The Power of Joy

The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him. Psalm 28:7

As I watched my granddaughter play with my puppy, Charlie, it brought so much joy to my heart. She got down on the floor rolling around with him while he jumped on her and ran in circles. She laughed so hard. She was just in the moment. There was no care in the world at that time. She wasn’t thinking about what she was going to do next.  Abigail was just full of joy! That’s her middle name by the way - Abigail Joy. She’s one of those special little girls that when she walks into a room she lights it up. She spends most of her time smiling. 

Even when she’s getting corrected, she will have a smile on her face. I’m not exaggerating. My thought is always, “How can you smile when your parents are correcting you?” Then I realized that she knew something that many of us need to learn. She knows that her parents love her and want the best for her at all times. She has zero fear when it comes to her parents.Their correction isn’t any different than their praise. She has learned that joy can be present regardless of circumstances. Which brings me to my reason for sharing this. 

We are in the middle of a National Crisis but we can still choose to praise God. We do not need to fear because we know that He loves us and is ALWAYS there for us. He promises to never leave us nor forsake us. He wants us to trust Him to the degree that when He corrects us, we can smile knowing that our latter state will be better than our former. He wants us to trust Him even when our business looks like it is falling apart. He and He alone has the answers. He wants us to trust Him even when the world speaks fear; depend on Him even when it feels like everything is falling apart.  His desire is that we have joy even if we don’t know what’s going to come next. 

We can experience joy that gives us so much strength that we aren’t fretting about what our next move will be. We know that true strength comes when we release our desire to control and celebrate Him because He is worthy to be celebrated! He wants us to experience that feeling that Abigail had where she was just in the moment having fun with a little white fluffy dog. Being as carefree as one could be. There’s something about joy that sustains you and gives you hope knowing that our Father God is our protector. Let’s choose joy. Let’s choose trust. Let’s choose faith over fear. Be in the moment whether it’s in the midst of a difficult situation or a “happy moment”. Happiness is linked to happenings. Joy can only come through faith in Jesus and it remains regardless of circumstances. Jesus remains the same. He never changes. We can have joy! Praise Him and experience true freedom!! God is bigger than the coronavirus. Focus on who He is, not the fears the world tries to bring. You are loved!