Mama's Mission of the Month: May 2011

My mission this month is a simple one... JOY.

I recently learned a terrific acrostic for the word JOY and it is something that God has laid heavy on my heart...

Jesus

Others

Yourself

I've been studying a lot about JOY lately. God has blessed me with being able to hear a number of great sermons, by friends being burdened by the same topic and by some really wonderful bible studies about how a Christian should live... about the JOY we should experience. Simply put, to have true JOY in our lives, we can not depend on the circumstances around us, the way we think or feel, or the way others around us are acting. True JOY comes from having the right priorities in life...

Jesus

Others

Yourself

When you put Jesus first in your life, everything else falls into place. As you serve Him and His purpose, it is impossible not to be filled with JOY. It is impossible to look at the situations going on around you and not to see God working in and through them. 

As you serve Jesus and learn from Him and His Word, your desire to be a blessing to Others consumes you. You yearn to show them then love of Jesus and what He can and will do for them. You glow with the love He has given you for those around you and your thoughts, actions and attitude reflect this desire to be a blessing and an encouragement. Serving others in action, attitude and prayer just comes naturally.

And finally, as you dedicate your life to the Saviour and to sharing all He has done and will do with others, as you choose to lift up others in prayer and to encourage them in their walk with the Lord, you look at Yourself, and you realize that God has given you everything you need and many of the things that you want. Suddenly, there isn't anything you need to do for yourself or even have the desire to do. God has become your all suffiency and is taking better care of you than you ever could do on your own.

Joy comes from remembering who you are... but more importantly, it comes from remembering who HE is and why He put you here. Joy doesn't come from where you are in life, but from who you know. 

My goal this month... to pay more attention to what Jesus is teaching me. To spend more time sitting at His feet and learning from Him, and to spend more time sharing those things with others. To spend more time listening to the Holy Spirit as He guides me to be a blessing to someone else, and to act on that guidance... In short... my goal this month is to follow after true JOY.