The Joy Stealer in Me

Lately, it seems as though whatever I hear and read—through my devotions that I receive in my inbox every morning, listening to Joyce Meyer on my way to work, hearing Pastor Ken’s sermons on Sundays, and over the radio via a Bible Study program as I am driving away from Patterson—I hear the encouragement and reminder to be joyful always. I hear Paul telling me, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV).

Maybe God is trying to tell me something. Maybe He’s telling me that I need to be more joyful reminding me that I am a representation of Christ while I’m at home or out there in the world. And, He is right. I surely am a representative of His. I am a chosen child of God and I must behave and carry myself accordingly. And, to be a child of His is a true blessing—this calls for a joyful heart. I can always work on myself and get closer to that joyful always part. I can make a conscious decision to do what God says and acknowledge my dependence on Him and when this happens, my perspective will change for the better.

I must admit that I can certainly be a joy stealer. It is so easy to go there—to be negative, to complain about anything and everything from my one-and-a-half hour commute, to my 12-hour workday, to the assignments I get at work, to not getting enough time to be with my family…and the list just goes on.

I am guilty of being that whiner to my poor husband when I get home from work. I would tell him, “I’m tired. I’ve worked all day and was on the road for three hours. Just need to go to bed and do it all over again tomorrow.” In other words, leave me alone. See how easy that was? I am so guilty of this and after I have said this to the guy who proclaims his love for me every day, waiting for me to arrive home safely from work with a smile on his face and “baited-breath” (as he likes to call it), I feel so bad. I regret saying that to him. And, it’s something that I can’t take back. I can apologize, but it is only meaningful and sincere if I purposefully and intentionally change from the negative, joy-stealer to a joyful person. It’s not that hard to reciprocate that joy that he gives me when he finally gets to see me again after 15 to 16 hours of being gone. And this, sisters, is happening at home—I must change my attitude starting inside my home to the world.

If we are representatives or ambassadors of Jesus Christ the Risen and Saving One, in other words, the dictionary defines an ambassador as a person who acts as a representative or promoter of a special activity and in this case, that ‘special activity’ is Jesus Christ…then we must portray ourselves, behave, and act as such.

We can make that decision today and everyday to “rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances”. My attitude has changed before I hit the road every morning to work from: “great…here we go again…not looking forward to this traffic…” to praising God for giving me a job to look forward to—a place where I can use and explore my talents and gifts that God has given me, for the long commute so that I am able to listen to amazing Christian influencers on the radio like Chip Ingram and Ravi Zacharias, then singing along to worship songs by Christian artists like David Crowder and Lauren Daigle.

How my perspectives change when I turn negative thoughts and energy into joyful, thankful, and prayerful ones! And, when this happens, that joy is contagious spreading to the important people in my life like my husband and daughter. They appreciate seeing that and most of all, God loves seeing a joyful heart. He loves to hear us giving thanks and praying to Him because prayer is the line that we use to connect with God and to build a relationship with Him. He is so eager to be our friend.