“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
~Galatians 5:22-23a
“Be joyful always;”
~Thessalonians 5:16
It is definitely hard to be joyful in every circumstance. On our own, there is no way we could be. It is only through Christ Jesus that we can find joy during the difficult times. He can give us joy in the good stuff, joy in the bad stuff and joy in the small stuff!
“You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
~Psalm 16:11
Hey!!! Man, it’s been like a year since I’ve talked to you! I’m glad to hear that your first year of school went so well! Mine was good too, but kinda rough at times… it was just dissappointing that at a Christian university, people lived no differently than non-Christians. not to say all of them were like that, but a majority seemed to be there just to go to a private college. Anyways, I really am going somewhere with this and “joy”!!! It ended up being a hard year with me and my roommate and some other people in my hall, but I learned the real meaning of “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” I had always thought of it as meaning that when we are strong and persevere, God gives us joy. But it actually means that when we hold onto the joy we have in Christ and let nothing and no one steal that joy, God gives us strength to endure!!! Seems like I should have caught onto that a long time ago, but nope!
Well, I gotta get going, but I wanted to say hi! Love you girl, and I hope you’re doing well! God bless!