Dear Subscribers,

      It is with mixed feelings that I write to inform you of Aviel’s decision to resign from Serving With Joy. Unfortunately, it has become too complicated and stressful for this blog to be a joint effort. For this reason, she has decided that for her to concentrate her energies and writing talents solely on her new blog would be much easier and more productive for us both. This change is effective immediately.

And now, a message from Aviel:

‘My decision to proceed in this direction has not been an easy one, but I had to do it, because a shared blog, along with conflicting doctrine, was causing me a lot of stress and therefore was starting to affect my health. I would love to present to you Crowned In Glory, which is my new blog that I hope to, through God’s help, bless you with. I invite you to join me in my walk with our Saviour there. I will still be supporting Rhoda on Serving With Joy, and I thank you very much for following us here, as it has been a great encouragement and blessing to us.

                        With love and Joy,

                                    Aviel G. Gonen

I am indeed sorry to have Aviel leave us, but she has my full support, and we are both content with this move. I am looking forward to continuing, Lord willing, to encourage, inspire and challenge young women globally to love and serve the Lord with ever increasing joy on this blog, Serving With Joy.

Joyfully yours in Christ,

Rhoda G. Newton

Hiding God’s Word in Your Heart

A verse in Psalm 37 caught my eye as I was looking through my Bible to see what riches God had for me that day. That verse stuck in my head, and I decided to memorize the psalm.
Slowly, a verse or two a day, this psalm is becoming written on my heart, as in Psalm 119 verse 11:
“Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.”
Having these verses in my memory has helped me greatly. I find it extremely comforting to be able to hear God’s Word without having my Bible with me. I can encourage myself, any time I need to! For example, at the dentist…
I can challenge myself to delight in the Lord, trust in Him, and commit my way to Him. And I can rest in the knowledge that He will return to judge the wicked.
I would like to encourage you to join me in this endeavor. Do not be afraid that you will fail, for the Lord will help you, as it is He who commands us in Deuteronomy 6 verse 6:
“These words which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.”
Surely He will give you grace in continuing to serve Him in this way!

God’s Commands and Our Promises

We all make promises. We say we’ll bring something to the next meeting, or pray for a specific need, or drop by on Thursday, or put away our clean washing. We try to keep our promises, and we feel guilty when we don’t. Once we have made a promise, we’ve committed ourselves to do something.
Now, read Exodus 20: 1-17 and Matthew 22:37-40.
These verses contain the commands of God. We are to love God with our whole being, and love our neighbours as we love ourselves. Everything we do should be for the glory of God, and also to promote other people above ourselves.
Our salvation no longer depends on whether or not we live by these laws. Jesus has kept them for us! Instead, we obey them out of our joyful thankfulness for His grace.
Our salvation has never depended on honouring our promises to people on earth. We keep them perhaps to appear righteous, stay in favour with someone, or because we love that person. If we don’t keep them, we try to make it right.

We attempt to live up to God’s requirements because we love Him. We try to keep them out of thankfulness and a desire to glorify Him. But,

How hard do you try to obey God’s commandments?

And when you don’t, what do you do about it? Which do you value more, the commands of God, or your promises to men?