I have struggled off and on with some depression for many years. There are days when I absolutely have to ‘CHOOSE JOY’. I know that phrase is tossed around on T-shirts, keychains, bumper stickers (do they even still make those?) and is infiltrated into song lyrics. There is certainly NOTHING wrong with saying those words. How many times have we heard/said “Don’t worry, be happy!”?
There are days when I wake up and have to remind myself that there are GOOD THINGS in my life to be JOYFUL about. Can a Christian be depressed/sad/hurt?!? ABSOLUTELY! The Bible is full of examples of it; David, Job, Peter, Paul, Elijah…… Even Jesus wept!
One of my ‘go-to’ passages in scripture is James 1:2-4,
“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (NAS)
JOY can be hard to find if I am looking at ‘self’ but if I try and keep my eyes fixated on Christ & His blessingsĀ I know that whatever it is that I’m going through will only make me stronger and it will draw me closer to Christ, if I let it ….annnnd, if I truly search His heart, I will find that there is something that God is trying to teach me through it & I will be stronger bc of it.
My hopes in sharing this snippet of my testimony is that others can be encouraged to choose joy also…
