At work in me

A few weeks ago we had a revival at church. It was small and intimate but it was really good and I enjoyed every night that we went. Since then I have been praying a lot and asking God to work on my "Joy." I know that sounds wierd but as an individual I have felt not myself and been unhappy a lot lately. I know that with a lot of time on my knee's and an open heart that God would be faithful to me and answer my prayers. The best way to describe me would probably be the word, calloused. I almost feel numb to life sometimes. Depressing, huh? Well imagine how my family felt living with me. Thank you to them for loving me anyways and putting up with my moodiness. With all of this said, God answered part of my prayers last week. On Monday, I sat down to read a book with Mollie entitled, "A Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck. She didn't make it all the way through but I read on for myself. It made me cry and was so touching. It is not a religious story by any means but it was just a touching story. It is about a young boy who really wants a new bike for Christmas. He learns that instead of a bike he is getting a hand made Christmas sweater that his Mother knit for him. He is not excited about it at all. In the end he learns that hand made gifts are filled with love because whomever made them poured their love into it while doing it. He ends up getting a bike too but he is more over joyed about the sweather. I later read the story to Maddie and cried again. We got to talk about how sweet the story is and that God gave us Jesus as a gift on Christmas and that is why we celebrate. It was a great time together and I enjoyed it. Nonetheless, the story stuck with me and I kept thinking about it. I just loved it. Well, a few days later while walking through a parking lot...God struck me with his answer to my prayers over joy. He flashed the story in my mind and then proceeded to tell me...
Jennifer, you are hand made. I made you and I poured all my love into you.

It was like a ton of bricks and it was such an experience like non-other and very eye opening. God made us all and we are hand crafted. Our parents, our friends, our children...if that doesn't bring joy to your life what about the part about all of his love being poured into us? Thus, why he gave us the greatest gift of all, Jesus.

Joy has been an issue for me but now I can say that I find joy everyday when I think about this and I give all glory to God. Thank you for revealing this truth to me in an unexpected place, a children's book.