Sunday, April 07, 2013

Thrive In Joy...

Joy abounds in this world.  You just have to intentionally look for it.  It resides in people, in circumstances, in your neighbor, in service, and my favorite -- in an intimate relationship with Abba, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  One of my most treasured nuggets of wisdom that I live by is to look for joy intentionally and fiercely every day.  It's there.  I love to ask Holy Spirit to give me His eyes, because He is the author of joy.  In fact, joy is at the very deepest, most formative core of who God made you to be.  Joy is the very essence of Who God is and as such, we as His sons and daughters are made to thrive in joy.  Just think about that for a minute.  You and I were created to thrive in joy.  That is absolutely exhilarating to me.  It is so wonderful to rest in the promise and the inheritance of God's joy.  Every experience, every trial, every blessing, every grace given to us, every season is meant to bring us into the intentionality and the reality of God's joy.  Choosing to see the joy that is present in everything in life is so sweet and freeing.  It takes so much pressure off in life.  I love to rest in joy.  Realizing that God knows exactly where I am and where I'm headed in Him.  With that certainty, I am able to rest and reside in His joy,

If you want to thrive in life you must be intentional about seeking and abiding in joy,  It infuses every single thing with hope, with happiness, and with promise.  It is so easy in the world we live in to find gloom-and-doom circumstances and situations.  It takes intention to find the joy.  It takes intention to find God's presence.  Once you've seen the world with God's eyes, it is so easy, so life-giving, so fun, and so worth it.  So, if I have any wisdom, to share to make life better, it would be to intentionally seek, savor and thrive in the joy that is all around you.  It blesses you. It brightens the world, and it pleases God and makes Him smile.  Choose to abide in joy.

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