Elusive Joy?

 

We’re all itching to get back to what we thought was normal and what we took for granted. But we have to accept COVID 19 has changed our world, for the foreseeable future at least. We have to adapt to a new ‘normal’ and not keep looking back to what we had - Life has changed, whether we like it or not! We must make the most of what we have and be thankful for what we have. We lament for what we’ve lost, but we must not wallow in our misery. I have had depression and I know full well how hard it is to start climbing out of it. But, thank the Lord, he has helped me to rise above my own pain and misery.

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Life can be dreadful and relentless. It can make us lose hope. Depression hits us when we have been worn down, but do not despair. There is always hope, if you include God in the equation - God is a Redeemer. Satan kills, distorts and destroys, but God creates and redeems. God uses what are dreadful situations in themselves to grad our attention and he then moulds us into more ‘christ-like’ people. God turns our sorrow into joy – if we partner with him and allow him to transform us. I know – I have experienced this myself. There is always hope when you include God.

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We strive for joy, but striving for it usually makes it elude us. If you partner with God’s Holy Spirit in your life then he gives you what the Bible calls the ‘Fruit (singular) of the Holy Spirit’. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If you put your own selfish agendas aside and allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through you, then this is what you will display in your life. It’s a ‘buy one, get the rest free’ package. If you are loving person - If you allow God to help you see other’s needs, before your own wants and desires, then God will give you rest. It follows on! Be a loving person and you will find the joy and the peace you desire. Try it and tell me it doesn’t work!! Hoarding and inward thinking is just misery, but love is something that God designed to be given away. That’s just the way it works. Remember Ebenezer Scrooge! You can be a loving, kind, generous person without God’s help, but it’s a lot easier when you invite his Holy Spirit inside you to do it well.

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Don’t look back. Look up (to God) and then look around (to others) to see where he wants you to spread love.