Joy Beyond Circumstance

One of the things that we learned during the pandemic that mental health is a crisis here in this country. Mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety are getting diagnosed at a much younger age. People with Mental Illness are unable to get the help they need because mental health issues are typically not covered by insurance. I personally know this and am impacted. 

So how do we find joy in difficult circumstances? I did some research and I found helpful insight. I am personally dealing this, so this is as much for me as for you. Let's distinguish the difference between happiness and joy. 

Happiness- feeling that life is good and you can help but smile.

Joy- Feeling great pleasure that is limitless, life-defining and transformative. 

In other words- happiness is circumstantial and we only feel it when everything is going our way. Joy transcends any circumstance and is limitless. 

Nehemiah 8:10 tells us, "The Joy of the Lord is our strength." 

Let's discuss how we get there. 

The first thing that we need to do is realize that there is an enemy that is waiting to use present circumstances against us. He will use anything opportunity to shake and attack our faith. When we say, "Nothing is going to steal my joy!", we are saying that God is bigger than any problem we face, and we are choosing to trust Him. We need to the Lord immediately when we recognize we are under attack. We need to stand on the truth of God's worked and refuse to let the devil rattle our faith. We have the power to change the structure of our brains by redirecting our thoughts. if we are more conscious about what we are putting into our mind, we will change the way we think. This does not happen overnight and takes a lot of practice. I also find it interesting that another way to fill our mind with truth is with habitual gratitude. I think this is because it helps us to remember what God did for us in the past and that He can do it again. 

I hope this helps you as much has helped me! 

Good Judge/Bad Judge

I am currently reading 1 Corinthians and I just read commentary on 1 Corinthians 4 this morning and something really struck me. Paul did not care what they thought of him. He did not even judge himself! He didn't judge himself because as humans, he realized our estimation of ourselves is usually wrong. We are either too hard or too easy on ourselves. He knew the Lord was the judge of him. He knew his righteousness came from Jesus- not from anything he did. 

I felt convicted reading that because I judge myself extremally harsh. Knowing God is my judge, brought me a little peace to because I know He loved me enough to send His son to die for me and loves me so much He would do it again. Don't think this is easy for me to say- it is hard for me to say and believe. It starts with beginning by remember God is and how big He is and how small we are by comparison. When we acknowledge how big He is, we can say "Who am I too judge?" When we think of judgement, we tend to think about the type of people we judge and don't realize how often we judge ourselves.  I am currently learning how vital it is to focus on God and not on myself. I need to remind myself constantly who God is in relation to MY life. We are much harder on ourselves then the people around us. We are very inwardly directed as society so people don't think about us as often we think of ourselves or as much as we think they think of us. 

Some action steps: 

1: Identify ways you judge yourself. 

2) Look at the situation though God's eyes using the Bible as your frame of reference

3) God give you grace- ask him to help you do the same. This is something you cannot do without His help.