Where is my joy?

Little did I know when I woke up this morning to sit down and catch up on some blogs that I would be hit with some pretty hard reality checks.

You see, it's no secret to those who are closest to me that I have been a huge grouch lately. And even when I know I shouldn't be upset about something I can't hide my annoyance anyways because my poker face is...well...nonexistent. The person who gets the brunt of most of my emotional issues is the one person I never want to hurt, but know I will. That realization sucks.

If we don't learn to make decisions to celebrate God's

goodness in the frustrating and inconvenient moments of

life we will not be able to

do it in trial and persecution

from beautifulsimplicity

Somewhere along the line I stopped pursuing joy. I allowed my circumstances and the little things in my life to cause me stress and worry. I was reading laurennicolelove and in her post, How To Be a Millionaire by 25: Love Is The New Currency Part 1, she talks about joy....this is what she says:

Pursue joy actively. This is a decision you make, not something you stumble upon, or reach once you achieve x,y &z. Decide to pursue joy, ask God for it, put yourself in places where you receive joy from others, and take time alone to restore your heart. When we are whole-hearted, we live in joy.

Yesterday, Adam and I were reading our devotion that we started doing together and it was talking about Hannah and her deep desire to have a son. It talked about how she couldn't be satisfied with less then God's will and when you are not doing what you know God has truly called you to do, the love of people and material things won't satisfy you.

when we complain,

believe lies,

dwell in negativity,

or choose self pity

we agree with the enemy about the quality

of our lives instead of our good father

from beautifulsimplicity

Today I am going to pursue Joy. Actively pursue it, and I'm for sure going to ask God for a big 'ol dose of it. Cuz I know I need it. We all need it. I know I need to identify the areas of my life that are sucking the joy from me, or the thought patterns that are causing me to believe lies. For that, I will need God's help, but it brings peace to know without fail that God is faithful to answer us and give aid in our times of need, when we cry out to Him.