Joy Everlasting

I wanted to quickly encourage you today to be happy on purpose. No matter what's going on around you, or what's going wrong in your life, choose how you decide to look at it.  There are so many negative things that happen in the world, but we get to make the decision on how it affects us.  I received some troubling news today, and usually it would have been enough to keep me sour all day.  But, I remembered the scripture that says "speak those things that are not as though they are". So I decided to speak life to a dying situation. And what I found was I was encouraged to look at that situation differently. Instead of being in despair, I was empowered by the Word of God and the joy and peace it brings. It wasn't necessarily that the outcome changed, but my mindset did. I remembered that all things work out for my good and that God will supply my every need. 

I chose to keep my joy. I chose to stay in the light instead of being pulled down to darkness.  I don't believe life is about being happy all the time, but God does wants us to be happy. So much so that He gives us a greater gift than happiness... JOY!  Joy is what we have, when happiness just won't do. I'm happy when I get to the beach, or when I recieve something I've been praying for.  I have joy when I'm at the beach, and when I can't get there because of circumstances and life. I have joy when things are not going great, but I'm sure God has my back. 

 

What I've found is that joy is everlasting.  When we say to God I want to be happy, he gives us a measure of joy to sustain us between those times and  during.  So I encourage you to be happy on purpose, because God has something so much better in store.

 



~God Bless U

Count it All Joy

I attended a funeral today and found I had a few things on my mind.  I didn't know the deceased very well, but some members of her family are very near and dear to me.  I found myself sitting among those grieving and asking God to just help them. Help them get through this day, help them get through their grief, and to help them heal in every part of their lives.  In asking God to help them it made me take account of just how helpless I was feeling in the situation.  I was among these hurting people and there was nothing I could do to take their pain away, after all there is no real humanly comfort in death.  That kind of comfort is spiritual and it comes from God. I really started to pray and ask God to reveal His Word to me in this and it wasn't until I sat down to share with you all that I caught it real good.  The scripture of James 1:5 keeps coming to my mind, "Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."  The part that really resonates with me is the count it ALL joy.  In other words not just the good times, or happy times, but all times. 

 

As I started to meditate on this I began to ask God how can I find joy in a funeral and people's grief?  Then He began to show me that many things take place during these sad occasions.  Often times funerals and births have a way of healing rifts in the family. They bring people closer.  They also remind us of our humanness.  If we have distorted our focus to the world these occasions serve to put our focus back where it belongs. On GOD.  People rededicate themselves to God , so that they are found ready when their departure comes and some just come to realize that death is not something to fear, but to learn that it too is part of the plan in God's will.    Grief certainly has it's place, but God wants us to lean on Him for strength and healing.  Also lend your ear to what He may be speaking in these types of seasons.  Remember that all things work for the good of those that love God and that are the called to His purpose. 

 

God Bless U