12 Steps Finding Joy and Staying Joyful
Tip #1 Smile and Laugh Regularly click here
Tip # 2 Be Careful What You Think click here
Tip #3 Count Your Blessings click here
Tip # 4 Remember The Source of Our Joy click here
Tip # 4 Remember The Source of Our Joy click here
Tip #5: Formulate & Work Towards Goals That Challenge & Motivate You. click here
Tip #6 It Is Fine To Be Angry or Sad.
“A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.” Ecclesiastes 3:4 (NLT)
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,” Ephesians 4:26
God created humans in His own image as emotional beings. We hurt both emotionally and physically, just as Christ did while He was on earth. I love that the writers of the Gospels share Christ’s emotions. They knew that if we are to be Christ-like, then we needed to know that He experienced human emotions just like we do. When Jesus heard that His friend Lazarus had died and saw how upset his sisters were concerning Lazarus death, the Apostle John writes, “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35 NKJV). We also read in John 2:13-16 (NKJV), that Jesus became angry when He saw merchants defiling the temple in Jerusalem – “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”
Let’s face it; we cannot be happy all of the time. There are times when we just need to go through certain “down times” – e.g. time to grieve, time to cry, time to heal, or time to express anger, disappointment or whatever “not so happy” emotions we are feeling at that moment. Like the saying goes, “Life happens.” Obstacles and disappointments will occasionally get in our way. Things will seem to come from out of nowhere. It is all a part of life and it is unquestionably healthy to express those emotions when the need arises. If we do not give our emotions a healthy outlet when we should, we are in danger of “blowing up” somewhere down the line. We need to let others and our Lord know what is troubling us. James tells us simply to do the following when we are suffering, sad, going through hardships – “Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.” James 5:13
The key is not to dwell on our troubles, but to leave them with our Lord God. The hope and prayer is that in general, we will be joyful in life itself; always learning valuable lessons whether we are enjoying the highs of life or we are going through a troubling low moments in time.
Let us always remember and focus our hearts and mind that our hope, joy and strength come from God - “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.” Psalm 28:7.
“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30:5
Scroll down the left side of this blog to mute my playlist music to view and enjoy this worship song - I'm Trading My Sorrows
3 comments:
Thank you so much for visiting! I think your words are so wise. It isn't the anger that is wrong - it is often the way we handle it.
Hi dear Michele!
I wanted to pop in and pray for you and I did...I also wanted to tell you I love ya!
When I am faced with anger the main thing I remind myself is that anger is not wrong but how I respond within the anger makes the difference. God doesn't want us to sin in our anger and that is often difficult but when I yield to the Holy Spirit He gives me the strength. One of the things I've learned in my 40's is to let some stuff just roll off, pray and move forward.
Love ya!!! Thanks for being a blessing!
Hi Michele -
You told the truth - no doubt - we must have our moments to vent. GOD knows we need it.
Thank you, Michele, for keeping it real!
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