Recently I realized I’d lost my joy, and I needed to get it back. Instead of living like an overcomer, I was letting discouragement defeat me. Our family had been through a one-thing-after-another kind of season, and I’d let circumstances sour my attitude. How could I recover my spark for living? How could I rediscover joy?
I’m telling you this in case you lost your joy too.
The good news is we do not have to muster up happiness in our own strength. Our Almighty Heavenly Father is a happy God who cares deeply about our joy.
That’s why He gently pointed me to joy again this week. During a worship meeting at church, as leaders lead us in the hymn “Simple Gospel,” the Lord spoke to me through its simple words:
“I’m laying down all my religion. I’m laying down. I want to know you, Lord…. I will rejoice in the simple Gospel. I will rejoice in you, Lord.”
As I sang the words, I realized I need to lay down a lot more than religious attitudes. I need to lay down my own expectations and surrender to God’s leading in my life. To embrace God’s plans, I need to let go of my own. My joy comes from the Lord and the salvation He’s given me, not from having the perfect life I planned myself.
When I let go of what I expect God to do, I’m freer to rejoice in what He has already done.
My mind goes to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:
We’ve heard that verse so often, we’ve almost stopped listening, but what if we spent one day putting it into practice?
What if we turned it into a one-day experiment to rediscover joy? I see 3 steps:
1. Rejoice Always: Surrender Control
When I let go of control and lay down my expectations and plans of how life should go, I feel lighter. I’m freer to relax, trust God, and accept what He is doing in my life. I can rejoice in God. We always have cause for rejoicing:
- The Lord is with us; He will never leave us.
- Jesus died to set us free from sin, guilt, and shame.
- In Christ, we are a new creation. His mercies are new every morning.
- We have His promises to give us hope in our affliction.
Which of these truths bring you most joy right now? How about expressing that to the Lord today?
2. Pray without Ceasing: Turn Worry into Prayer
Worry crushes joy, yet God has given us a weapon to defeat it: prayer! If we turn each worry, concern, and burden to prayer, we’ll be freer to rejoice in God’s goodness as He carries our burdens for us.
What worry has been dragging you down lately? What if you made the choice to leave it with God each time it comes to mind today?
3. Give Thanks: Curb Complaining
To experience more joy, sometimes we need to change what we think and say. Instead of an inner rant on what we cannot change and do not have, let’s replay in our minds all God has done for us. Grateful thoughts grow into thankful words. Psalm 126:3 reminds us of the link between gratitude and joy: “The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy.”
Let’s recognize what God has done.
What has He done for you in the last 6 months? What can you thank Him for today?
Friend, if you feel discouraged today, I hope you’ll join me in asking God to help us rediscover joy.
Let’s lay down control and rejoice in God’s care for us. Just for today, let’s surrender each worry to the Lord as it comes to mind. We can commit for one day to leave aside complaining and thank God for all He has done.
Renewed hope is around the corner. God is the Author of joy.
Now it’s your turn: Which one of these three steps rings most true for you right now?
Need ideas on how to get more out of your quiet time? I wrote More of God: A Distracted Woman’s Guide to More Meaningful Quiet Times to help overwhelmed and distracted women recover a fresh sense of God’s presence, learn to hear His voice, and grow their prayer lives. Click on the image below for more info:
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God has given us shining bread crumbs to lead us back to joy, and I so appreciate your efforts here, Betsy, to train my eyes in seeing them.
Grateful today that God never changes, even as we sometimes lose sight of his greatness and faithfulness to us.
I’m trying to keep my eyes on those shining bread crumbs, Michele! <3 Blessings to you.
Well, every one of these rings true! I think I need to shift my narrative. Instead of complaining I need to start speaking truth and trust in God.
Thank for sharing words I desperately needed to be reminded of today.
Yes, to shifting our narrative Rebecca! I need to do that too. I listened recently to an edition of the Next Right Thing, where she told the story of a couple that turned a narrative of trauma into a narrative of joy. That phrase stuck with me!
Leave it to God’s inerrant Word to put us back on track in recovering joy! A verse we know so well and can easily gloss over is life-saving in its seeming simplicity! Thanks for going deeper and showing how the Word brings joy back to the surface where it belongs!🙌❤️🛐
Thanks so much for your encouragement, Melinda! I appreciate you. Yes, sometimes joy can get buried in all the “stuff” of life, can ‘t it?
Laying down control is a reminder I need time and time again. It’s far too easy to feel like everything depends on me, and that is definitely not the path to joy!
I know what you mean, Lesley! I feel that way often myself. 🙂 Learning to let go here.