January 22, 2019 - Learning to Choose Joy

Four years ago today was a game changing day. And I will probably share this memory every year from now on. It was - and is - so monumental because it was the first time in my life that I truly understood the power of JOY. That has been the best lesson ever and has served me well through all the ups and downs of life since then. 

I am so very thankful for a God who truly does love us just as we are, but who loves us too much to leave us there. He uses the MOST unexpected things - like the thing I most feared, losing my hair - to turn us into fearless warriors!!

January 22, 2015 Post:

Joy 

We were supposed to go to a Grizzlies game tonight. We'd been planning it for almost a month. But when I came home from work to get ready to go, I saw it - the first bald spot on my head. I thought I was ready for it, but to actually SEE it was a little jarring. My first reaction was to cry, which I did for a few minutes. My next thought was that I couldn't go to the Fed Ex Forum looking like that!! 

The next thought - I had better get used to this, unless I'm planning to stay in my house for the next several months!! To ENDURE this. And I know it is just hair - but all of a sudden, I realized that I have had pretty good hair and I'm going to miss it! An understandable human reaction. 

If I stayed at home, no good would come from hours of staring at my growing bald spot. I knew that it was a defining moment - was I going to hide in sadness or choose joy? Joy won. Tonight, I understand more clearly than I ever have that joy is not an emotion - joy is a weapon that God gives us to fight the darts that satan aims in our direction. 

So we got ready to go and I popped a hat on my head. NOTE: I am NOT a hat person, so this was a big deal for me!  :) We went to the game, had AWESOME seats, and had a great time with dear friends who have seen us through ups and downs in life. It "fit" that we had planned this night with them and it was a joy-filled night. 

Joy is an option for us EVERY day - not as a reaction to favorable circumstances but as a God-given gift to share with the people around us. It is the better choice.