Joy To The World

Joy To The World

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Issac Watts is the writer of this amazing hymn. If you notice the lyrics of the song, Joy to the World, you will see nothing about shepherds, a manger, wise men, angels, that we normally associate with the Christmas story. The reason is because Isaac Watts did not write Joy to the World to be a Christmas song. The original theme of this song was intended to be about the second coming of the Lord. Christmas won’t always be a joyful time but Christ's return will definitely be pure joy!!!

Joy to the World was written in 1719 and based on Psalm 98 which says:

O sing to the Lord a new song,

For He has done wonderful things,

His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.

The Lord has made known His salvation;

He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.

He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;

Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.

Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,

With the lyre and the sound of melody.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn

Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.

Let the sea roar and all it contains,

The world and those who dwell in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands,

Let the mountains sing together for joy

Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;

He will judge the world with righteousness

And the peoples with equity.

This Christmas as you sing this beautiful song take time to meditate on the words. The words most definitely apply to Christ's birth. Our Savior is come!! This is reason to both  rejoice and be joyful. But, let us not forget that Watts lyrics point to the REASON that Jesus came, and that was to save the world. He is coming again!!! When Christ returns it will be a glorious day of rejoicing. Joy to the world!!!

Christmas Eve

Luke 1:30-35

The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favorwith God. 

"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 

"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His fatherDavid; 

and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." 

Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 

The angel answered and said to her, "The HolySpirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

Christ birth is the most perfect gift that the world has ever been given!! 

The Battle of the Thumb

Thumb sucking is hard habit to break!! Our youngest sucked her thumb in utero and within minutes of birth soothed herself by putting her thumb in her mouth. My daughter, now 7 1/2 years old, sucking her thumb is becoming more of an issue that needs to be cease. Over the past couple of years we have tried many of the normal tactics to help her stop sucking her thumb. Eventually, like a best friend, the thumb finds its way back. The adage that "30 days will break a habit" did not ring true for us. We do have some extenuating circumstances that makes stopping the habit much more difficult than your average kid. Due to a medical condition called FPIES my daughter is unable to eat. Add in Sensory Processing Disorder and the task becomes like climbing Mt. Everest. Thumb sucking is a calming, self soothing technique that my daughter has used since before birth. Recently, while looking through a site containing tools to help kids cope and deal with a wide variety of issues I came across ScratchSleeves. Oh, how I wished I would have had this when my middle child was younger to help her deal with her severe eczema!! It is like a shrug with mittened hands. The material is so soft and the hand mitts are made of silky satin. It is extremely sensory friends for those kiddos that having various clothing issues.

Memories of 2015

As I look back on this past year I am grateful for the many blessing, opportunities, milestones, accomplishments, and amazing memories. We have been truly blessed in so many ways!! Yes, we have had our share of trials, mainly medical related ones, but God has faithfully seen us through each any every one. Our trials have strengthened us in positive ways and have given us a continuing appreciation for the times that are calm. It is on Christ that I continually build my foundation and going into 2016 I look forward to what God has in store for our family. The following is a sampling, in no particular chronological order, of some of the memories made in 2015!!!