JOY

J.O.Y.

Each year I make the traditional New Year’s resolutions. To name a few . . .

Live a healthier lifestyle.

Serve God.

Love People.

Spend more time in the Word.

No doubt, they are all good ideas. But, I rarely can remember what I did yesterday, so I can never remember exactly what I decided I’d do to make the New Year better than the previous.

This year, I couldn’t even think of anything. Well, I kept thinking about them, but never made a commitment or really saw the point, since I knew I’d soon forget.

So, I did what I should have done every year for the past 26 … I prayed about it.

As I prayed I kept finding that my prayers led me to one word … JOY.

This past year (2011) was full of ups and downs, to be cliché, a rollercoaster. As I thought back on it, I could hardly remember all that it had encompassed. What did I even do last summer? (Like I said, I can barely remember what I did yesterday.)

Instead of focusing on all the commitments I’ve made in past years and never fulfilled I decided that my prayers had led me to something new, the word, JOY.

This year my focus will be on JOY. In particular, finding my JOY in One …

1 King

1 Child born in a manger

1 Son of God

1 Prince of Peace

1 Great I Am

I realized that if throughout the year I simply focus on placing my JOY in Jesus then everything else will fall into place. All of those other, traditional New Year’s resolutions will probably happen without my even realizing it.

Here’s a little background on how I came to this revelation:

In 2011 I found that teaching wasn’t my passion, in fact, I’d lost the passion. I wanted to pursue something new; I thought pursuing it in another country I’d find the joy in it. Well, that didn’t work.

As I’ve looked at 2011 I realize that it has been one of the most stressful of my life, or perhaps I should say, could have been the most stressful of my life.

I currently make probably a similar amount of money to what I made in high school, but I’ve found contentment resting in the blessed assurance. I have no clue where my life is going, or what I will be doing 2 weeks from now. But, I’m still living with a smile on my face. I have no place to live but being a nomad has been a freeing of sorts. I gave up the majority of my worldly goods, only to find, they never meant anything to me anyway.

I’ve realized in the “roller coaster” of the past 12 months, God has continually been showing me, HE is all I need. I’ve prayed for it, longed for it, hoped for it, & dreamed of it but I never really got it. I’m certainly ashamed to admit it took loosing it all to find the one simple thing I needed … JOY in Jesus!

No house, no car, no job, no money, no idea where I’m going, yet, I found JOY.

Now, I don’t want to leave you thinking I’m destitute. I’ve found places to stay, I’ve purchased a new car, I have a job. But at some point throughout the year of 2011 I’ve faced all of those difficulties & yet haven’t really felt the stress of loosing it all. All I can say to that is … My God is faithful.

I certainly hope I don’t have to face all of those things again in 2012, I’d rather not have to. But I’m simply going to find my JOY in Jesus through them all over again if that’s what He’s chosen for me.

Even though I’m no longer a teacher, I found that even defining “JOY in Jesus” as my theme for the upcoming year, I needed an acrostic for the word JOY. While driving today, I kept prying with God to provide me with something … this is what popped into my mind.

J Jesus

O Overseeing

Y You

As I thought about this more, as corny as it might seem, if Jesus is overseeing me, how could I not find JOY. Jesus overseeing my daily actions, my daily worries, my daily cares, my daily stresses, if Jesus is overseeing all of it, I have nothing left to do but find the JOY in the situation.

It reminds me that in those silly little moments when I’m at risk of letting the world take control I need to stop and …

Psalms 47:1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

For I always have this as my strength…

Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Here goes 2012 …