Pure joy...Thoughts from MaKayla

For Christmas Mom and Dad gave me a new book called "Woodhouse Family Welcome Home: Our Family's Journey To Extreme Joy". I don't know if you have ever heard of the Woodhouse family, but they have a daughter that feels no pain, does not sweat, and had to have brain surgery when she was about nine or ten years old. This has presented them with many challenges to face over the years, but they have been overcomers and were recently on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". Kimberly Woodhouse, the mom and wife of this incredible family, is the one who wrote the book and the verse that she called her "theme verse" or "life verse" really stuck out to me:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of you faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2~4

When I read that, it really struck me, because I know through Dad's surgeries how hard it was to have "pure joy" whatever the circumstances. I also know that personally I didn't do a very good job of exercising that. She talked about how God kept hounding that on her until she fully grasped what it meant to be full of joy in God. She also mentioned that God impressed it upon her heart to memorize those verses so that she would have them at her remembrance whenever she needed them.

It just so happens that my family has a goal sheet for each of us, laminated and hanging on the wall listing our personal daily, weekly, and monthly goals. As I looked at it this morning, I was reminded that one of my weekly goals was to memorize a new bible verse. God spoke to me and said, "MaKayla I think that James 1:2~4 is what you need to memorize this week, that way you can be easily reminded to have pure joy in Me!" :-) I am purposing to memorize those three short verses so that I will remember to have joy, pure joy in all situations and circumstances that I am faced with!