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#ChooseJoy #JoyGivers365 Week 7 "And all I got was a Sham-Wow..."

A little story for today's post on Joy!

 This afternoon I was running some errands before teaching. I stopped at the Grocery store to pick up a few items. While I was shopping an announcement came over the loudspeaker that in two minutes there was going to be a giveaway of FREE ITEMS by the bakery. 

 Well, I love free items (to put it lightly), so I strolled over to the Bakery area and found a worker girl set up with a little table and station and all kinds of products. A small crowd of us gathered close to her and she started her spiel.

 The first item we received was a cleaning rag. Kind of like a sham-wow. It was pink and I was excited!

 After we all got our cleaning rags she starts in on a demonstration of these incredibly nifty lids. A lid to end all lids! (I forgot my phone otherwise I would have taken a picture) Basically this lid fit on any kind of bowl, even cookware and skillets! It depressed and stuck to things like magic! She held containers with colored liquid upside down, and kept pretending she was throwing them at us, just to show how well they fastened. I was impressed!

 As she's doing this cool demonstration I noticed that behind her she has HUGE packages of these lids and special add on's for them! I am SO EXCITED!!! I am literally blogging in my head at this moment, thinking what a great JoyGivers post this is going to make. I go to the grocery store and get this miracle lid that will let me throw away all of my tupperware!

 As I'm head blogging I notice that she is saying that these items retail for 49.99 online. WOW! I think, this is just getting better and better!!

 And then I hear what she's saying after that...

 "But today, I can give them to you for the low price of 29.99! And you get this free...."

 You've got to be kidding me?! It was like I walked into a real life infomercial!

 And just like that all of my "Joy" deflated into a puddle of annoyance and sadness over my loss of the perfect lids known to man.

Joy is not dependent on the rise & fall of our emotions, but on the steady hope of God’s omnipotence! "

My church tweeted this last week and I've been thinking about it ever since. I think a lot of times my "JOY" is really happiness from my circumstances. It's sunny outside! YAY I'm Full of Joy! I got something free! YAY! JOY! 

And then.. someone pulls out in front of me while i'm driving and goes slower than I can walk. And just like that, there goes my "Joy"

At church right now we're doing a series on The 9, aka The Fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-25. This past Sunday we were on week 3-Peace. It struck me during the sermon how much Peace and Joy really do go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other.

I filled up my bulletin with notes from the sermon, one line that stuck out to me was "Joy/Peace come from a right relationship with Christ". If you're not walking with God, and FOCUSED on him, and not on yourself, it is going to be impossible to find Joy (and Peace). Joy is not dependent on our earthly lives and happenings. 

 The two verses that hit me were:

 Isaiah 48:22 "But there is no peace for the wicked" says the Lord.

 Job 22:21 "Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you."

 Now, I don't want you to think that I am saying that everyone who is a Christian is not wicked and has this picture perfect life is pink puffy hearts and rainbows and glitter bursting everywhere. That is not the case!  The quote below says it best:

" Feb 17Peace is found not in the absence of trouble but in the favor of God. "


Do you have true Joy and Peace? Or is your happiness dependent upon your circumstances?
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Comments

LizzieB said…
I'm intrigued by the thought that peace and joy go hand-that's a good way to think of it! As a worrier I know that when I'm not at peace it robs me of my joy, so that definitely makes sense. I too am tempted to think joy lies in circumstances, but I also know I'm most at peace when I'm close to God, and that brings me a joy that circumstances could never maintain.
February 20, 2014 at 8:27 AM
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