Time for Joy

The Bible tells us to rejoice in the LORD always. Lately, I have not been joyful at work, at all. I have felt dead at work. So I was getting rather down on myself for not being joyful, which , FYI, didn't help to increase joy! So, in a rare moment of wisdom, I brought it to the LORD in prayer. I have been talking to Him about this for the last few days, and yesterday, at church, I started to notice what we in the Solution-Focused school of therapy call "Exceptions." Times when the worst case scenario isn't true. And what I discovered is that there are many venues in my life where I am a very joyful person, not because I had to work at it, but because God granted joy to me. The place where I experience the most joy is when I get to lead worship. I get VERY excited when I lead worship, because I have the Savior to be excited about! I am filled with joy when I get to sing for Jesus. This is not because I worked for it, but because God quite kindly gave me this joy.

So, armed with the old, yet new to me, truth that Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, a gift of God, not something I can guilt myself into experiencing, I am praying expectantly for joy at work. This is not always easy, but it is working so far, and I already notice there is a little more song in my step. I used to hum and sing all day long, and its time to get that back. It's time for Joy.