Joy!

With each new year, there comes a new hope, a new resolution to make this year better than the previous. A new year often symbolizes a fresh start, a chance to make things right, reach new goals or a chance to finally make that change that has been plaguing you for months. So with that being said I have vowed and promised myself to make 2014 my best year yet. Although, at the beginning of every new year my goal has been to improve on the previous year, this year is just a little bit different.  This year I turn thirty, with that there comes more pressure to follow through. I know to most this may not seem like much, but to me it is huge.

I have always been a planner and a list maker. When I planned and made my list for thirty it looked nothing like what my life looks like now. And while at first I will admit I felt as though I had failed, I now know that HIS plan for my life is so much bigger than my check list. All He asks me to do is trust in Him, not my failures, or my current circumstances.  He asks me to step out in faith and watch what He will do and where he can take me.  But how can I do that? As someone that needs a list or a plan, how can I just step out and trust?

The answer came to me a few weeks back, as I was praying for the new year, asking Him to guide me and give me wisdom. As part of the local LeadHer chapter we are asked to pick a word each year, a word that we can focus on throughout the year and pray over.  God quickly gave me the word JOY.  Receiving my word for 2014 was the easy part, but what exactly did joy mean? What did it mean to me, or my life? What verse in scripture would I use to go along with it?

As I looked into what exactly joy meant, I quickly realized that joy is not an easy term to define. The Merriam- Webster dictionary defines joy as “a feeling of great happiness or a source or cause of great happiness: something or someone that gives joy to someone.” The Holman Bible dictionary defines joy as “the happy state that results from knowing and serving God.”  While I have to agree with both, I believe there is more to the concept of joy.

Joy is more than happiness; I believe that happiness is often related to your circumstances. If times are good, happiness is inevitable. But what happens when times are not so good? Happiness is often lacking in times of brokenness and darkness. That is where I believe joy comes in; joy does not depend on your circumstances. Joy is a gift from our Heavenly Father that circumstance cannot take away.  

As I continued my research on joy I came across an acrostic for joy that made more sense:

J-Jesus

O- Others

Y- Yourself

What a great visual of what joy represents. When you put Jesus and others before yourself you have joy. Joy is not based on earthy things, which can be taken from you. True joy can only come from the Lord. Now I would be a fool to expect this year to be free of heartache, disappointment or trials; it is through these types of storms that joy is developed and tested.  This leads me to my verse for 2014:

² Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.³ for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ⁴ So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4 (NLT)

I am praying expectantly for 2014 to my best year yet. After all don’t most say that your thirties are some of the best years of your life? I am ready, and willing to do the work. With God on my side I know I cannot fail. I am circling His promises and trusting His word. So I welcome 2014 with open arms…

¹¹ You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11