Cup of Joy

Lay Down Your Desires

Dot — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:48:23 +0000

“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 imagine myself going up to the throne room, thankful that I am able to approach a perfect Savior. I walk in so tired, weary, and broken that I cannot even make it to His feet. I collapse at the door; I envision Jesus standing up from His throne to come over to meet me right where I am. He then picks me up in His arms and carries me over to allow me to be on His lap while He sits at the right hand of the Father. Sometimes, that picture is all I need. When I cannot go any further, He meets me where I am, well aware of my desires and sighs, and holds me so close while He fights for me. (Exodus 14:14)

Expectant with no expectations

Dot — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:21:06 +0000

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 hold of, but for me, it puts me in the middle of one of my greatest battles. How do I live with expectancy, yet with no expectations? I certainly do not have the answer to this yet, but I’m beginning to see the difference. Living with expectancy is simply waiting on God to do something amazing, to intercede for us, fight for us, make beauty out of ashes. He promises all of those things. Living with expectations has more demand. Expecting God to give me this or that. He may very well give us this or that, but what if what we are expecting isn’t good for us? Then God would be going against His very nature. It all boils down to the simple fact that we know nothing. We have no idea what is good for us, no idea what will make us happy at the end of the day. We may be expecting something that we think is amazing and God is looking down the road and seeing that that very thing will destroy us. If we live with expectancy that God is going to do amazing things then we live our life watching and waiting for that. It tunes our ears and eyes on Him and not on the particular thing that we are praying for. He may very well give us that exact prayer, and praise Him for that, but if He doesn’t…praise Him for the no. It all goes back to the simple fact: we know nothing and He is all knowing. We can’t see past this moment and He sees the future. We do not know the heart of man, but He searches every corner of our hearts. We have to know the God we serve. We have to spend time with Him in order to know what to expect from Him. If we know He is good, we will live with expectancy for Him to do something good. If we don’t believe He is good, we won’t know what to expect and we go back to trusting ourselves and living with expectation instead of expectancy.

Desperate Hope

Dot — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:18:00 +0000

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 trust Him completely may take even longer. The beauty of the promise to be there is just that – He will be there while you deal with trust issues and belief issues. He will be there while you wonder at sovereignty and get angry at it because you have nothing to do with it. He will be there when you’re ready to talk, and He’ll listen as you babble on about nonsense. And when you’re ready, He’ll speak back to you and begin to unravel some of the mystery. Not all of it. We are bound to limited eyesight, and we must understand that it will never be crystal clear on this planet. But learning to trust Him in everything means knowing you’ll never know it all…and He will. It means learning that he always has the best end in mind. It means more hurt is sure to come, but when it does, He feels it with you. Working through our trust in the beauty of faith and hope in God means we are poised to hear the whispers of small answers to you questions.” (pg.176)

You can purchase “Desperate Hope” at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and any Christian bookstore.

Joyful Expectancy

Dot — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:56:42 +0000

“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. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

Romans 8:22-28 (The Message)

Rest.

Dot — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:53:17 +0000

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. He is God, Creator and King of everything seen and unseen. Rest in His power and might. Rest in His joy, He is good. Crawl into His lap and simply rest in your Papa’s arms.

Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Beautifully Broken

Dot — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:44:53 +0000

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 it under the rug; acting like I am fine and thinking eventually it will all just come together and be okay. But in doing this I am thinking everything will be ok without seeking my Father with everything I have, without seeking Him with every ounce of my strength. Of course, I seek Him, love Him, pray to Him, and spend time with Him. But I am talking about getting to the point where He is literally all I need, where I am so dependent on Him that I cannot imagine going through the next moment without holding onto his hand so tightly my knuckles are white. See, my knuckles are white, but it’s because I’ve been holding onto things – idols – so tightly that my Father has become eclipsed by my idols. I pray and yearn for Him to be my everything and that I would be so content with just… Him and Him alone. Knowing this was what I truly desired, He had to pry the idols out of my hands and bring me to a place of complete brokenness. The only place I had to run now was directly into His arms.

I had the privilege of going to a conference in Southern California with Catalyst. As I sat through session after session, I felt my Abba father slowly breaking me piece by piece. I sat in Judah Smith’s session, a pastor from The City Church in Seattle, WA, and cried. I cried and I didn’t even completely understand why until a few days later on my way home. Everything started crashing down and reality began to hit me. The reality of where I was placing my hope, where I was placing my trust, where I was placing my devotion; and it wasn’t 100% on Jesus. I wanted to be completely and utterly dependent on Him, but I wasn’t. I was relying on my own strength to get me through my moments. I was humbled and thankful that my Redeemer loved me enough to break me into pieces in order to build me into the woman not only that He wants me to be, but who I so desire to be.

I could literally feel my healer’s hands around me, I could feel his touch and I wept with so many emotions I couldn’t even begin to describe them all: pain, regret, gratitude, humility, hope, love. As I have begun to walk in my pain toward healing, taking each moment to Him, I heard a whisper in my heart as my maker’s hands wiped the tears from my eyes, “Beloved, let me heal you, let me love you, let me be God to you… you are so beautifully broken!”

Written by Cara Bowen

We Want to Celebrate You!

Dot — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:32:43 +0000

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. It is just one small way of loving on each of you individually and celebrating the day you were born! Here is one woman’s response to receiving her birthday card:

“You absolutely made my day this morning…thank you so much for the card! It made me feel loved and helped relieve the stress level. I added a reminder so I can open it again later this week. Thanks again so much! Have a blessed day”- Liz

We would love to celebrate you on your birthday! So please send us the month and the day of your birthday (do not worry; you are not required to include the year) to contactus@cupofjoy.org.

Delighting in my desires

Dot — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:49:32 +0000

“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 the Lord. I don’t want my desires to be my own, but desires that have come directly from my Father’s heart to mine. Which is why I have been wrestling with these desires. Every day I pray and ask the Lord to take away the desire and replace it with a new vision or passion. But the desires remain, and grow deeper.

This verse can be slightly controversial. What it is saying is that God will in fact give us the desires of our heart… IF we take delight in Him. I think we like to take this verse and claim that He will give us our desires, but we throw to the wayside the most important part of this verse; we MUST take delight in our Lord. It is a command, not a suggestion. In my experience, it’s a good idea to take delight in our Lord no matter if He gives us the desires of our hearts or not. Nevertheless, in His grace and love He wants and truly desires to give us the desires of OUR hearts.

So, this is where I have landed. My heart delights in my Lord; I love Him with everything in me and I want nothing more or less than what He wants. So if my heart is delighting in Him and my desires are pure, then He will give me the desires of my heart. The first part of the verse is a command, but the latter part is a promise.

So even when the desires don’t look like they are being fulfilled, I must hold on to His promise, do my part in delighting in Him, and wait until He perfectly meets the desires of my heart. I trust that in my delighting He has put those desires in my heart so that I can wait expectantly for Him to meet them in order to bring greater glory to His name.

-Written by Cara Bowen

Stepping Away

Dot — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:41:49 +0000

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 has moved from Atlanta to California seeking God’s direction for her life. As I type this, I’m in awe of God’s activity in my families’ life. So thankful that He is leading and actively working in the lives of my children.
As for me, I have stepped away for a few days to pray and write. COJ’s next bible study is in Luke and I’m writing the study. The beginning of Luke the angel Gabriel comes to Zechariah and announces that his wife Elizabeth is going to have a baby. It is an answer to their prayers! Except now they are older and probably thought God had forgotten about them. I wonder if they had even forgotten they had prayed for a child. I wonder if they had stopped praying thinking that God had said No. After Elizabeth gets pregnant she hides in seclusion. First she’s lives with disgrace because she hasn’t any children now she has to hide because she’s having a baby. Thinking about this today and as I have “stepped away” from my usual life activities, I’m seeking God’s direction as well.
God had a plan for Elizabeth’s life and she had no idea what that plan would be. She just wanted a baby like everyone else. Having a child in that culture was evidence of God’s blessings. I’m sure she thought God was punishing her and if she did think that, she kept faithful to Him in spite of God’s silence. I think its very difficult to keep faithful when God is silent. The truth is God wasn’t silent. He was working!
Perfect timing and a perfect baby boy that will be used to usher the Messiah that they so longed for. I can’t help but wonder if we asked Elizabeth if the wait was worth it, she would respond by a huge YES! God’s plan is always greater and better than we can imagine. I guess that’s why it’s always best to leave the choice up to Him.
In pondering this truth in God’s Word today and in stepping away for a few days, I have come to know that God does hear our prayers and He does have a plan for each of our lives. No, I’m not praying like Elizabeth nor do I want another child so it’s not that I want to be Elizabeth. It’s that in this story I serve the same God as Elizabeth and I can know He hears my prayers, He answers in ways beyond I can imagine or think. He answers in His time and according to His plan. I guess the only response to this truth is to wait on God and not lose heart. Not just to wait but to believe that God is a rewarder to those who seek Him.
I need to step away and ask God to make this truth a reality in my own life. Knowing that God is working in my life whether I see it or not. God has a plan for me, He hears my prayers, He cares about every detail of my life!
I am thankful!
Dot

The heart beat

Dot — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:22:50 +0000

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 no exception. Louie talked about the heart. He mentioned he had the opportunity to see open heart surgery and a heart transplant. This was something I did not envy him at all! As he began to tell in detail the procedure, Scott (my son) and I had to put our minds on something else or we would wake up with security over us due to passing out! Then Louie announces that Chris Tomlin and Lauren are expecting their first child and every day they would receive an update on the development of this new baby in the womb. When Chris told Louie the baby’s heart is beating and knowing how small this child is, it was such an amazing thing to think about this tiny child in the womb with a heart that is beating. Here was the question: “who started the heart to beat?” At that moment, I felt like I was the only one in the room. Everyone had left and God was saying to me “if the heart is beating, I made it beat”! This may not be an awe moment for you but for me, my eyes were filled with tears. You see, the night before, my sister had told me that she had discovered the survival rate for her stage and type of cancer is at MOST 11 years . She has had cancer for 7 yrs. The average survival rate was 5 yrs. I had a hard time sleeping that night after she told me this. God in His wisdom knew that I was struggling with emotions all Saturday night so in love ,He said to me Sunday “I make the heart start beating and I make the heart stop”! I knew at that moment God was saying “will you just trust Me?” There’s nothing I personally can do to keep a heart beating including my sister’s heart.Therefore, I’m to put all my fears and hopes in the One who does. God is in control not me! What good did it do for me to stay up all night worrying about Janice? Answer: Not one thing! All I got was bags under my eyes from no sleep. In reality if God decides to take me home before Janice, I’m going home! I don’t need cancer to end my heart beat.

So what’s the theme for the week? Putting my hope and confidence in a great God who has given me a new heart the day He saved me. When will this heart stop? When He says “come home”! So until then, my prayer is this “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my HEART be pleasing in your sight. O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer! Ps. 19:14

Until He calls me home, my prayer is that with every heart beat, I will know, follow and love Him and I’ll leave the beating to Him!