This is us... THIS is joy

Christian artists, Casting Crowns, wrote a song called Thrive in 2014.  The theme of the song is that we, as believers, should be living in the promise of thriving, not simply surviving.  The song is upbeat and encouraging.  One bridge in the song repeats with intensity the following chorus:

Joy unspeakable

Faith unsinkable

Love unstoppable

Anything is possible 

My three grandsons have loved this song... we often sing it together in the car, but as you might imagine, the tempo intensifies during this bridge.  Somehow this Mimi seems to get a bit mixed up in the words... joy unsinkable, love unspeakable, faith unstoppable, but I always catch up by the line, "anything is possible"... with Jesus.

...Speaking of those three grand boys... once again we've experienced such joy unspeakable as we welcomed grand boy number four to our growing clan.  Ryder Clay Anderson made his grand entrance into the world on Friday evening just before 6:00.  As we anxiously awaited his birth, words and phrases from Psalm 139 spun webs of apprehensive anticipation and unimaginable excitement.  

Ryder was knitted together in Kellie's womb.  

God, the marvelous Creator, formed each of Ryder's parts.  

Ryder is fearfully and wonderfully made.

Nothing about this child is hidden from the Father.

God's eye was on this precious baby before he was even formed.

The day Ryder was born was determined by our loving, powerful, ordered God.

As I write this very sentence, Ryder is exactly 2 days old - he has much to learn as he grows and navigates this world... His parents, Tim and Kellie, understand Ryder's precious, priceless worth in their eyes, and in the eyes of 2 sets of grandparents that are "over the moon enthralled" with this little boy, as well as a wealth of aunts and uncles, cousins, great grandparents, and numerous friends.  We understand that he is loved deeply, created by and for a relationship with his Heavenly Father through Jesus.

Oh friends, our Heavenly Father feels that very same about you and me.  Joy unspeakable - We are loved, created and never hidden from him.

This is us and this is joy!

For you formed my inward parts;

    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]

Wonderful are your works;

    my soul knows it very well.

15 

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

    the days that were formed for me,

    when as yet there was none of them.  Psalm 139:13-16

13 

Click here to listen to Casting Crowns:  Thrive