I’m glad you’re here!

Welcome to my blog. Thanks for stopping by and giving me the opportunity to share my faith journey with you. I hope that you will be encouraged, uplifted, and sometimes challenged by what you read here. And I hope that you will give me the opportunity to learn and grow in my faith through your comments and questions.

I am not an expert in faith or in life; just a fellow traveler doing my best to live out what I believe. I think we can learn as much from the struggle as we can from the people who seem to have it all figured out.

The title—Joyful Wanderings

Joy is a central part of who I am. I strive to find good in people and situations. I live life to the fullest. When I get the choice to sit it out or dance, I dance.

Where does my joy come from?

The source of my joy is God’s love, grace, and mercy. God, the creator of the universe, loves me more than I could ever imagine. Not only does he love me, but he also likes me. He wants to be close to me, to spend time with me, to share in my ups and downs. That just blows my mind!

We’ve already established that I’m not perfect. I mess up often. But that doesn’t change God’s love for me. In fact, God loves me so much that Jesus came to Earth, becoming one of us so he could show us how to love and live. Jesus spoke the truth, and, as you know, that isn’t always popular. Some people couldn’t handle the truth, so they tortured Jesus and sentenced him to an excruciating death on a cross. Jesus willingly endured all of that, paying the price for all of our sins, so that nothing would separate us from him; so that we could live with him forever in Heaven. Wow.

What about the times when I don’t feel joyful?

Let’s face it—sometimes life stinks. If we had known, before we were born, the challenges and struggles we would face in our lives, we might not have been so willing to head down that birth canal. But I know that God is with us in all of our life situations, even when we can’t see his actions or feel his presence. And God promises us that this world isn’t all there is for us. As Josh Wilson so beautifully states it in his song, Before the Morning: “The pain that you’ve been feeling—it can’t compare to the joy that’s coming.” (Check it out at http://joshwilsonmusic.com/)