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I Choose Joy

"The time has come to make a choice, and I choose joy."~"Joy"-For King and Country

Ever since I got a link to the music video for this song, I loved it. Not only are the costumes and setting of the video fun, but the song itself is as well. I sometimes struggle to be joyful when I hear about all the things happening in our world, and this song was great at encouraging me that it is not only possible, but also freeing.

In pursuit of the kind of joy mentioned in the song,  I joined the Faith Gateway Defiant Joy online bible study led by Candace Payne (aka Chewbacca Mom) and Mandisa. Each week of this six week study had a Joy Lab, which contained one or more activities to do to help cultivate joy in our lives. These challenges ranged from finding old pictures of ourselves to carrying around rocks for an entire week. (The pictures were to remind us of times in the past where we were joyful, and the rocks were to represent the struggles we face that weigh us down and keep us from being joyful.) Almost all of the challenges I did seemed like they would be easy, but ended up being harder than I anticipated.

The reason why it's so hard to choose joy even if we really want to is that Satan doesn't want us to be joyful. Our joy in Christ gets in the way of Satan's plan, and he will fight to keep us under his thumb. Joy isn't just something that is given to us, it's something we have to fight for and choose to pursue every day. God desires that we be joyful because that's how He created us, so every time we choose joy, we choose to grow closer to the One who made joy possible.

This doesn't mean that we will be happy all the time. That wouldn't be practical, and it certainly wouldn't be authentic. What it does mean is that no matter what we are feeling, we always remember that God is in control and is bigger than any situation we may face. Happiness is an emotion, while joy is a way of life. When you're full of joy, others will see it and want to have it for themselves. After doing this study, I am convinced that a joy-filled heart is the best witnessing tool we can ever have. I am willing to do whatever it takes to bring others to Christ so that they can know the love of our Savior the way I do. That means that from this day on, I choose joy.
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