to see what I was doing. I had accidentally put myself on as one of my own followers and had been trying to figure out how to get it off. He came in after some time and said "Well sweetheart, has anyone been hittin' on you yet?" :) He is alway trying to crack a joke. I said "Well the only one was me, I've hit on myself. :)

Trying to learn how to blog took me back to a time in my life when the Lord had shown me something that I call one of my 'Light Bulb Moments'. A 'Light Bulb Moment' is when God shows you a spiritual truth in something and it becomes so clear to you that you wonder why you never saw it that way before. It's as if He shines a light into your spirit about something and you see it so clearly.

This 'Light Bulb Moment' happened when I was teaching Headstart years ago. We always tested our four year olds at the beginning of the year to see where their strengths and weaknesses were. I would then write up an IEP (Individual Education Plan) on each child then state the goals of where the child would progress to in each area by the next testing date. Then I would work with that child to help him or her reach that goal in each area.

God showed me that we each have a similar plan that He has determined for us with goals of where He wants us to progress to. An ISP (Individual Spiritual Plan) so to speak.

Just like children, we too as Christians have areas that each of us are strong in and areas that are weak and need improving. None of us develope in the same areas at the same pace. We are an individual work in progress with God guiding us toward a goal. When we reach that goal in an area then He wants us to progress even further to another goal in that same area while all the time working on multiple areas in us.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

When we let the Spirit of God live in us then we produce fruit with all of these characteristics. As individuals, we each mature at a different rate with each characteristic. Some may be further along in joy than others, while those same ones may be slower in temperance than others. We all have some of each of them developing at a different rate in us with God guiding the process.

Not all apples on a tree get leaves on the same day or turn the same shade of red on the same day. Each characteristic of an apple developes at a different rate and so it is with us...love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.

I pray that each of you strive to reach your goals in the fruit of the Spirit. And if anyone could let me know how to get myself off as one of my own followers on my blog, then I think I might reach one of my goals in joy quicker. :)

Be Blessed!!