The Joy of the Lord is my Strength

Tired, frustrated, and perhaps a little bit angry-these are all feelings that take place when we are struggling to accept a lesson that God is trying to teach us. This past week and a half has been one of those times for me. Christian Youth In Action (CYIA) (Child Evangelism Fellowships training program for teens) has been going on since last Tuesday. I have wanted to be involved as much as possible, but I have had to work most days. So my schedule is crazy hectic. I get up at 5:30, go to CYIA, then I'm off to work until midnight. This right off the bat, causes a little bit of irritation. I was also frustrated because we had no money to pay our bills and there was not anything I could do about it. I was starting to get angry about having to ride the CTA everyday with loud, dirty and annoying people. I disliked being away from Steven so much, because it's something I am not at all used to.

After having so many upset feelings going on inside of me, everything from there on out was just so incredibly annoying! This of course is incredibly ridiculous and uncalled for, but I thought they were perfectly legitimate reasons for me to be grumpy all the time.

After a few days of this, I was asked to lead a devotion for the girls last minute. The only thing I could think of to share was a devotional that I had shared on a missions trip I went on a couple years ago. The devotion started out talking about Paul and Silas when they were imprisoned unjustly. They endured incredible hardship for no good reason and yet in Acts 16:25 it says that they were praying and singing hymns to God! This is a picture of real joy. Joy should not be dependent on our circumstances. Joy comes from God and therefore it can not be affected by whatever is going on outside of us.

From there I went into talking about how the joy of the Lord is our strength! In 1 Timothy 6:12  it says that we are called to fight the good fight. In order to do that we need strength and the joy of the Lord is our strength. The ironic thing is, that when we need strength to endure hardship and we need that joy to do that, we tend to get discouraged and upset instead of joyful. This was me. Discouragement and frustration was what I chose instead of joy.

The most difficult part about learning this lesson is that it isn't something that we can learn once and then be done with it. It is the easiest fruit to lose. We can't live off the joy that we had last week or even yesterday. This is why we are told in Philippians 4:4-Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS. It is a habit that we must get into the practice of doing constantly.

Also, joy is not happiness. Happiness comes from the word "happen". Therefore, happiness comes from what is happening around you. Joy does not work that way. It does not rely on what is happening around you, but comes directly from God.

This is a hard lesson to learn, over and over....and over again! But every time the lesson is learned, we are filled with a an indescribable joy from God. Then life doesn't look so grim and dreary, but instead every mundane and seemingly frustrating situation can be turned into a joyful experience. Those hours of dreaded work turned into joyful service, those dirty CTA rides turned into opportunities to pray for the unsaved all around me, those days of little sleep turned into energy run off of joy, and those unpaid bills were in God's hands (and he did provide for our needs above and beyond what we needed for this month).

God is good all the time.

And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:19

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

I have now returned to my home in Chicago, after a lovely two weeks visiting friends and family back in Pennsylvania. While in PA, Steven and I ate about a months worth of food. It was pretty great to have an endless supply and not have to pay for it. I do believe this is the part where I am supposed to smile real big and thank our parents for free room and board. =D But no really, in all seriousness I am very thankful for our families who are willing to house us, feed us, and socialize with us. It's really nice to have families like that to go back to every once in a while.

Anyway, now we are home and trying to get settled back into our normal routines. I think my favorite part about coming home from trips is unpacking. I always get nifty little things for the apartment while I am away and it is exciting to put them in the places I had planned for them. I also enjoy coming back and being able to cook again in my cozy little kitchen. Not that I didn't enjoy being served delicious food for two weeks, but there is just something special about coming back to my own little kitchen. I just finished making a delicious meal consisting of chicken (which has no special name because I made it up. I guess we can call it: Garlic-Herb and Pepper Chicken), wild rice, and some roasted vegetables.

It's a real simple meal.
Chicken:
Put your chicken in a skillet and let it there until it is cooked.
While  your chicken is cooking get out your blender and throw in some orange, yellow and red peppers. Add some olive oil, minced garlic, parsley, oregano, basil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Blend it all together and most of it on your chicken that is the frying pan. Leave a little bit leftover to pour over your chicken when it is done.
Veggies:
These are real simple as well, just grab some asparagus, tomatoes and peppers-chop them up and put them on a sheet pan. Cover it all in some olive oil, salt and pepper, then throw it in the over for fifteen minutes or so and wala!
 Then of course your rice which is simple...just make it as directed on the package. I had some leftover sauce from the chicken and I poured it on my rice as well. It was really good.

I must now bid thee adieu, for I must prepare my self for work this evening.