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| (youchoose.or.au) |
Disappointment and sadness come into our worlds on a regular
basis. Yet some of the faces around us seem to smile all the time. Why?
Amid other speculations, perhaps we’re seeing a mask, to
disguise the sorrow they’re going through. Maybe, we’re looking at someone who
doesn’t understand the ramifications of the news they’ve just received. Or
perhaps, they choose joy.
Is it possible to receive devasting news and allow a smile to
rise up in your heart? While we may often need to release our feelings through
tears or angry outbursts, I believe it’s a choice whether or not to surrender
to joy. It’s one of the choices we regularly make.
You cannot force joy, it comes new every morning, along with
the mercies of God. By the way, joy and happiness are not the same thing. Joy
gives your strength even when you’re not happy.
Ponder this: the God of the universe created you and knows
you better than you know yourself. He knows your thoughts before you think
them, and yes, He knows what lies ahead of you and how you’ll respond to Him
each day. He knows your weaknesses and your limitations. He also knows what you’re
capable of, and He trusts you to reach for the best version of you. Not just
the best version of you that YOU can imagine, but the one He created when He knit
you together in your mother’s womb; the best that you can be, each day.
That would require incredible strength.
Along with those incredible expectations, God provides that
great strength.
Instead of responding to negative circumstances with tears of
sorrow or wrestling with frustrations or outbursts of anger, what if we
responded to God? Let me say that backwards. What if we respond to God -
instead of to our circumstances?
God is within our circumstances; He also surrounds us in the
midst of them.
God is the one constant in our lives. Circumstances change.
The people who surround us change, and the ones who travel with us through life
sometimes change how they interact with us.
God’s love for us never changes. He’s always within reach. He
always provides what we need, when we need it. Even when to our human heart it
may feel like He hasn’t shown up yet, He’s here, working with us, in us and
through us. He has not left us, and He promises He never will. (Hebrews 13:5)
What we need and when we need it may look quite different from
God’s heavenly perspective. We can’t see the big picture like He does; we’re
still on this side of eternity. We sometimes feel like God doesn’t hear or
answer our prayers when we’re only looking at the situation from our puny human
perspective.
Don’t limit God. Don’t tie His hands by turning from Him,
pouting and going your own way. He IS the Way, the Truth and the Light. He’s
seen your future since before the foundations of the earth were laid. Trust
Him. Choose joy in the midst of what you don’t understand.
To scripturally recap:
“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” - Nehemiah 8:10
“Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not of your
own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5
