{"id":5249,"date":"2020-01-05T16:20:06","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T22:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5249"},"modified":"2020-01-05T16:20:06","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T22:20:06","slug":"a-year-of-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5249","title":{"rendered":"A Year of Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Journal of Joy: Things that make me smile…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here it is \u2013 the New Year! And I think it\u2019s time for a change. I\u2019ve enjoyed blogging about choices these past five years and even managed to get a book<\/a> from the effort, but I\u2019m ready for something different. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing a\nnew theme has not been easy, though some topics were definitely no-brainers to mark\noff my list. I\u2019d rather not spend the next year exploring my mood swings, pet\npeeves, or irritants. Although, Lord knows, I\u2019d never run out of material. So I\nasked myself, \u201cWhat do I really want to reflect on this year?\u201d   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nreading Philippians 4:8, I found my answer. \u201cFinally, brethren, whatever things\nare true, whatever things are noble, whatever thing are just, whatever things\nare pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if\nthere is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy \u2013 meditate on these\nthings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day after day\nwe are bombarded with everything that\u2019s wrong in the world. Plus, we are\nsurrounded by personal stress, pressure, difficulties, worries, concerns, and\ntroubles. Some of these we bring on ourselves; some we don\u2019t. Life can be\ncomplicated. Meditating on Philippians 4:8 will not take my problems away, but\nmay make them easier to tolerate. I think it will make my life more joyful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this year\nI will focus on joy. Now, I\u2019m not talking about happiness. Spiritually\nspeaking, happiness and joy are not always synonymous. Christians know that\ntrue joy comes from knowing God and having a relationship with Him. This gives our\nlives meaning and purpose. True joy is an attitude of the heart and spirit,\npresent inside us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy can\nshare its space with other emotions such as sadness or shame, or even exist in\nthe darkest and most difficult times. Hard times don\u2019t have to take away our\njoy. There is joy, peace, and comfort in knowing Jesus is always with us. He\nwill never leave or forsake us. He walks with us every step of the way. He will\nhelp us make it through. Joy helps us look beyond the current situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe that\u2019s\nwhy James 1:2 tells us to \u201ccount it all joy\u201d when we have trials. It\u2019s not\ntelling us to laugh with glee when bad things happen. It\u2019s telling us to look\nbeyond circumstances. Learn what we can, do what we can, but realize this\nphysical life is temporary.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hebrews 12:2\ntells us that Jesus endured being crucified because of the joy set before Him.\nHe could see beyond what was happening. Joy can exist regardless of what is\nhappening. All people having a relationship with Jesus Christ can have joy. Joy\nundergirds our spirit. Joy brings hope. Joy brings peace and contentment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this year\nmy blog will be a Journal of Joy where I\u2019ll discuss what brings me joy personally\n\u2013 things that make my heart smile. My hope is that these thoughts will bring\nyou joy as well. Or perhaps they can be a catalyst for you to think about what brings\nyou joy and motivate you to meditate on those things.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lord, my joy lies in You! Help me filter everything in life through the eyes of Your love and think on what is true, noble, just, pure, virtuous, and lovely. For these are Your thoughts.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Journal of Joy: Things that make me smile… By Barbara Dahlgren Here it is \u2013 the New Year! And I think it\u2019s time for a change. I\u2019ve enjoyed blogging about choices these past five years and even managed to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5249"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}