{"id":6850,"date":"2025-09-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6850"},"modified":"2025-08-05T18:44:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:44:52","slug":"joy-spreaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6850","title":{"rendered":"Joy Spreaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Short and sweet thought for the week\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fruit-of-the-Spirit...Joy-churchartpro.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fruit-of-the-Spirit...Joy-churchartpro-1024x559.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6851\" width=\"395\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fruit-of-the-Spirit...Joy-churchartpro-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fruit-of-the-Spirit...Joy-churchartpro-600x327.jpg 600w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fruit-of-the-Spirit...Joy-churchartpro-2048x1117.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fruit-of-the-Spirit...Joy-churchartpro-1320x720.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are all joy spreaders. We either bring joy to everyone when we enter a room or everyone is joyful when we leave a room. Most of us would rather people feel joyful when we come, not when we go. However, we can\u2019t give to others what we don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If we aren\u2019t calm, we can\u2019t help others be calm. If we have no peace, we can\u2019t help others find peace. If we have no joy, we can\u2019t help others be joyful. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Asking God to manifest His fruit in our lives helps us share it with others. We all need more love, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,\u2026and JOY. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many do not understand that happiness and joy are not always synonymous. Happiness is conditional and depends on what happens to us. Joy runs much deeper because it transcends events and feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus endured being crucified because of the joy set before Him. He could see beyond what was happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">True joy comes from knowing God and having a relationship with Him. In God\u2019s presence, we find true joy (Psalm 16:11). This joy is an attitude of the heart that comes from trusting a faithful God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As joy becomes part of our spiritual identity, others may notice. Unbeknownst to us, we can exude a certain faith and confidence in God regardless of our circumstances. It can manifest itself with tiny expressions of peace and calm, or delightful smiles and laughter. Either way, it\u2019s always welcomed when it enters a room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cThese things have I spoken to you that my joy may<\/em><br><em>remain in you, and that your joy may be full.&#8221; ~John 15:11<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Short and sweet thought for the week\u2026 We are all joy spreaders. We either bring joy to everyone when we enter a room or everyone is joyful when we leave a room. Most of us would rather people feel joyful &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6850\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"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=6850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6853,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6850\/revisions\/6853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}