:: Choosing Joy and Finding Strength ::

I learned a very important lesson this past summer. A co-worker of mine, someone who also happens to know me quite well put it simply.....STRESS IS SELF IMPOSED. I know, it sounds crazy. Stress is a weird thing, we hate it, but we thrive off of it. It is an emotion that we choose to feel, and unfortunately, that emotion sometimes drives our words, actions and everything in between. Of course, when I first learned this lesson I was a bit resistant. I think my exact response was... "well, I think I am allowed to be stressed about some things and situations, like..." I preceded to list several situations that I felt I deserved to be stressed about. His response, ever so simply was..... "that isn't how it works. You have to let it all go".

This is a work in progress. But I must admit, it changes everything. It is so much easier to be joyful about situations, to maintain perspective and logic. Stress is exhausting in every sense, physically, mentally, emotionally,......you get the idea. Joy is easy....about 80% of the time. The other 20% are those terrible situations in which joy is the last emotion on your mind.

There has been a phrase in my head that last couple of weeks. The phrase has popped up in conversations, podcast sermons, bible readings and other random places.

"...This day is holy to God. Don't feel bad. The joy of the Lord is your strength!"

Nehemiah 8:10

Notice how is doesn't say, for My Joy is my strength. The JOY of the LORD, is where you will find strength. The days where we can't get through them on our own, the days where instead of letting the world weigh you down, you choose to look up, and find the JOY of the FATHER.....and within that JOY we find STRENGTH. It's a difficult thing to do... relying on the LORD and laying down the burdens of this world. But once you do..... there is a freedom that follows. Choosing joy starts with a little bit brighter of an outlook on your day. Before you know it, instead of thinking about everything that is wrong with life, you wake up remembering how blessed you are. You remember that it isn't about what we can DO..... because it has already been DONE.

I always thought that joy was some how a "weak" emotion. By taking things seriously, painted me as a more professional, grown up person. I never connected joy and strength. Nor did I know to look for strength from joy. But maybe that was my problem. I was looking for joy. I was looking for strength. Once I stopped looking and realized that all I had to do was let go and lay it all down at the feet of the Lord. That is when I found my joy.