Scrapbook Devotional: A Journey of Joy

Psalm 30:5
For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

Devotions…devotions…devotions..a thing I certainly struggle with on a daily basis, kind of ironic I would say as much as I am in love with Jesus.  My life is so busy sometimes I just cannot seem to find 5 or 10 minutes to complete a simple reading lesson and dive into the Word.  Now granted with the revival happening and I am attending church 3 to 5 times a week I get lots of Bible in me, however to spend some quiet alone time is just tough for me.  I would like to blame it on my work schedule since I work a different  time everyday so I can never set up a routine time to read, however, it really boils down to my lack of routine and discipline.

God did send someone in my life to help keep me accountable but that did not last very long on my part.  I tried, I really tried and it lasted about 14 days in a row and I began to slack. So after God’s attempt to draw me in failed on my part, He is trying a different approach, appealing to my creative side so to speak.  In recent prayer it has been prayed by two different men of God that He desires for me to be filled with joy, my past is over and now it is time for joy!  Yesterday during church I was inspired!  I decided I was going to take on a journey of joy.  I would begin to create my own scrapbook of joy and put something in it every day.

As I was creating this masterpiece yesterday afternoon, new revelation came to me and God said,quietly,  “make this your devotion”.  Hmmmm, I thought, this could be a cool idea and so I am going to share it with all of you.  Doing this accomplishes two things, one I learn about joy and two it holds me even more accountable as some of you may be following along.  This is what I did:  I bought a cheap journal, covered it in white duct tape and used nail polish to decorate.  You may use anything you want to make your scrapbook, this is just what I used.

First I found the definition of joy and wrote it in the opening flap.  Next I am doing 7 days at a time and finding 7 verses on joy, writing one verse on each page leaving the back of each page blank.  So each Sunday, my day off, I spend 10 minutes getting my 7 verses for the week written in.  I used an internet Bible and typed in the word JOY and I began my journey from the first mention of joy, Genesis 31:27.  I then wrote out the verse and I made a vow to read the entire chapter from which that verse was found.  Next I write a 1 or 2 sentence thought on what I found joyful in my day or out of the reading and lastly I paste or tape or glue or staple something of joy to the backside of the page. Whala!  I have begun a scrapbook devotional!

I plan on doing this for 30 days and then switching to a new subject.  My ultimate goal is to have a 12 book devotional ready to be published.  How cool is God that He would give me something right on my own level and right where I need to be?  Not only is He attempting to get me to commit to this devotional, He is allowing me to share my journey!  So each day on my Facebook I am sharing this journey of joy, I don’t think it will be a blogging project but perhaps when I get the website up and running, it will be a part of that!

Let me know if you are following along with me on my Journey of Joy!