Choosing Joy

So, this choose joy theme has been running deep lately around my house, my church, and my life! Seems everywhere I look, someone in the church world is talking about joy. Is it really so simple? Just choosing joy? Well, I am learning that it is! It is really a choice on my part—choose joy or choose whatever else is trying to overwhelm at the moment (fear, anger, aggravation, hurt—and the list can go on and on). Joy is a fruit of the spirit of God that lives on the inside of me as a believer. SO—Joy is actually already IN me—by the goodness and grace of God. In life (especially family life), there are many “joy zappers” that we all face daily. But, God, help us live a life led by JOY. God, help us NOT get so caught up in stuff. God, help us “count it all joy” as it says in James 1:2-3. That passage simply means we “consider it all”—that we “calculate it all”—that we “add it all up”. It just means that we count it all because it all counts! Everything—even the stuff that does not produce joy initially—God can use in my life to bring beauty. He can make something beautiful out of it all. So—Everything we face, we can choose to lead with joy. Lead your marriage with joy! Lead your children with joy! CHOOSE JOY!