JOY!!

Hey Friends and Family, September 21, 2007

I am sending out another letter to let you know how the business is going and to ask for more promotion. Please try and sell my new tutoring company, which can supply tutoring to anyone who has a computer for one small yearly fee. Take the time to view the website and let me know what you think through the contact page. I hope all of you are doing well and in happy relationships. Thank you Lord for my family and friends that allow me to grow spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, and intellectually.

As for me, I am still working for eSylvan until the business picks up and gets in the black instead of the red. They are only giving me one to two hours a week, even with the new school year upon us. The Lord has provided me with a permanent substitute gig teaching English to ninth and eleventh graders at a local high school who’s on maternity leave for the first three months of school. I absolutely love being in my own classroom again and making a difference in my student’s lives. Probably should have gotten my credential to teach English instead of Physical Education, but still love the fact that I make my own hours just being a substitute and also with BigSisterTutoringcom.

My long time friend Amy came out to visit me in Oceanside for six wonderful days, thanks Amy for making the time to come and visit. I’m glad you were able to meet my church family as well as my little girl, Jezebel, and my cat, Bella. I’ll cherish the Padres game, the bonfire on the beach, and the many carne asada burritos we ate. It was nice spending some girl time with you and thanks for helping me get refocused on my relationship with Christ our Lord.

Thank you Lord for getting me re-connected to a church that has shown me nothing but kindness, goodness, patience, peace, love, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and best of all, they are happy to be there and you can see the joy in their eyes. I wanted to share my daily promise today (I get these once a week through email) with you because it touched my heart about how fearful we are to meet new people and the first impressions we often leave upon them. I have always been a shy person and the Lord’s JOY has changed that.

This week's promise: God will live among us with great joy

Do you have a joy that rubs off on other people?

I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me, freeing me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. I cried out to the Lord in my suffering, and he heard me. He set me free from all my fears. For the angel of the Lord guards all who fear him, and he rescues them.

Psalm 34:4-7 NLT

Contagious joy

Do you enjoy watching the televised Olympic games? If you do, you know the joy the winners of an Olympic event experience is contagious. That's one reason millions of people watch the Olympics so religiously. It's not simply to see the drama of the event and the excellence and form of the athletes. It's also to share in the contagious joy of the winners. In Psalm 34 David describes the same type of joy radiating from believers. All those who look to God for help will experience a joy so intense that other people can see it in their faces. David says the reason for that joy is that God has heard and answered our prayers. Our shame has been taken away. We have been set free from all our fears because the angel of the Lord encamps around us. He guards his people. Pray today that the angel of the Lord will set up camp around you and your relationships. Commit your fears and worries to God, and ask him to guard you. He can set you free from your fears and grant you radiant joy as you look to him for help.

Is your JOY contagious? We all have fears of meeting new people at church, at work, a new state, a small group, or even a new school. After backsliding out of church for several months, I had to pray that same prayer displayed in the Psalm, and He showed me the same contagious joy in a new church and a new small group.

Lord please allow me to be displaying ample amounts of JOY in your honor, and to put away any fears of not being accepted, not being liked, sounding stupid, fears of being judged, fears of coming off as a holy roller, or any fear that entangles my ability to meet new people and build relationships with them, so when they ask about the JOY that I have, I will be able to answer them. Amen.

Thank you so much for reading this far and I hope that you enjoyed. I will keep you all posted on the business and all my exciting endeavors out here in California. Thank you Lord for this opportunity to share my business and Your promise with family and friends and may we all show OUR JOY for the Lord in our faces and OUR relationships with others. I love you all and God Bless!!

Tonya

www.flywithchrist.blogspot.com

www.bigsistertutoring.com