Always (reJOYce)

Our theme at Bible study this past year was “reJOYce”. We had the theme title printed on flyers, on binders, on pages and on agendas for the morning; it was everywhere. A dear friend of mine who is originally from Australia told me that on the first day, back in September, she looked up on the big video screen and noticed the odd spelling; she wasn’t sure if that’s how we spell it in America or if we had just done a big “oops” and misspelled the main theme on everything around. It wasn’t long before she realized the misspelling was on purpose. We had wanted the JOY part to pop out with great emphasis. 

I had the privilege of writing the “Welcome Page” that described our theme and was included in every woman’s binder. Here is an excerpt from that page-

“I’ve got the JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY down in my heart… Where?.... Down in my heart to stay!!!”

There are many things that come into our lives try to drag us down and steal our joy.  Life may be far from perfect, which means we have to be deliberate about our JOY each and every day. If we choose the perspective of Jesus we will always find a reason to reJOYce!!! Despite the heart-wrenching trials that Jesus faced while here on earth His heart was full of JOY because He knew God.  And God wants us to experience that same JOY in our own lives.  As we come to know God our Father more and more we too can experience the same confident JOY; resting in the fact that God is in control. JOY is a gift from God that He is anxiously waiting for us to receive.  You see, we play a big role in whether we experience a JOY-filled life or not.  We must choose to accept the gift that God has already offered us.  God has given us His own Holy Spirit to live within us and JOY is an overflowing fruit of His Spirit.  His JOY comes alive within us as we walk hand in hand with God.  We gratefully reflect on our salvation, our redemption, our new life in Him, His strength to see us through, and His promise of eternal life with Him. As this Heavenly JOY fills our own hearts and minds we can’t help but infect the world with a contagious JOY.

    “Rejoice in the LORD always. I will say it again, Rejoice!!”