Choosing Joy

Sara (pictured here with her dog Riley) is dying of a hereditary, autoimmune disease abbreviated AS, but as her blog proclaims, she is "choosing joy."

This is the most inspiring, convicting, and sobering thing I have read in awhile. She writes...

“How do you manage to stay so positive? So happy? Don’t you ever just get really mad?”

I suppose the cop out answer, while true, is that I just don’t have the energy to be mad. Seriously. It takes so much effort and energy to wallow. And it’s not any fun. I live 99.8% of my time alone, and if anger was all I had to live with I would lose my mind.

I think, for me, it has been about learning to want what He wants for me more than what I want for myself.It's a tall order and I don't say that flippantly. But my joy has truly come from Him finding His joy in me rather than me finding my joy in what I desire. It doesn't mean I don't long for different, it just means I find peace in fulfilling rather than understanding. In the knowledge that this life isn’t about me, it’s about Him.

The thing I try to remind myself of, as I am without all the things that I wish I had to make me happy, is that my biggest need is Him. More than I need to be outside in the fresh air, more than I need to move without pain, more than I even need Dad... I need His will to be done in my life whether it is comfortable or not. There is not one thing that feels comfortable about my world right now, but I need Him more than I need to change my circumstances.

It's still brutally hard. I have to remind myself of these facts every day. It doesn’t always come easily.

But it doesn’t make the truth any less true.

And the truth is that I can choose the joy.

So I do.

~ Sara at Gitzen Girl: Choose Joy blog, http://gitzengirl.blogspot.com/

Update: Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2011...

Sara received information late yesterday afternoon that her body was beginning to shut down, and things have moved quickly since. Hospice arrived this morning and Sara is comfortable. Her family is surrounding her and reading her texts, facebook posts, and emails, so please feel free to contact her and share your love; she will not be able to reply but is taking great peace in your words, your heart.  I know how thankful she is for each of you, how much joy you’ve added to her days, and what purpose sharing Him has given her. I will continue to post as things change and want to thank each of you for the ways in which you have loved sweet Sara so well.

Does Acceptance Equal Peace?

"In acceptance lieth peace." ~ Amy Carmichael

God has much to say about peace, and it's all about HIM. Acceptance is merely a yielding to HIM. Whatever my situation, when I believe that God is sovereign and that He is nothing but GOOD, I can accept my situation, because I know in my soul that He is always working for my good (Romans 8:28).

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." ~ Colossians 3:12-15

Did you read those verses carefully? God has called me, as the elect of God, to put on mercy, kindness, humility, etc. When offenses come--and they will come!--if forgiveness and love are my heart, though Christ's power within me, through that YIELDING to His Spirit, I can LET the peace of God rule in my heart. The result is not only an inner calm, but an outer thankfulness. An attitude of gratefulness comes when I am at peace on the inside. A grateful woman is so much more pleasant than a worried or angry woman!

"Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 4:6-7

When I am YIELDING to His Spirit within me, and not my own spirit, I will not be anxious or worried about anything. I will immediately bring my request to the God that I KNOW and BELIEVE I can trust (Isaiah 43:10). When I leave it at His feet--the best I know how--THEN the PEACE OF GOD beyond all understanding will KEEP or guard both my heart and my mind!

And it's all through Christ Jesus!

Acceptance does equal peace, but only if the acceptance is a yielding to and a delight in God, not just a mere resignation to one's fate. Delighting in God and what He is doing in my life no matter what the trial is not easy, but that is what will bring me streams of water in the desert place.

"And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." ~ Isaiah 58:11

Let me know how God has been your personal spring of water! Comment below.

Count It All Joy

A Little Word Study
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. (James 1:2-4)

According to Strong’s Concordance, joy is defined as a cheerful calm, delight, and gladness.

Temptation is a putting to proof (test, provoke); by implication adversity: to try.

According to these verses, I should approach the temptation to fear, for example, with a cheerful calm, knowing that it is a testing of my faith in God, and that will work patience (cheerful or hopeful endurance, constancy: -- enduring, patient continuance; waiting) into my life. I like to picture it as a “working in” as in baking: when the chef works additional flour into the dough, he slowly incorporates it into the dough, working it in over a period of time. Testing works patience into my life, over time.

In addition, I am instructed by James to LET patience have a complete or mature work. Why? So I can be perfect (complete in various applications of labour, growth, mental and moral character, etc.) and entire (perfectly sound in body), wanting (or lacking) nothing!

What better or happier way of life than a cheerful calm no matter what temptation or test comes my way! Jesus prayed for me to be perfect, mature, and complete, and in His prayer, He gave the reason for His prayer.

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:20-23)

We are a living witness to the world when we act and live in spiritual maturity. They see that our Christianity is real when they see us go through temptations and trials and still show maturity and trust in God.
We have the assurance that our suffering will not last forever, and that God will, in maturing us, bring stability and strength to our lives. He promises to settle us.

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)

God allows tests and afflictions into our lives, because He knows we need it, but He’s watching us the entire time. He never takes His eye off of us. And He also promises to build and to plant into our lives.

And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD.
(Jeremiah 31:28)

In Your Word, I find my comfort,
Rest from my affliction,
Evidence of faithfulness,
Your mercy, love, and grace.
It is in my darkest midnight
That I’ve found my greatest treasure:
The assurance that You hear me, Lord,
And that You see me in this place!

(“Whispers in the Night,” by Roger Bennett)

If you’re being tested today, “lift up [your] eyes unto the hills”! (Psalm 121) God is your Help, and you can be assured that He sees you, He’s watching you, and He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).

Be Still

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Psalm 16:11)

After you read your Scripture for the day, take some time to sit quietly and just listen for God's voice... not an audible one... He speaks in your heart.

Psalm 46:10 tells us to "Be still and know that I am God."

Have you spent time being still lately? Take some time to bask in His presence... there is pure joy and such pleasure! Such that you can find nowhere else! Not even your husband can bring you such joy and pleasure as your Lord can! This is not to put down your man; it is to encourage him! He does not have to hold you up emotionally; it's not his job.

If you just spend time sitting in God's presence, the benefit will be yours--and the experiences are out of this world!

Jesus, You’re My Spring of Water

Jesus, You’re my spring of water,
You’re that cool place of retreat;
I come to you all cracked and dry,
And You restore me from the heat.

I’m thirsty in my spirit, Jesus,
You’re the only Source I know;
By myself I’m a dull dry desert,
My arid soul starts to show.

So every day I come to the spring,
To our secret meeting place;
It’s so quiet, cool and calm right here,
I wish that I could stay.

But I must go back out to the world,
In the rugged place I live;
To share my knowledge of the spring,
To others Your life I give.

Jesus, You’re my spring of water,
You’re that cool place of retreat;
I come to You all cracked and dry,
And You restore me from the heat.

Dayna Spear, October 30, 2004