Count it All Joy

My sister and I were so excited to go explore downtown Nashville!

Neither of us had ever been, and we packed cute fall outfits specifically for this day. We saw on the forecast that it would be raining, but we weren’t about to let that stop our fun. We didn’t eat breakfast because we wanted to be really hungry by lunch so we could go allll in on the Nashville grub (ok you already know that was a bad choice because #hangerisreal). We were about 10 minutes into our walk downtown when the rainstorm (that we knew was going to happen mind you) hit the city. We’re drenched, from head to toe. On top of that, we’re hungry. Like VERY hungry.

We walk in and out of restaurants, everything is booked up. Long story short we end up at an Applebees. AN APPLEBEES IN NASHVILLE. Not exactly the local dive we were hoping for. After we take a minute to sit down I start going on about how much fun I’m having. Madison is not having it. She looked up at me and said the words, “Can you please just admit that it’s raining, you’re hungry, you don’t want to eat here and you are having a bad time?!” 

Can you tell who the realist is and who the optimist is? HAHA. We truly do balance each other out in so many ways and in this way specifically. I tell you this story because it made me think about how other people viewed the positive spirit I wear on my sleeve.

If you are around my Instagram page, then you know we share good news with each other every Monday. I love doing it SO much, but recently I started wondering if people look at this “good news movement” from the outside and wonder if it’s all a facade.

In large part, I’m not here to justify the community we’ve built to those people. But it has made me challenge myself with this question: does my positivity make us oblivious to a world that is seemingly falling apart? 

Short answer: nope.

Here’s the truth:

We will never be able to separate ourselves from trials, but we do have two choices when we face them. We can find joy in the transformation that will happen through trials we face, or we can sit in the sorrow that is our present reality. The latter will transform you into a victim of your circumstance. You’ll start to believe that life no longer happens FOR you but TO you. Your choice to sulk in the present leaves no room for you to hope in the future.

BUT JOY…

Joy does not require us to deny the severity or existence of our trials. In fact, choosing joy doesn’t even mean that the trials themselves are good. However, choosing positivity in trial acknowledges that the trial is not an end but the means to an end. Joy recognizes that to be renewed we must first be refined and by definition refinement can only happen after changes are made or something is removed. I think that’s why Jesus’ brother was so clear in scripture that we are to count all of our trials as joy, understanding that through the testing process we will be delivered on the other end a better version of ourselves than when we started.

Joy is not a counterfeit feeling, but a life-giving reality and I am 100% sure that our good is not in vain it’s consciously choosing to live in the light.

For more encouragement read James 1.