Halleluiah

But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."

-Joshua 22:5

Another rugby training moment:

As I was running, I remembered one of the "verses of the month" that I am memorizing.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10

Simple and commonly used--at least that's what I thought.

While running, I became exhausted quite quickly (still working on getting back in shape!). However, with truly understanding and experiencing Christ's joy in rugby training, I was able to see that this verse is not simple, yet complex.

Understanding "The joy of the Lord":

God rejoices when we stay close to Him and away from sin.

Let those who love the LORD hate evil,
for he guards the lives of his faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 97:10

God is glorified through worship.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
Psalm 29:2

The Lord delights in the faithfulness of His children.

May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say,
"The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant."


Understanding through training how "the joy" can become our "strength":

The Lord rejoices in the fact that we desire to follow after Him. He rejoices in every decision we make to end our relationship with Satan, and deepen our relationship with Him. He rejoices in our worship.
Rugby, for me, is physical preparation for missions later on in life. More than that, the opportunity to play rugby is a missions field in itself. I am able to connect with all kinds of young women from all over the Northeast. Being a missionary on the rugby pitch is a huge task. Not only does practice last between 2.5 hours to 5 hours a day, but games on Saturdays require us to get up around 6 am-7am, and return anytime between 3 and 7 pm. Social activities extend the days and nights even further. This huge commitment allows a large amount of time for the Lord to be celebrated and shared! However, if the focus of Christ's joy does not remain prominent, than it leaves room for Satan to wiggle his way into my life.

Part of loving Christ means that I must love all of His creations, and push away that which Satan uses against Love.

How can we all go about discovering more about God's love that we don't understand already?

Show the wonder of your great love,

you who save by your right hand

those who take refuge in your from their foes.

-Psalm 17:7

His love endures forever.

-Psalm 136