{"id":15709,"date":"2016-05-16T01:01:20","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T06:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/?p=15709"},"modified":"2020-06-06T15:50:50","modified_gmt":"2020-06-06T20:50:50","slug":"joy-is-my-inheritance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/16\/joy-is-my-inheritance\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy is my Inheritance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/16\/joy-is-my-inheritance\/jesus-was-a-compassionate-man-week-1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15710\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15710\" src=\"http:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Jesus-was-a-compassionate-man-week-1.jpg\" alt=\"Jesus was a compassionate man week 1\" width=\"960\" height=\"642\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Joy is my Inheritance<\/p>\n<p>What an exciting introduction to Choosing Joy by Kay Warren!\u00a0 Have you ever taken time to ponder the thought that Joy IS our inheritance?\u00a0 Pure joy as we walk the streets of gold, as we live in mansions prepared for us, as we finally see our Savior face to face?\u00a0 That inheritance is waiting for us AND if the Lord did nothing more for us while we were here on earth, that would still be reason enough to choose joy in our daily lives!<\/p>\n<p>Aren\u2019t you glad that God doesn\u2019t stop with the joy of heaven?\u00a0 The mercy and grace that He gives to us each day is simply amazing.<\/p>\n<p>I love the authentic honesty that Kay Warren starts out this study with.\u00a0 I love the fact that she lays it all out for us saying that Joy is a choice and that yes, even though we are Christians, we still struggle to find joy in the most difficult, darkest times of our lives.<\/p>\n<p>We tend to forget about the verses that tell us to \u201cCount it all JOY\u201d when we face trouble, like James 1:2 reminds us to do.\u00a0 Also John 16:33 tells us that we WILL have tribulation in this world, but it doesn\u2019t end there, it also reminds us that Jesus has overcome this world.<\/p>\n<p>When we are struggling to see joy in our trials and we fail to, it brings about guilt, depression and makes us wonder within our heart \u201cwhy bother.\u201d That guilt weighs us down and wears us out to exhaustion and then we are no longer effective for the Kingdom of the Lord.\u00a0 If we are doing nothing but drowning in guilt and depression, then the enemy has won that battle.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping in mind what Kay says \u201cJoy and sorrow will always be linked\u201d we can truly step back from our trials and remember Romans 8:28 \u201cALL things work together for good\u201d even if we can\u2019t see it right now, or if it\u2019s been many years, we can always trust God to work it out for our good.<\/p>\n<p>As Kay points out that yes, even though Jesus was a man of sorrow, He was also a \u201cvibrant, compassionate man, a man of both sorrow and joy who could enter fully into life with all its brokenness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s strive to be like Jesus this week and be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A Woman of JOY through our Attitude<\/strong> \u2013 We can\u2019t change what happens, but we can control how we react to various situations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A Woman of Joy through our Words<\/strong> \u2013 Words are lasting! Good or bad, your words will linger in someone\u2019s heart!<\/li>\n<li><strong>A Woman of Joy through our Actions<\/strong> \u2013 Jesus was a servant! As you are making a difference for others, your heart will be flooded with great joy!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you go through your week, seeking to choose joy, remember Kay\u2019s definition of joy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoy is the <strong><em>settled assurance<\/em><\/strong> that God is in control of all the <strong><em>details<\/em><\/strong> of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the <strong><em>determined choice to praise God in all things<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What have you allowed to hold you back from living a life of joy?\u00a0 Before I answer this, I want to remind you that pain is pain\u2026regardless of what kind \u2013 it ALL hurts.\u00a0 Many feel that there are big hurts, little hurts and everything in between, but, keep in mind <strong><em>pain hurts.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Even though I\u2019m a pretty joyful, roll with it kind of gal, I struggle with seeing the good in the negative just like many others do.\u00a0 The worst time was when my father died.\u00a0 I knew it was coming, the doctors told us he had 6 months due to a worn out heart.\u00a0 I tried to prepare others, get cousins, family and friends to come and see him and say what they wanted to say.\u00a0 I moved in with him to help him with various physical limitations he had towards the end.<\/p>\n<p>I thought I was ready.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I thought wrong.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For nearly 2 years afterwards, I was such a deep depression that I hardly remember any of it.\u00a0 There was no scrapbooking, no journaling, no nothing.\u00a0 I went to work or church and came home to sleep.\u00a0 That was it. It wasn\u2019t until I started pouring myself into others that needed help, senior ladies in my church that wanted to be a \u201csecret sister\u201d but couldn\u2019t afford to.\u00a0 I asked people to donate things they could use and started praying more, covering the pain and guilt of not being able to \u201cfix him.\u201d\u00a0 I knew that I had done all I could for my dad, but the loss was so great that it stole my joy for a long time.\u00a0 He would not be happy with that as he was a \u201cgiver.\u201d We never had a lot growing up, but we always gave to others and helped where we could.<\/p>\n<p>Do one thing a day for someone else.\u00a0 This will take your eyes off of your pain and troubles for just a little bit and allow you to see the needs of others.\u00a0 Also, do something you enjoy daily.\u00a0 These things do not have to require money, but the decision and determination to do them.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of \u201cThings\u201d will try to steal your joy, people and their attitudes will try to steal your joy, and circumstances that are beyond your control will try to steal your joy \u2013 but remember\u2026you have a choice.\u00a0 You can choose joy.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s ok to choose joy in the middle of pain and sorrow.\u00a0 It\u2019s ok to let go of the guilt and give yourself permission to be happy.\u00a0 It\u2019s ok to say, \u201cI don\u2019t understand, but I believe God has me\u201d and simply trust HIM.<\/p>\n<p>Look to your inheritance, don\u2019t focus on the fear or sorrows that surround you, focus on the Father!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/choose-joy-week-1.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Download your\u00a0Free PDF Worksheet<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Discussion \u2013 choose to answer any or all of the following: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>What do you allow to hold you back from living a life of joy?<\/li>\n<li>What does your faith-life reveal about the depth of your relationship with God?<\/li>\n<li>How does it make you feel to understand that God dances over you with joy? Is that easy for you to believe? Why or why not?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>**Make sure you check the box to receive the followup comments so you can communicate with others during this study<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joy is my Inheritance What an exciting introduction to Choosing Joy by Kay Warren!\u00a0 Have you ever taken time to ponder the thought that Joy IS our inheritance?\u00a0 Pure joy as we walk the streets of gold, as we live in mansions prepared for us, as we finally see our Savior face to face?\u00a0 That &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/16\/joy-is-my-inheritance\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Joy is my Inheritance&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6206,6977,23],"tags":[7225,7251,7252,7250,7148],"class_list":["post-15709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-lesson","category-blogs","category-marie","tag-bible-study","tag-choose-joy","tag-joy-in-an-inheritance","tag-kay-warren","tag-online-bible-study"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17573,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15709\/revisions\/17573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}