I've Got the Joy, Joy!

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy

Down in my heart

Down in my heart

Down in my heart

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy

Down in my heart

Down in my heart to stay
I've got the peace that passes understanding 

Down in my heart

Down in my heart

Down in my heart
I've got the peace that passes understanding

Down in my heart

Down in my heart to stay

I've got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus

Down in my heart

Down in my heart

Down in my heart
I've got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus

Down in my heart

Down in my heart to stay!!

Here lately I have been pondering the songs in my heart as a child and besides Jesus Loves Me,  I've Got the Joy, Joy  is one that use to play over and over in my head, in fact it still does, not as often as it use to, but it's still there.

I have been told by my mother and others on many occasions I was such a happy child, in fact even as I got older, I can recall Smiley as one of my nicknames.

On a side note might I just say there is no love like a mothers love, she is probably the first picture of Jesus in my life. She loved me unconditionally , even though completely undeserved. I don't think I was the easiest one of her children to raise. I have always lived in my own little world ( but that's okay they knew me there )  and did things the way I thought they should be done. You could say I was strong-willed in a passive aggressive kind of way. But the one thing I know for sure was, I was a joyful, happy child and rightly so, if these were the songs running through my head. Deep down inside I knew I was loved by Jesus and my mom. The words in these songs had true heartfelt meaning to me.

Well through the years, I turned my back on my mom and the true lover of my soul, Jesus. Even though on the outside I still appeared to be a happy child, I struggled with real  joy on the inside. This is not to say; I wasn't happy a lot of the time, because I was, but the real Joy that had been there as a child was gone. I found my Joy again, when I realized where my true Joy comes from Jesus and being a child of the One True God.

Which brings me back to these wonderful songs of childhood and why I'm writing about them. My beautiful mother recently came for a visit and yes we were discussing my childhood and me being a happy child, it made me wonder where that happy child had gone which led to the discussion of the recent decision by Big Daddy and I to downsize and move to Florida. Well even though it is a good decision it's been reason for a little, well alot distress. You see, we lived in a large house in Athens, GA with a very large yard and to be honest it was wearing me out and I couldn't give the attention and care to Big Daddy, my children, homeschooling and following the Lord the way I wanted or the way I should, so we bought a smaller home with less yard to maintain. Long story short, downsizing is like tyring to fit 20 lbs. of crap in a 5 lb bag. The main problem with getting rid of this crap is this crap is attached to feelings and memories of not only of our life lived in Athens, but the previous time we as a family lived in Chicagoland.  It felt and still feels I am throwing memories and pieces of myself away. I felt and feel overloaded, distraught and drained of my joy, with no one to blame but myself.

Which is where the longing for the happy, joyful child that once was me comes into play. Often times in my life( more than I care to admit) I let my outward circumstances dictate my inward joy. Which makes me angry to boot, because I know better, I know where my joy comes from, it comes from the Lord. I can say this and know this in my heart to be true, but if I don't spend time daily in God's presence and in His word I am not reminded daily of the hopes, promises and peace that being a child of God has for me. When I spend time in God's word learning more of who He is through my Savior Jesus, I in turn am more joyful, more at peace, less frustrated in all aspects I am a kinder, gentler me. 

I would love to say that from this day on the lesson is learned , I can move on and never fret again, but as with anything it is a daily process.  God's word says in

Zechariah 2:10 Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the Lord.

 I know I am His daughter and I have great reason to rejoice, because this promise, for me has come true, He dwells within me through His Holy Spirit.

The Spirit lets me know I am a child of God.

Romans 8:15-16 ,15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

John1:12  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 

This in itself should is great reason for my heart to shout with joy; God the Father sent God the Son to this wretched earth to die for my sins, so I am not condemned to spend eternity apart from His love. He did not just leave it there, He also sent God the Spirit to dwell inside of me, as not to leave me alone to face the daily frustrations and evils of this earth. So I can truly say whether or not I feel it, I have the Joy,Joy, Joy,Joy down in my heart, down in my heart to stay!
 Oh, Father I pray that if anyone reading this is not your child, that you would use these words to nudge them in your direction, never to me Lord only to you. May these words help lead them into trusting and believing on Your Son to save them from their sins and they can have the joy down in their hearts of knowing they are children of God and Father may those that are your children have the knowledge of Your Spirit and the Joy beyond all understanding that He brings and they know they to have the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in their hearts to stay! I pray this in Your precious Son, Jesus' name, 
and all God's children said, AMEN!

Here is a dish that can't give you joy in your heart, but it sure can make your tummy happy.This dish was inspired by a picture I saw on twitter. David Webb posted this picture of a beautiful bowl of goulash he was eating in the German Colony of Jerusalem. It looked so delicious, I decided I wanted to make real deal goulash, so I did research on different ways goulash is prepared throughout Europe. I didn't like the recipes I saw, so I created my own with several of the  ingredients I liked from each. 
Big Mama's Eclectic Goulash 
4 tablespoons Olive oil (divided in half)
2 to 3 lbs Thick cut London broil cut into bite sizes (or stew beef)
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
2 large sweet onions sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup of beet juice (some recipes called for beet juice and some for red wine) 
2 cups beef broth or stock
1/2 cup roasted red peppers diced
1/4 cup Hungarian sweet paprika no substitutes on this one. (sounds like a large amount but it really works in this recipe)
4 oz sour cream

Preheat oven to 350*. I put my beef cubes in a large bowl. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the beef, covering well, then add flour to beef and coat well.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a Dutch Oven. Brown beef and return back to bowl, this you might have to do in batches, because you don't want to crowd the beef. 

After all of the beef is browned and removed from the pan, add in the other 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then onions, garlic and 1/2 cup of water. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan after you add the water in to get all of the yummy beef bits off of the bottom.

When onions are soft and translucent add in your beet juice and cook just until beet juice is heated. It turns a lovely shade of hot pink.

Then stir in the red peppers, paprika and broth in this order, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next.

Add your beef back into pot, making sure you add in all the beef juice that has accumulated at the bottom of the bowl.

Stir once again making sure all ingredients are mixed in and cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake in a 350* oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until beef is fork tender. Right before you are ready to eat uncover and stir in sour cream until fully integrated. Serve over hot buttered egg noodles. If I don't have egg noodles I use whatever pasta is in the pantry or even rice.