Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a Sunday full of the Goodness of God!
This week’s devotion is “Having Joy in the Ups and Downs of Life” written by Joy Osher-Sauceda! Please take the time to read as Joy shares her heart with us today!
Make it the BEST MONDAY EVER!
Having Joy in the Ups and Downs of Life – Joy Sauceda
With a name like Joy, living up to my name has been a life-long challenge. People often ask how I manage to maintain a positive attitude, and keep a smile on my face. I can assure you, it can sometimes be quite difficult. It is rather easy to find joy when all is right with the world, and everything in life is going according to our plan. However, the true challenge is, how can we hold on to that Joy while navigating through life’s heartaches and stormy waters?
Our present day world is plagued by an epidemic of so-called depression and anxiety, terms like “mental health” and “self care” are becoming more and more prevalent as the unsaved world stumbles around looking in all the wrong places for a cure that can only be found in the One who SO loved the world.
For us born again children of God, the situation is quite different, we are actually commanded to be joyful and rejoice, in Philippians 4:4-7 (Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.) the apostle Paul paints a beautiful picture of how our relationship with our Savior is the cure to the anxiety and depression of this world, and how HIS peace can overcome any and all circumstances. But it all starts in verse four, with the charge for God’s children to rejoice.
The question remains, how can we have joy through life’s journey? During my time at Bible College, I had the privilege of having some wonderful Christian ladies as my teachers, two of them, Marlene Evans and JoJo Moffitt, made a special impact in my life. The Lord used their godly example and joyful attitude through heartbreak and trials to teach me some valuable principles on JOY that stick with me to this day, let me share them with you…
The acronym JOY stands for Jesus, Others, and Yourself and it ONLY works when we keep these 3 all important elements in the proper order.
J: Put Jesus first in all you do, nothing is as important as our relationship with our Savior.
Simple things like listening to some God-honoring music, or reading your favorite Bible verse can help ground you in His love and help you keep the right perspective in your heart and mind.
O: When we are concerned about others and finding ways to help and encourage them, we have no time to wallow in self-pity or self-concern. When we learn to see the needs of others, and our heart goes out to them, and as we help them spiritually, emotionally, or materially, we can experience a joy unknown to self-centered people. Can you be a blessing to someone today? Bake something for someone who is hurting, write them a note, send an encouraging text message, go out for coffee together, it might lift their spirit along with yours. It’s hard to think of your problems if your mind is on someone else.
Y: Take some time for yourself, and do something you enjoy, this will look different for each of us, for myself that might be baking, having a Starbucks run with my daughter, or spending time with my family.
Mark 12:30-31 “And thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love Thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
Philippians 4:4-7 KJV “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
