Fight back with Joy – Starting Week #4

“Some dimensions of God’s strength can only be found in drinking from the cup of brokenness.”

As I read through week 3, I was challenged and encouraged in so many areas.

The first, to remind myself of the quote above. Yes! I desire to know Christ in a deeper, more intimate way. Am I willing to be broken to get closer to Him? That’s such a hard question. None of us care to go through days filled with overwhelming challenges or deep heartache, but it’s true. At the age of 30, with my life in shambles, I was completely broken. A broken marriage, a single mom, financial stress, such uncertainty of the future – I was empty. I had no strength left. I had no hope in my life. Yet, without being in that completely desperate, hopeless, and broken place, I would have never realized my desperate need of a Savior! In that moment is when I looked to Him for deliverance. I asked Him to invade my heart and life – to become my Savior and King! When I look at those specific hard times and see how it drew me to the One that saved my soul, I am so thankful! Did I enjoy those hard times? No! Do I ever desire to go through hard days now? Uh…no, not really at all. But, deep in my heart, I know how it can also produce an even deeper, sweeter closeness between me and my Savior – which I desperately desire and love! Have you ever experienced a day, a week, or maybe even years of complete heartache from this world, while also experiencing the sweet comfort of Jesus and His peace that passes any human understanding? I have! In some of my deepest, darkest days, I’ve experienced His strength and comfort that makes me long to know Him even more! Now, only if I can learn from Paul and be content in those painful, trying situations. Anticipating how God is going to change me, what He is going to teach me, and to trust that He is going to hold my hand each step of the way! Because He IS faithful and knows exactly what I need!

The second thing is to focus on more “holy soul-talk” and less “hurtful self-talk”. To be careful of the negative thoughts that try to ambush me. To recognize there is a battle and the enemy wants to constantly shoot lies in my mind. I must take every thought captive making it obedient to Christ and get rid of the ones that don’t “breathe life” into my soul. I will fight back with joy by meditating on Scripture throughout my entire day -“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” -Psalm 103:2. “March on, my soul; be strong!” -Judges 5:21. “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” -Psalm 116:7.

The third one is three-fold:

• It is possible for me to celebrate in the hardest of times
• I have to allow myself time to mourn
• I must protect the Sabbath and my time to rest

Flipping through the pages of this devotional, reading Scriptures, and answering the questions, I realized that I have fallen short in all three of the above areas. 1 – I often allow circumstances to steal my joy instead of rejoicing in spite of my circumstances. 2 – I know I have not allowed myself to properly mourn the loss of mom, along with a few other losses that I’ve “pushed under the rug”. 3 – And lastly, although I honor the Sabbath through weekly Worship and fellowship with my church family, I tend to neglect the “rest” part. Am I the only one who had some huge challenges served to them through week 3?  My plate of spiritual food may have been even bigger than my plate at the Thanksgiving table!  Now, to properly digest it and use it as fuel to press on and persevere in this life’s race!

As I close, I also don’t want to forget these 4 statements that are 100% truths, but the world tells us the complete opposite:

• The first will be last
• In losing our lives, we find them
• True strength is only found in weakness
• We discover more when we have less

As I finished each day of last week’s study, I would walk away feeling as if God had just done some surgery on my heart. Each day was a new area and it kind of hurt, but I was also thankful for the wisdom that I received and in many ways I felt refreshed with a touch of His healing hand.

It was fun ending the week, the day after Thanksgiving, by throwing out some joy anchors! “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” – Proverbs 29:18

Here are a couple of the Joy Anchors I wrote down –

• See Niagara Falls
• Plant a garden
• Start a new family tradition this Christmas that is focused on JOY

Will you share a couple of your Joy Anchors with me? I’d love to hear them! And, any other thoughts you had from this past week!

Week #4, here we come!

By His Grace,

+Linda