Today we lit the Joy candle! The angels brought news of great joy. The first and the greatest Christmas present in the world has been given..... Jesus.
I thought a lot about joy today. Sunday is my favorite day of the week and I spent it doing things I love best: praising God in song, worshiping alongside fellow believers in Christ, studying God's Word, singing with little children....focusing on.... Christ. It was a full day... yet a spiritually restful one. Today I am joyful.
Often times I confuse happiness for joy. Some days I do not feel happy, in fact I can become overwhelmed and quite blue. This unhappiness is due to my circumstances or happenings of my day. Those days are usually marked by Mr. P, as days I, along with the children, need a nap!
Joy comes from the Lord and is able to withstand even the unhappiness of difficult children, financial difficulties, lost loved ones, lost job, or a failing marriage.
Joy can look to the eternal knowing this life is not all there is and God is in control of our circumstances. Somehow He will bring good out of what is bad.
Today during this joyful time I want to pray for those I know who are facing circumstances that are not at all happy. May they feel the love of Christ, who is God, who came down to earth to live among us. He felt all the same hurts we feel and promises to be with us always. May they trust in God knowing He will work all things out for good for those who love and obey Him.
Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. "
John 15:9-11 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commmands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."
7 comments:
I deleted my previous comment, which had a typo and here it is again:
In my bible study class the teacher said that if we let our children steal our joy, that they have become "idols" to us ahead of God. This made my head jerk to attention, as I am guilty of that.
Why does my attitude get determined by people's response to me? Why should I let others dictate my attitude? It should be one of the joy of the Lord, regardless of what is happening around me. But I too often fail. Maybe I need a nap? LOL!
Joy is not an easy concept to explain, for all the reasons you mentioned. Thanks for exploring that, because it's important to get it right!
Keep remembering why you like Sundays and put some Sunday in the rest of your week :-)
I am going out on this one and saying a very selfish thing...
Thank you Ginny for writing this blog for me!!!
For we are living in circumstances that are not joyful, yet we know He is working out them for a purpose and we are trying to be obedient and remain in His love. Thank for allowing God to speak through you to my heart today!
Love to you and your family!
I've got that JOyjoyjoyjoy
down in my heart...
DOWN IN MY HEART....
DOWN IN MY HEART...
I'VE GOT THAT JOYJOYJOYJOY
DOWN IN MY HEART...
DOWN IN MY HEART TO STAYYyYYyy
YOU CAN'T IMAGINE HOW JOYFUL I feel this very moment! JESUS IS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!!!!
AND YOUR POST, JUST REAFFIRMED THIS JOYFULNESS I'M FEELING.
Thankyou for sharing your heart and thoughts. It TOUCHED ME!
Lea
Thanks Mrs. P for this post! I needed a little JOY in my day and your post has done just that. I am so grateful for my blogger friends who keep me on track in remembering the TRUE importance of this season!
Hope you guys are doing well!
I don't know how I missed this post. I'm glad I had an opportunity to play catch up today. Joy is a very hard thing for me to grasp for any length of time. I very much look forward to the other side of eternity and life forever with my Savior.
Hey Ginny, did you get my email?
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