Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!

As we begin to prepare for the big feast tomorrow and before the official hustle and bustle begins, I want to take a few moments to reflect and express gratitude on this Thanksgiving Eve and I encourage you all to take time to do the same.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and that's probably no coincidence since it falls in my favorite month of November!

This year I'm thankful for:

1. A wonderful husband who loves me no matter what and who is my best friend
2. A step-son who is entertaining and fun to watch as he grows and matures
3. My sweet family that I see all the time now, as well as my new in-law-family which equals double the fun!
4. Precious friends who I love to laugh with until my sides hurt
5. A job and a career that I truly enjoy and I am always challenged by (did anyone else operate on a skunk yesterday?  I think not...!)
6. Great employees/friends to work with every day and laugh with (we like to laugh a lot around here)
7. Serving a God who gives us ample second and third chances, and who always has a plan...a really good plan...for our lives
8. Nieces and nephews that see the world differently, through fresh eyes so the most simple things are new again
9. Pumpkins...thank you God for making those as I honestly can't get enough of their sweet flavor during this season!
10. 36 years of health...to the point I feel MUCH younger than I am...(and I look it, too...right?!)
11. Freedom to worship any way I choose
12. Horses in my barn and enjoying their quirky personalities
13. Celebrating a November without drama
14. A sister who is also my best friend and partner in crime (if only she lived closer!)
15. A neurotic dog who amuses me...as in right now while she runs around my office trying to catch flies in her mouth
16. The little things that make me smile
17. Laughter, and a lot of it...
18. College football (Gig 'Em Aggies)
19. A job where I get to wear jeans every day
20. A year of happiness and fresh starts and very few tears
21. Black Friday shopping!  It's a sport...not for the faint at heart ;)

I could go on and on in my randomness, but that's just a short list at the forefront of my mind.  I'm overflowing with thanks this year, so excuse my sappiness.  I want to wish each of you a very Happy Thanksgiving weekend from my home to yours.  Hug your loved ones tight and thank the Lord for what He has done, what He is doing and what He's about to do!

1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 

Psalm 7:17  

I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.

 

Blessings to you All!

JOY

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Rex Neely

Over the past few years, I've written quite a few blogs, which many of you have read, and therefore have been included on my journey in a round-about-way.  The last few years have been quite a process, but looking back, there was always a bigger picture. What I didn't know when I started this blog was that it was giving me a voice that turned out to be a ministry of sorts, proving that God really can use any and all things to do His work.  There have been so many tears shed by me and on behalf of me in the past, so I'm finally glad to have something happy to report!  In 2011 alone, there have been so many full circle moments and "AH-HAs" that God has used to teach me some valuable lessons...mainly that His ways are better than my ways all the time! 

The biggest light-bulb moment thus far happened on October 22nd as I stood on the white, sandy beach of Destin, Florida and said "I Do!" to the love of my life, Mr. Rex Neely.  All of my mistakes, hurts and questions of the past got answered on that day.  I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord had been preparing me for that moment for quite awhile.  Our wedding was a celebration of our trust in the Lord, even in some dark times, and hanging on to His promises in the good times and the bad. During our ceremony, I had this sense of cherishing every second and not wanting to forget one thing that was said or was happening as it was all so very surreal.  I remember thinking as we got towards the end that I never wanted it to end and I wanted the minister to slow down!  I was so enjoying every moment!  We both really wanted to feel God's presence on our special day and several things happened that made us both smile and reassure us that He was most certainly smiling down upon us.

First off, the weather was absolutely perfect.  Not too cold, not too hot, not windy, not humid, not a cloud in the sky...absolutely perfect.  I had worried about that part of it, and I had to smile as I walked down the "aisle" that God had created the perfect day.  Later, my sister told me that all during the ceremony and while we were having pictures made after, there was a Monarch butterfly following me around, to the point of people beginning to notice (everyone except me!)...I like to think of it as a little guardian angel fluttering about and protecting us! Despite being on a public beach, we had picked a remote place in hopes that the wedding would not be gawking-material for every random tourist.  There were people at a distance in their beach chairs soaking up the sun but they were SILENT during the ceremony.  I could see several of them hanging on our every word!  After the minister pronounced us 'Mr. and Mrs. Neely', we turned around to the sound of our "guests" clapping, which was sweet, unexpected and made us laugh.  Later, after the cake was cut and we were relaxing before dinner, two of the beach goers came over to our table and introduced themselves.  They had been laying on the beach all day and when they saw the area being set up for the wedding earlier in the day, they decided they should pray for whoever was getting married later.  As we visited with these complete strangers, they said after hearing our vows, then knew we were Christians and they could just tell how much we loved one another, how happy we were and they knew God had asked them in advance to cover us in prayer.  What do you say to that?!  (That caused me and my sister to cry yet again!).  We never saw them again, but I will always remember their sweet words and how they allowed God to use them.  Besides those two sweet ladies, I can not tell you how many phone calls, texts, emails and Facebook messages we got from friends and family saying they were praying at 3pm for us, which was the time of the wedding.  I can tell you, however, that each of those prayers were felt.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful support!  And lastly, that night as we sat on the beach for our private "toes in the sand" dinner, God delivered the most gorgeous sunset I have ever seen in my life-to-date.  It truly was a work of art that felt like it has been hand-painted just for us.  Even though I know there isn't much perfect in this fallen, messed-up world we live in, that day felt perfect.  It was all we hoped for, looked forward to and so much more!  I know that did not happen by accident...it was because God was there in some mighty ways making sure of it.

For all of you who have prayed for me over the years, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  God answered so many prayers and redeemed the pain of the past on October 22nd for both Rex and I...and He's not done yet!  This truly marks a beginning for the two of us, not just as husband and wife, but in how the Lord is going to use us to do His work in the future.   Exciting times for the Neely Family!

 Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

JOY

Rex & Joy Neely

Someone Pinch Me!

As I sit here at my desk today, I can't believe that in 48 hours, I will be Mrs. Rex Neely.  Someone needs to come over to my office and pinch me so I can make sure this has not all been a dream!  Sure, I'm excited about going to Florida, having a beautiful wedding on the beach with the man I love and getting to spend a week uninterrupted, just the two of us.  Who wouldn't be excited about that?  But more than that, I can't wait to be married to this man and just do life with him every day and see God's promises to me fulfilled.

You see, back before Rex was even in the picture, God sent me to His word over and over to specific promises in Isaiah that I WOULD be married, I WOULD have a family and He WOULD restore all I lost double-fold.  Over and over again, He assured me that life was not over...quite the opposite, it was finally going to begin.  I clung to those promises and the verses of Jeremiah 29:11 and Habakkuk 2:3 that God did have a plan and a purpose for me; it just wasn't the right time just yet.  I believed it all, but it was very hard to wrap my head around at that time.  It all seemed so...impossible?  Unlikely?  Crazy?  But our God is a crazy, out-of-the-box type of God!

So fast forward to when Rex and I began to just reconnect friend-wise.  We had shared a lot of time talking, texting, and emailing and just rekindling the friendship from years past.  I went home one weekend to visit my family, and he invited me to his church, as he was leading worship that weekend.  I sat next to his parents during the service and I was floored by the worship music and reminded of how very talented he was and I thoroughly enjoyed it all.  But, right in the middle of the worship set, God spoke a word over me that literally made me look around to see if anyone else had heard it!  Loud and clear, He said that THIS MAN would be my husband (and of course I started to cry).  Again, in this moment, he and I just being friends, that seemed so bizarre.  There was no romance yet or even dating.  I had been praying for God to pick out my husband for me if He so desired as I did a pretty awful job of that the last go-round.  But Rex Neely?  The guy who had been a friend forever and I grew up with?  Who actually SANG AT MY FIRST WEDDING (who says God doesn't have a sense of humor!?)?  It's not that I was not attracted to him; I thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread!  But, I didn't think he thought of ME in that way.  And of top of all of that, I was so far from being interested in dating much less marriage in that moment!  I almost felt guilty sitting next to his family having these thoughts...like they might figure it out and someone would escort me out of the church in a straight jacket!  I told very few people of this experience because, let's face it, it made me look like a nut!  The people I did tell prayed along side of me...prayed for doors to close or open according to God's will for my life.  I guess I don't have to tell you what happened from there...

This weekend, some friends had an engagement party for us and these were the same friends that have been through hell with me in the past, who prayed for me and believed in God's faithfulness despite some dark times in my life.  It was so wonderful to be able to celebrate and laugh and just see God's hand all over the past years.  One of them wrote to me on Monday and I wanted to share an excerpt from her email as I couldn't describe the present time any better:

      "Do you remember that huge jet fuel tanker that wrecked and blew up in Roanoke on 114 about a month or so ago? It burned for so long, like 8 or 9 hours. Just HUGE fireballs and thick black smoke all afternoon and evening. I pass the scorched median and the road with the blackest of black burns on my way to work each morning. Today the traffic was backed up so what I would usually zip right past, I had a chance to sit and stare at for a minute. The Earth there is just obliterated. I mean, if you looked at it now and had never seen it before you’d think it was never going to recover. Just raw! Having seen it every day though, I’ve seen small improvements in the time since. Today though, I can see these brilliantly green, though few and far between, blades of grass starting to poke up in the midst of this char. It reminded me of your situation and how God is at work even when things look completely hopeless from our perspective. I love that God took what Satan intended for evil and pain and brought abundant beauty and joy out of the ashes. I mean, this has to be a little surreal for you…who would have thought, on your very worst day in your darkest hour during the divorce, that God already knew His plan for you and it was going to be SOOOO good?!?! I love that God was already at work within your heart and in Rex’s to prepare you each for the other. That little bit of bright green grass this morning was God using nature to remind me of the hope that is always there when we trust in Him. I am so, so grateful for a front row seat to watch this miracle that has taken place in your life. I barely know Rex but I absolutely love him because I feel like I’ve seen God’s fingerprints on everything that has happened between y’all. He is the human answer to all of our prayers for you but SOOO much better than we even knew to ask God for."

So now, you understand why I sit here, in awe and amazement at what God has done and what events have unfolded to have me preparing for my wedding day to the man God promised to me some time ago.  It is a wonderful feeling to see His promises come full circle and for Him to answer my prayers in such a real and tangible way.  And God did bring me a double portion because I'm not just getting one man...I'm getting two with Rex and his son, Brady! How's that for being very intentional and specific?!  There is such peace, joy and contentment as I prepare to make a covenant to the man God created specifically for ME...it's a feeling that just can't be described.  I love the fact that the Lord loves me that much to give me such a sweet second chance for a do-over here on Earth.  God is good and faithful to complete what He starts...even if sometimes we just can't understand the time frame.  Wait for it...it certainly will come!

Headed to the chapel,

Joy Almost-Neely :)

Who's Wearing the Crown in My Life?

Right now, my life is filled with blessings that are too numerous to count.  Every day overflows with joy.  I'm in a season of mountain top experiences and I won't lie...I love it.  It's much more fun to be in this place vs the trials and tribulations I've faced in the past in life's painful valleys. 

But still, I struggle.
That may sound bizarre after my over-flowing-with-happiness statement above BUT I'm realizing that it is much more difficult to cling on to God and be desperate for Him when life is bliss.  Truth be told, you are never closer to God than when you have hit rock-bottom.  When you are knocked down to your knees, it is more natural to be seeking the Lord's will, giving Him control of your life and be in complete submittal to His plan.  Or maybe that's just me?  On the flip side of that coin, when life is on easy street and blessings are just falling out of the sky into your lap, it becomes tempting to start grabbing back some of that control and becoming independent, even if it's on a subconscious level.   

The Lord keeps gently reminding me to stay grounded in His will in various ways, and today, it was while I was having my own little private praise and worship time as I drove down I-635 North in Dallas (for all those early morning commuters that passed me, I'm sorry if you thought I was having an epileptic seizure.  I was just expressing my freedom to worship however I so choose, even if that might be non-conventional!).  I find it interesting that you can listen to the same song a million times and then on that million and oneth time, something very fresh and new hits you between the eyeballs and grabs your attention, such as these lyrics from different songs:

• And when I'm doing well, help me to never seek a crown. For my reward is giving glory to YOU. (Keith Green)
• Give me grace to see beyond this moment here, to believe there is nothing left to fear.  And you were on it, high above it all, and you, My God, are greater still! (Natalie Grant)
• This is my prayer in the harvest, where favor and providence flow. I know I'm filled to be emptied again...the seed I've received I will sow. (Hillsong)

I think the ultimate example is in the lyrics of the Keith Green song..."help me to never seek a crown"...ouch!  Isn't that what the world would brainwash us to do?  When things go our way, we pat ourselves on the back and conduct our own little ceremony to crown ourselves for being so brilliant and successful.  In reality, we need to give the "attaboy" to the Lord, because the blessings and favor flow down directly from Him and Him alone.   

Don't get me wrong...there is nothing wrong with being blessed and the Lord bringing GOOD into your life.  Embrace it!  Enjoy it!  Praise Him for it!  I've just been reminded to be sure to give credit where credit is due and to continue to seek Him with the same intensity on the mountain tops as in the valleys.

Am I the only one who struggles with staying grounded during the mountaintops of this life?

Keepin' It Real,

JOY