Choose Joy

Gò0dNews for Everyone

Choose Joy

by Suzanne Hooie

Are you happy? Joyful? Joy and happiness are hospitals for epilepsy treatment and surgeries. I have very different things. Happiness is based on our found that, instead of just sitting at her bedside focused circumstances, while joy is an inner happiness on our problems, if I turn my attention to others, it not dependent on our circumstances. brings me joy.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23 that I ask God to put someone in our path that day whom joy is one of the fruits of the spirit, a true gift from God. I can encourage or share my faith with. I cannot tell James 1:2 states, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and you how many times and ways that God has answered sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James tells us to just “choose joy.” Is it that easy, though? We can’t control the circumstances in our lives, but we can control how we react to those circumstances. We can choose joy or we can choose to be bitter—the choice really is ours.

I read an acrostic about JOY years ago that resonated with me. The J stands for Jesus, O for others, and Y for yourself. The premise for the prescription to find true joy is that we put Jesus first, others next, and ourselves last.

J—Jesus O—Others Y—Yourself

Our lives have a balance to them when we put Jesus first. It’s so easy for me to get my priorities all mixed up, and that’s usually how my world feels too: all mixed up. When I have Jesus at the center of my life, everything else just seems to fall into place.

When we turn our time and attention to others, it shifts the focus from our own problems. My daughter has spent significant amounts of time in various that prayer. Sometimes it’s a nurse, healthcare worker, or fellow exhausted parent at the coffee shop. It can be a simple word of encouragement or a more serious conversation about how my faith has helped get me through tough times. Something shifts when I take the focus off myself and move it to someone else. It gives me perspective and a great amount of joy.

So I encourage you to choose joy today! I also want to encourage you to ask God to put someone in your path today who needs a little joy.

About The Author Suzanne Hooie serves as the minister of missions and community at the First Baptist Church of Dalton. Suzanne and her husband, Sherrel, have two grown children, John and Lauren.

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