Choose Joy.

This week in Ladies Bible Study we are looking into the topic of "Joy".  Anyone who knows me, knows that that word is important to me.  Many years ago I ran across an article about Tasha Tudor and she quoted a poem that basically said that we need to choose joy - not just expect joy to be in my life.  This really hit me that we make choices everyday and believe it or not, we choose to worry, be happy, trust God, be overwhelmed, stressed, content...  It is true, those things can be in our everyday life, but is it what we focus on the most?  I think I want to focus on joy.

So after looking at scripture verses, I want to define Joy for myself.

1.  I first believe that Joy for me comes from trusting the God of my salvation who loves me and will be with me through every situation of everyday.  He also promises  to give us wisdom for every situation if we just ask Him for it.  When I am stressed or worried, I remember He cares for us and must spend time in His Word to hear from Him.

2.  Yesterday Julie and I had a conversation about "love languages" and I really feel mine is "Time".  More than anything else, I love time with loved ones.  So Joy would be when I am with friends and family, and also having the memories of time spent together.

3.  There is real joy for me in Ladies Bible Study.  I just love when the ladies are reading the Bible and we get to discussing verses and they really see and understand the love of God and how the Bible totally relates to today and their lives.  This is when I see spiritual growth and it just blesses my heart.

4.  Do I even need to list this:  Knitting.  Knitting clearly brings me Joy!  Lately, I have made the committment to focus on knitting for Akron Pregnancy Services.  This has been a true joy to me.  I enjoy knitting smaller items and seeing them stack up for delivery.  I do think I may be encouraging and showing love to women I have never met, and this is great fun.  Scripture tells us to take care of the widows and orphans and I believe this work falls under that command. 

5.  Last but not least is my new freedom.  I have really struggled with feeling guilty in having so much personal freedom.  While I do feel I have done my best in raising my kids, taking care of my parents etc., it is hard for me to just get up and do what I feel I want to do each day.  Rod and I were discussing this while in florida and he had such a simple and sweet comment:  "just enjoy it"!  Let go of the guilt and enjoy my freedom.  So since I have been home, I have been trying to live by that creed.  I still have my to do list, but once that is done for that day, I have options.  I am finding that I am more relaxed and enjoy my days so much more.  I also feel like I might be more fun to be with when Rod gets home.

So to define Joy for me it seems pretty simple.  Contentment.  So that compels me to define contentment.  That means I am trusting God with my life and choosing to en"joy" each day.  Why focus on all the negative when I have been blessed and can choose to see that in my life. 

Choose Joy!