{"id":16410,"date":"2013-12-24T00:30:25","date_gmt":"2013-12-24T06:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=16410"},"modified":"2013-12-22T23:49:03","modified_gmt":"2013-12-23T05:49:03","slug":"choose-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/24\/choose-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Choose Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Each week during the season of Advent, our blogs will focus on a central theme which is associated with the coming of Christ\u2014His Advent. \u00a0This final week\u2019s theme is JOY<\/span>.\u00a0 Christians throughout the world celebrate Advent. \u00a0Some light candles or sing songs; some give gifts or \u00a0hang\u00a0wreaths. \u00a0All of these are simple joyous\u00a0ways of extending the celebration\u00a0of Jesus\u2019s coming beyond a mere 24 hours on\u00a0December 25.\u00a0Our prayer is that these devotionals\u00a0throughout\u00a0this season of Advent would help you to celebrate His first Coming and anticipate with\u00a0the peace\u00a0and joy of His second Coming.<\/h3>\n

…But the angel reassured them. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid!\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.\u201d
\nLuke 2:10<\/p>\n

And a voice from heaven said,
\n\u201cYou are my dearly loved Son, and You bring Me great joy.\u201d
\nMark 1:11<\/p>\n

***********<\/span><\/p>\n

Joy<\/strong><\/em><\/span>… I had to look up the definition, because I wasn’t quite sure what the actual meaning was. I do know that joy<\/em> and happiness<\/em> are NOT the same thing. What I recall being taught about joy and happiness is that happiness<\/strong> is based on circumst<\/em>ances and joy<\/span> <\/strong>is independent of circumstances<\/em>. To be joyful, like having a healthy thought life, is a choice—a choice that’s easier to make when a person is grounded in the Word of God.<\/p>\n

I’m sure on any given day all of us, if we’d only pause for a moment, could make a list of things that are wrong in our lives. Even the Prince of Peace warned, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world\u201d (John 16:33). However, if all we focus on is what’s wrong, then life will just seem wrong. Jesus said to take heart.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Evil is always<\/span> going to try and overcome good…it’s just the world we live in. But God is always<\/span> victorious no matter how things look.<\/p>\n

I’ve been studying Matthew 14\u00a0:22-33<\/a>\u00a0for over a week. It’s the well-known account of when Peter walks on the water. And just like when Peter sunk when he focused on the waves, so our joy can sink when we focus on our trials and sorrows\u2014it’s inevitable.<\/p>\n

I am not saying that trials and sorrows are to be ignored. By all means, please don’t ignore the ever-rising stack of bills you have! But what I am saying is this: take the problem to God, give it to Him, get in His Word and find out what He says about your issue, then focus on Him and watch what He does! Don’t take the problem back or even sneak a peek at it. Leave it in the Lord’s hands. In exchange you will find a peace that opens the door to amazing joy.<\/p>\n

That sounds like an awesome exchange to me. Choose joy<\/strong><\/em>.<\/span> The alternative really isn’t all that grand.<\/p>\n

***********<\/span><\/p>\n

Lord, thank You for being such an amazing Provider. Not only do You provide financially, but also mentally. Not only do You comfort, forgive, redeem, save, and fight for us, but You also give us joy, peace, and hope. Thank You for being the example of unconditional love and for making true joy available to me. Help me to choose joy even when I don’t feel like it and to remain above my circumstances focusing on You. In Jesus’ name, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each week during the season of Advent, our blogs will focus on a central theme which is associated with the coming of Christ\u2014His Advent. \u00a0This final week\u2019s theme is JOY.\u00a0 Christians throughout the world celebrate Advent. \u00a0Some light candles or sing songs; some give gifts or \u00a0hang\u00a0wreaths. \u00a0All of these are simple joyous\u00a0ways of extending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[3146,4870,3173,4865,4869,4868,3174],"class_list":["post-16410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-ahmee-bronaugh","tag-choose-joy","tag-daily-devotional","tag-luke-210","tag-mark-111","tag-matthew-1422-33","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4gG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16413,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16410\/revisions\/16413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}