Next To My Reading Chair

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Count It All Joy

Joy.

That is what I regained in 2011. It was a hard year. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't the best. It wasn't the worst. It was fulfilling. It was filled with joy. I knew it was missing. I just couldn't put my finger on exactly how to grasp it. How to define that joy found in Nehemiah 8:10 "...for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

I searched and read and prayed and questioned and prayed and read and searched some more.  I did word studies. I pulled up all the uses of joy in a couple different versions of the Bible on Bible Gateway. I asked friends and family who liked that verse, "What does that kind of joy look like, what does it mean, how do you achieve and experience that kind of joy?" It is not that I wasn't saved. I am. I have been. I think I just needed to do some growing, some maturing this year. In a big way. And I did. I think. I hope. 

There are many verses I have been blessed to read in a new way this year. Many notes taken in my journal. And one book that helped me realize this kind of joy in a new way I have never experienced, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I am living life more fully now. With a thanksgiving that breeds joy. Even in the hard things. 

I am learning to live joyfully.

James 1:2-4  My brethren, count it all JOY when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 



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