“Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You.” Psalm 38:9 (NASB)   This simple verse holds a lot of punch.  For me, I love knowing that the Lord sees all my desires, that my sighs and tears are not hidden from Him.  In my most broken of moments, I [...]

If anyone knows Howard Bowen, Dot’s husband, they know that one of his infamous phrases is, “have no expectations.” We are sinful creatures and we deserve nothing, everything we have is already more than we deserve.  So live with no expectations because God owes us nothing. It is a wise and great thing to take [...]

An excerpt from Candi Pearson-Shelton’s book, “Desperate Hope” “He is faithful to the marrow, so faithful that He comes with a guarantee.  This guarantee is Jesus, and He promises to us His constant presence (“I will never leave you nor forsake you,” Heb. 13:5 ESV).  Our learning to crawl may take some time.  Learning to [...]

“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. [...]

Rest in His unfailing love.  Rest in His mercy and grace.  Rest in His presence, His promises.  Rest knowing that He is in control and He will never let you go; He has not left you or forsaken you.  He is intimately aware and present in every detail of your life.  Rest in His sovereignty.  [...]

Something that I have noticed is that we, as people, connect in our brokenness.  We don’t connect and relate to one another based on our pretending that everything is ok, we relate based on our wounds, regrets, and tears. I’ve been on this journey, full of hurt, for months and maybe even years now.  I sweep [...]

We consider the ladies of Cup of Joy a true gift from the Lord.  We love each and every one of you and thank God for bringing you into the Cup of Joy family.  In the summer of 2011, we began acknowledging and praying over the birthdays in our database by sending a birthday card. [...]

“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 As I have been wrestling through a few desires that are on my heart, this verse has been echoing in my heart over the past couple of weeks.  I never want to desire something that is not from [...]

Life has been extremely busy for our family. Scott and Addie have sold their house and has moved in with us until their new house is built, and adopting a baby. Christy and Jim have had to deal with health issues concerning Jim’s back, Kensie with Graves Disease and the other children having allergies. Cara [...]

Last Sunday Passion City Church had their first service in their new building. I was there along with most of my family members. It was a very exciting time for their church and for my sweet friends.  Louie has an amazing gift to lead us right to the heart of God and that night was [...]