Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #10, Part Two

Become Rooted and Balanced in God's STEM
Space
Time
Energy
Money

First of all, I want to honor the man who has been most significant in my life.  Today is his 80th birthday, so I want to say, “Happy birthday, Daddy, and I pray that this upcoming year brings you a renewed strength and balance as you enter into a deeper relationship with our precious Heavenly Daddy.  Our Father loves you so very much and He created you to be His gift to the world. Thank you, Lord, for my earthly Daddy and the love he has blessed us with.”

This past week your SW was designed to help you get clear on what has been causing you to depend on your self-wavering decisions and actions rather than asking God for His unchanging and grounded constancy and supportive direction.  As you listened to the song, “Count it All Joy,” I asked you to identify in one sentence what the cause for a lack of joy could be in your life.

Every time I hear these words, “Count it all Joy,” I am taken back to the first and only time in my life when I felt like I had lost my joy.  I had actually verbalized this feeling to my mother-in-law, after being separated from my husband who was her son.  I will never forget how she responded, “Colleen, you will feel it again.”  For more than a year, I lingered on her response of hope as I waited and wanted to believe in what she had said, even though I had no idea of how that would happen.  But it did.  The process was a slow and gradual one, but it did take place.  It was the result of moving away from my wavering self dependence, and looking to the rock solid dependence of God, and more specifically, being open to God’s Son, Jesus, who I came into a relationship with over the next few months. 

It was my relationship with Jesus, and His Word, that brought that feeling of joy back into my life.  Up to that point, I did not comprehend that my feeling of joy had always been the result of God working in my life. I attributed joy to the people or circumstances that I wanted or that existed, but I discovered that joy has only one connection. Joy has no tie to people or circumstances that are welcomed or unwelcomed.  I discovered through God’s Holy Spirit that Jesus is my only source of Joy, and I had been unaware of this Truth.  Joy is not just a feeling.  Joy is Jesus and His presence in my life at all times, no matter what I am facing.  Now I am aware that my feeling of joy is because I know Joy! And because I now know this, it does not matter what I go through in this life, I can still feel Joy because I know Him. Jesus is the One I am rooted in and find my strength and balance in.

After posting last week’s blog, that introduced you to CHG #10, I read these words in my devotion the next day.  It focused on Joy, and the word Joy was capitalized, because Joy is a person.  Joy is a man and Joy is God.  Joy is Jesus.  And here is an example of the personal history and intimacy that we can have with Him.  This devotion that focused on my journey with Joy was on the anniversary date of my divorce.  Here is what God wanted me to hear in “Jesus Calling” for June 13th:  “I am creating something new in you: a bubbling spring of Joy that spills into others’ lives.  Do not mistake this Joy for your own or try to take credit for it in any way.  Instead, watch in delight as My Spirit flows through you to bless others.  Let yourself become a reservoir of the Spirit’s fruit.  Enjoy My Presence, which permeates you with Love, Joy, and Peace.”

This week your SW is to Google the words “scripture count it all joy.”  See what comes up for you and what you learn.  We will talk about it next week.  May you be blessed with Joy in this upcoming week.