Had the privilege of speaking to my Cherish women this morning about something that’s been on my heart lately — the fact that our joy can be robbed, and I’ve been feeling it especially heavily lately.
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Our Heavenly Father is the creator of joy, and He delights in pouring out His abundant blessings in our life. It is all too easy to miss those blessings though when we’re stuck in our own way. Each time we sit in disappointment of “yet another thing that didn’t happen how I wanted it to” or we host a pity party where we complain about our circumstances to anyone who will listen, we are *allowing* our joy to be robbed.
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Yep. It IS a choice. And, no – it’s not always an easy one. In fact, it’s not uncommon to run up against resistance, and want to sink further into our woes. I 100% guarantee you that will NOT help though. It may give you a temporary high because you’re getting attention. It may ease the pain for just a second because someone agreeing that “yeah, that sucks!” can feel like a salve on our wounds. But, having lived through years of depression and hosting my fair share of pity parties, I can let you know the answer is relinquishing timelines, pain, and stubbornness of how things should look to the Lord. Release the weight of trying to manufacture your life, which is followed by the pang of disappointment when @#(!$^ hits the fan…again.
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When we rest in HIS presence, praise HIS name, give HIM the glory, and thank HIM for what He’s doing in our lives, that’s when the shift into joy happens. When we fully surrender to His good good plans for us, and allow Him to move on His perfect timeline, that’s when we’ll experience true freedom.
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If any of this resonates, or (and perhaps especially) if any of it rubs you the wrong way, that’s beautiful. Because what that tells me is that your heart truly wants freedom, and your comfort zone is about to be disrupted. For too long we’ve sat “comfortable” with the pain.
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For too long we’ve stood aside and let lies rule our mind (i.e. “that’s just how it is for me.” “I won’t ever be able to overcome this.” “There’s no way out of this debt.” “No man would ever love me for who I am – maybe someday I’ll be good enough, but not today.” “They’d never pick me for a promotion – I’m not smart enough.” and the list goes on and on and on). ENOUGH!!
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We prayed this morning for freshness to wash over lives. For visions to be increased. For confusion to leave. For lies to be silenced. For a heightened awareness and sensitivity to KNOW when a lie tries to sneak in. For the filters that aren’t serving us any longer to be removed so we can see clearly. For God’s blessings to be blatantly obvious to us so we can relish in His goodness. For stubbornness to get out of the way. For peace and joy. We prayed for all of this in Jesus’ powerful and precious name, and God WILL come through!! It’s simply up to us to partner with Him, and no longer give precedence to lies that are standing in the way. Amen.
Joy robbed
