Thursday, October 4, 2012

A Choice

Joy... it's a choice!
They hang right there... on a curtain rod just above our living room window... just three letters, J-O-Y... a small, yet very powerful word. Joy. Yes, JOY!

Just a few days ago... on Monday morning... the week was sharping up with its share of challenges already. And it continued on... each new day adding a new challenge to the previous day's challenges!

When Monday came and the week decides to sprint ahead of me and I'm left behind to catch up... I give thanks for a sound mind and an able body that allows me to catch up. I choose joy!

When sinus pain hits me without warning and my asthma acts up... I give thanks for medications and puffers. I choose joy!

When the technology goes haywire at one of hubby's clients and he spends long hours researching for a fix... I give thanks for the intelligent and hard-working man that I married. I choose joy!

When my boy comes hobbling home with torn/strain ligaments in his ankle... I give thanks that he's an active boy who loves the game of basketball and for easy access to our family doctor who tells us to come right over when I phoned. I choose joy!

When dinner isn't ready because I am overwhelmed with meeting a deadline at work... I give thanks for easy meals at the local mall's food court and for an hour or so to stroll around the mall with both my kids. I choose joy!

When our car battery dies and our whole family is stuck in downtown Toronto until past 10pm on a weeknight {with me feeling under the weather and my boy wearing an air-cast for his ankle} waiting for CAA Roadside Assistance to arrive... I give thanks for some unexpected time to hang out with our church family. I choose joy! 

When I wake up with a sore throat this morning and feeling very run-down... I give thanks that I don't have to go out because I have a work-from-home job. I choose joy!

YES! I will choose joy...
More than that, I will celebrate joy... for it says in the Bible, "the joy of the Lord is my strength. (paraphrased from Nehemiah 8:10)"
As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible.
While I may not always feel joy, God asks me to give thanks in all things, because He knows that the feeling of joy begins in the action of thanksgiving.
~ Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts.

This month of October, I am participating in a blog link up called 31 Day Series. I will be writing about Celebrating JOY! Click on the banner below for 1000+ other topics! 


Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.
Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!

2 comments:

  1. I'm curious to know where you got your letters that hang from the curtain rod. Did you make them?

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    1. Hi Jill... I got them from Michael's... it's a craft store. Then I spray painted them. :-)

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