What is Joy?

Joy is not a word we use very often here in Scotland, so I asked a couple of people “what is joy to you?”, here are their answers:-

Joy is family

Joy is recovery

Joy is knowing Jesus through the pain

Joy is being happy no matter our circumstances.

The dictionary definition: something or someone who provides a source of happiness.

So for me then where is my source of joy? Where do I look for it? Who provides it? How do I find it?

Well I look to the Lord, obviously, but for me it takes more than that.  It is knowing and trusting that He has my back, that I can totally rely on Him.  It is surrendering my need to control situations, people, places, things. It is laying it all down and accepting that the Lord has the situation covered and because He has the situation covered I can rejoice! I can trust Him, I can leave the outcome with Him and not only that, I can leave the process with Him too!

So then no matter the situation or the outlook I can look to the Lord and not to my problems.  In submission comes trust, in trust comes joy.  So even though the outlook may be dreary,  or it may be scary, yet still I will trust, still I will choose joy.  I will rejoice, I will take joy – it is choosing to do this over fear, anxiety or anger.

In the midst of the day

I will PAUSE,

I will EXHALE,

I will ACCEPT God’s ways

I will CHOOSE joy and

I will EXPRESS my thanks and before you know it I have PEACE as well as joy! 😇

 

The Secret of Contentment

I came across this devotional from the Life Recovery Bible and loved it, so I share it with you :-

Serenity is having an inner calm in the midst of the ups and downs of life. It involves learning to be content with the things in our life that cannot be changed. Some of us have never accepted the hurtful circumstances of our life. We may be living in denial to avoid the pain. We continue to struggle against the painful realities, to rebel against who we are or what has happened to us. Others of us have accepted the bad, even to the point of feeling that it’s normal and comfortable. Therefore, we repeat the destructive cycle of behavior.

The apostle Paul wrote: “I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little” (Philippians 4:11-12).

When Paul wrote this, he was in a Roman prison waiting to hear if he would be executed. And yet we hear no whining or complaining. Instead, he learned to accept the circumstances he could not change.     The process of recovery is a time of learning to find serenity while also accepting life as it is. Life isn’t always fair. It isn’t predictable or controllable. It can be wonderfully rich in some ways and terribly difficult in others. When we become willing to face the hurt in our life and consider how we have reacted to it, then our discomfort can lead us to break the destructive cycle. Then we can learn to be content with the things we cannot change.