JOY…This week, God has shown me scriptures in the Bible, several different books and now, the sermon today WAS ABOUT JOY! Joy is when God talks to me so personally! I already have been blogging this week about joy and am 100% sure, this is what God is wanting me to learn right now. And whoever else my blogs make an impact on!
Pastor Ben’s message is joy is found in the Lord, not in circumstances. He goes hunting and whether he gets an animal or not, he finds success because he is experiencing God through hearing and seeing God’s nature.
Pastor Ben gave a few minutes of quiet for us to repent of our lack of joy. What are the inferior pleasures or idols we chase, that rob us of joy?
My primary joy robber is distractions. Like I took a nice 7am hike this morning, but stumbled on a rock and fell. That to me, isn’t joyful. It was a distraction from having a productive aerobic workout!
So if joy is found in the Lord, how can that be applied to my tumble on a rock?! Well, my mind immediately went to grumbling “Oh great, it is only the 150th time I fell on my right hip. 5oo trillion rocks and they keep choosing me to trip.” This circumstance could set the tone for a bad attitude the rest of the day.
Instead, I want to listen and delight in the Lord, in all situations, good and bad. I want to be joyful. “Thank you Lord for teaching me how to fall and use my hands to break the fall, versus hitting my head. Thank you God for being so close to home so I could wash up. Thank you God for making me my clutsy self because I get a chuckle out of my ongoing antics. Thank you God for the trust I feel because I always know you are with me, whether I am upright or on the ground. Thank you God for me not having much planned today so my body can heal. Thank you God for making people who make Aleve. Thank you God for giving me 6 decades on earth, despite my mishaps. Thank you God for the adventures we have together! Thank you God for helping me delight in you!”
Psalm 37:4. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
God Stories for Me, Yippee! 