Choosing JOY!

Okay, I know what you’re thinking! No, I’m not writing a blog about High School Musical (even if it is my guilty pleasure Disney movie.)

Blogging is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I’ve always expressed myself best through writing. So I’m going to give this a try, and we’ll see how it goes.

I’ve pondered for a long time on what my first blog should be about. I’ve written it, and re-written it, and written it again. Finally, it hit me. I just returned from chaperoning (I know, CHAPERONING, I’m getting old lol) a youth retreat with my church. While we were on the retreat my youth minister’s wife, Lindsay, shared her testimony. She talked about a time in her life when she just couldn’t seem to find any joy. She said the day that changed her life forever was the day she chose joy. This really hit me. Choosing joy. I thought about it for the rest of the night. But when I woke up the next morning I honestly had already forgotten about it. That was until last night (January 4^th). I was looking for a devotion to do on my Bible app, YouVersion. After browsing through several devotions, I just couldn’t seem to find one that appealed to me. Then I came across one called “One Word That Will Change Your Life.” The title sparked my interest, so I decided to take a look. To make a long story short, the devotion was a challenge to choose one word (whether it be a fruit of the spirit or an attribute of God) to focus your year around. Easy enough, right? I began to think about my word. The first word that came to my mind was faith. But it just didn’t seem to fit right. As I prayed about it, I remembered Lindsay’s testimony. Joy. That was it. That was my word. I began to look to my Bible to find verses that went with the word joy. These are a few that I found: 

“Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!” – Philippians 4:4 

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” – Proverbs 17:22

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” – John 15:11

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” – James 1:2-3

 

The last verse from James is my favorite “joy” verse. So I’m going to focus on it for just a second.

The word “joy” is defined as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. James writes that we should consider it pure joy when we face trials. Sounds crazy right? How can anyone feel joyful when life just isn’t going the way we’ve planned? As I look back on 2014, I realize I didn’t have much joy in my life. 2014 didn’t go exactly like I had planned. And as I look back I realize that I handled it all wrong. Instead of seeking joy in the midst of trials, I just pouted and felt sorry for myself. No wonder things didn’t start to work out in my favor.

So as I thought about my word, I decided that in 2015 I will choose JOY. I will face every new challenge with a joyful heart, and I will know that God has great blessings in store for my future. This year holds a lot of uncertainty for me, but I will rest easy knowing God is certain about everything in my life.

In closing, I challenge you to choose your own word to focus 2015 around. Whether it be peace, or love, or faithfulness, choose a word that you can strive to live out in your daily life.

I’m excited to begin this new blogging journey, and I invite you to take the journey with me. My prayer is that God will use this blog to inspire others to be JOYFUL and seek Him. Happy 2015! I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store!

Remember, God loves YOU!

Until next time,

Hannah ♥