Joy to the World

 Note: Pictured is my small group. We met last night and took this picture and this writing talks about joy in the middle so I asked them to use it. Even more this group of us that are so unlike one another share something so much deeper when we continue to meet, pray, and encourage one another. So thankful for them!

  Joy to the World

Where does your joy come from? Or what robs you from experiencing joy? 

“But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:10

Can you have joy in the middle of chaos?

In my years of having MS God has shown me different things about how I handle stress. I have learned to recognize signs that can get me overwhelmed but other times I can find myself in situations where I will need to remove myself. I decided to go black Friday shopping with my family recently. Some of the things that I have learned with MS is the ability to stay in crowds and not lose focus can be challenging. If I could explain it, it is kind of like an oversensitized experience with the crowds, noise, lights, and before I know it neurologically I can’t handle it. And before I knew it the crowded stores and all the people became too much and I had to leave. That required me listening to my body and removing myself away from the distractions. Because I have found when I stay and try and wait it out that is when I can get into more neurological trouble and that is never a fun place. So stepping out and resetting myself can resettle my mind. The things I experience have drawn me closer to God.

Life can get really overwhelming. Things we weren't expecting can crash in and cause us to feel like there isn’t a way out. Things can come at us and then we forget where to put our focus. Suddenly our circumstances become bigger than our God.

God isn’t concerned about changing our circumstances. His main concern is that we become who He says we already are. Read that again. 

 Paul was the unlikely candidate that was chosen by God for His Kingdom purpose. And Paul went through more suffering following Jesus than we will ever know. And his heart response, “More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ- the righteousness from God based on faith.” Philippians 3:8-9

We don’t have to know and understand everything the Lord is doing in the middle of our circumstances. The enemy really wants us to get hung up on that one. Why did this happen? Paul who was following so closely to Jesus had the worst things happen to him and it turned his heart more toward Jesus and those people that he was called to love. It was because Jesus became the one loving through Paul. Nothing Paul was learning apart from Jesus but because Paul kept learning how to cultivate a deep relationship with Jesus. Paul was God sufficient. We can be the same.

Joy is deep. When we build our life on Jesus alone he can become our Joy. Not anything that comes against us can stop that. Not sickness, not broken relationships, not the brokenness of this world. Setting our mind on the things above can cause our hearts to remember..

Joy to the world because Jesus came. And Joy lives in the world because it lives in us.