Complete - to be filled; full; complete

Today in my time in the Word I was reading in John, primarily chapter 15.


My devotional said to "approach every phrase as if [I'd] never seen it before." I hate when they say that because it often makes me nervous. I take my Bible and focus real intently and act as though I've never read the phrase before. I often get into arguments with myself over whether or not this is being phony or a falsifying my past, and if not, am I really approaching it well enough? Will the author of my devotional find out?

Anyways, this time I just asked God through the Holy Spirit to make the words fresh to me (as I'm typing this I have moved my dog's head off of the keyboard four times. Finally Daryl moved his entire body to the other end of the couch only to have him just now snuggle back over and stick his neck on my chest and his nose right in my face, blowing his warm breath up my nose. I get no respect from him, but constant affection, no doubt).

I digress...

God answered my request and I was blown away by an obvious concept I so often ignore. Verse 11 says, "I have told you this" (this being to remain in Him, by remaining in His love by obeying His words - particularly loving one another), "so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."

Complete joy. Joy that is complete. Full of joy.

God wants me to be full of joy.

This is not what most people generally believe and often even Christians. We simply forget or are ignorant. We spend our lives in search of "joy" and so often come up without it - or at least without very much or only fleeting moments of it because we try to obtain it apart from it's source.

We're sort of like people who attempt to plug a hairdryer into someone's nostrils. It may look like the hairdryer should fit in there, but aint no power gonna come out! (ps - I have never met any of those people)

In John Piper's book Sex and The Supremacy of Christ (which I HIGHLY recommend for anyone interested in understanding God more, sex more and/or our culture more) he writes,

"In C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, the devil Screwtape tries to explain to his nephew Wormwood what he finds most appalling and disingenuous about God: that God is really out to make people happy, and that even the austere parts of his program, the spiritual disciplines
are really ruses, clever deceptions to make them more happy. 'He's a hedonist at heart,' sniffs
Screwtape. 'All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a facade. Or only like
foam on the sea shore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure and more pleasure. He
makes no secret of it; at His right hand are pleasures forevermore...'" (48).

When will we grasp that through Christ it is in those disciplines, in moments of loving those who we certainly don't deem deserving of it, in obeying Christ's commands, in hanging out in His "ever-surging fountain" of love as Beth Moore puts it, we get joy - completely?

I get it some moments, and then other moments I drift out of awareness of God's love and desires for me. Then I return. Then I go...Cyclical really.

Oh how I pray and hope He will continue to remind us and teach us to remain (aka "to dwell" or more literally, "to live") in His love, and that we will take Him up on the offer.

That's it for tonight. Love, Lauren and Simon (as he was so faithfully involved), and the Girltalk.blogs from whom I stole the picture

Up and down, but mostly down

I haven't been very good at blogging lately and it seems quite a few things have been on the down and out since we found out we were pregnant - which we are still thrilled about, btw.

I thought at week 14, when the first trimester ended, that most people were completely relieved of morning sickness/all day sickness. I learned that while that may be true, I apparently don't fit into the "most people" category. Besides at night when I'm more emotional anyways, I don't really mind. I choose to believe God's just reminding me the little buggers safe and sound in there for now, and after what we went through in the beginning, I'm just thankful for every day Baby Reyonld's okay.

Besides being sick, I've also become incredibly tired the past few weeks. I don't say this all to complain, but because I've really found it difficult not to use pregnancy as an excuse to sleep in everyday, let the house be crazy messy, or go out to eat more. It was interesting to me that my friend Lorrie, who's blog you can link to from mine, just wrote about the hardest part being "getting up and going." I certainly agree!

While this week has been difficult for me because I have been irritated with myself for not being as good of a homemaker and employee as usual, I know that God is continuing to faithfully prod me a long - and I'm always thankful for his prodding because I NEED IT!

Over and over again this week He has pointed me to Proverbs 14:23, "All HARD work brings a profit..."

Every time I decide to do the dishes rather than sit on the couch and zone out, every time I decide to pray for someone rather than watch a movie, every time I pick up my pen to write a card instead of take a nap, every time I decide to cook dinner rather than ask Daryl if he can fend for himself, there is profit. Looking at "every" little decision in that way instead of trying to conquer the whole day before it's begun has been helpful! And understanding that seen or unseen there is profit, has been even more helpful!

For clarification's sake, relaxation and refreshment are a must, and something we highly enjoy in the Reynold home, as you will see. However, laziness is a no-no and that's what I'm harping on myself about; not the former :)

Some pics from our fun weekend after hearing that Jacob Allen was found alive and well...

With my pumpkin :) Aww...

Lauren surrounded by a bunch of food, free samples, and an "Almost Heaven" sign. Sounds about right.

Mom and Dad getting ready for grandchildren. I'm a little scared - Just kidding ;)

The petting zoo - my personal favorite since age 6. Before that I was afraid of goats and ganders.

"The Lama Whisperer."

A perfect ending.

Leader's Retreat

This past weekend Daryl and I got to join in on the fun of the student ministries leader's retreat in Deep Creek, MD (check out the awesome house we got to stay in). It's been a long time since I've attended something like that, but it was a little different for me this time. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't the one "necessarily" being fed, but one of the one's organizing, cooking, planning, etc.

While at times I wished I was one of the ones in on the cool stuff - devotionals, trainings, etc, looking back I am amazed at what God was doing in my own heart while I was on the outskirts. My quiet times and even outside readings that I stumbled on all weekend and the following week were regarding "abiding in Christ," from John 15.

Verses 5-8 say, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

So many times I start out connected to the vine and then at some point I disconnect. Much like the Galatians who Paul called foolish, I start out in the Spirit and then start trying to do things on my own (see Galatians 3:3).

This past weekend I was really excited about serving the volunteer leaders - THEY ROCK and I love them, and most of the time I maintained joy in doing so. But if I wasn't purposeful in keeping connected to God, sapping from His power, I would find myself getting irritated or stressed about making sure this or that was complete.

In verse 11 Jesus says not only are we to stay connected to bear fruit, but so we could have complete joy.

This week it is my aim to abide in Him in all things. I'm thankful for the Spirit's sweet reminders when I start to unplug and excited that He is eager for me to remain in Christ in all things.