Turn Over! Crawl! Walk in JOY!

            Have you had your JOY JUICE today?  Practice drinking it faithfully and you’ll become skillful at finding JOY.

            This week I’m sharing with you some the similarities I’ve observed between our spiritual lives and the growth process of children.  Each time I’m around my little “grandjoys” (as I like to call them), God shows me something new. 

            As babies begin to be mobile, they first learn to turn over; soon they get up on their all fours and eventually begin to crawl.  It’s not long 'til they learn to pull up and stand…and before we know it, they’ve taken that all important first step! That’s when the parents and silly grandparents cheer and clap as if they had won a gold metal in the Olympics! Learning to walk IS a great milestone! 

            As young Christians, we too have to learn to "turn over" our lives to God.  It may feel as if we’re "crawling" in our spiritual growth process, but we have to crawl before we can walk!  The important thing to remember is that we have a Father Who is always there to reach out and take us by the hand. 

            I’m sure He often hears the familiar phrase: “I can do it myself!”  It’s not just children that utter these words!  We think we can do it alone….then we fall and experience the hurt of wrong choices. Does God turn His back on us? NO!  Just as a loving parent picks up the toddler who falls, our Heavenly Father draws us close and lovingly says: “Let’s try it again….but this time let’s do it my way.”

             If we desire to walk in JOY, we must be committed to taking our Father’s hand and letting Him lead the way.