When joy is hard to come by

Waking up with a headache today, joy's been a bit hard to come by. I just posted last night about how I need to choose to believe. To believe God is good. I guess I need to choose my joy today, too. 

It's a difficult thing to grasp, this joy thing. In Galatians it says that joy is a part of the fruit of the Spirit that is already in me as a daughter of God. But, I still need to choose it? I think I remember talking about this in my Sing yourself happy post. You can see I still do not have a handle on this. 

Most of the headache is gone, but my joy meter is still running on empty. What do I do? What do I choose?

I prayed.

God, help me with joy. Help me to have joy. I know that the joy of the Lord is my strength and stronghold and I want to be strong.

Then, I heard in my heart, What brings you joy?

I think the Spirit wanted me to start rehearsing the things that bring me joy. So practical is my God!

getting my hair done
chai tea latte's from Starbucks
making my home look beautiful 
flavored water
encouraging someone else

Those are a few of the things that came in to my head right away. 

Now, I can choose some things from this list. 

I called for an appointment to get my hair cut and colored. Turns out I can get in tomorrow. I texted my daughter, "yay!" Something small to rejoice over.

I'm drinking a SoBe flavored water. happy face.

I'm going to do one thing to beautify my surroundings. I have tons of stuff I could do, but my first thing will be small. Like light my pumpkin spice candle.

My spirit is lighter just thinking about some of these things I can do. 

Thank you, God, for the Indescribable Gift of Your Spirit in me reminding me to choose joy and lovingly showing me how to do it.

eyes wide open: breathing lessons {day 8}

"One of the greatest of spiritual attainments is the capacity to do nothing."

~Dallas Willard

For most of my life, I have been breathing wrong.

In a class I'm taking at church, the leader is spending some time talking to us about slowing down. Taking time to be alone with Jesus. Just sitting. And breathing. Breathe in, breathe out. Not shallow breaths, but breaths that come from the belly. I have a history of not doing this well. I have a history of breathing shallow breaths. Not using my lungs' full capacity. Deep belly breathing is the healthiest way to breathe and relieves anxiety and counteracts the stress response. I so desperately need this.



I thought I would share our daily homework.

• Find a special quiet place in your home where you can meet with God (bring a notebook to jot down things that your mind won't let go of--like feeding the cat, folding a load of laundry, etc.--so your mind can be still)

• Silence and Solitude--15 minutes a day

During silence and solitude we are to spend:

1. Five minutes of palms down meditation (with palms down on your lap, the idea is to lay everything at Jesus' feet. Empty yourself of all cares and concerns.)
2. Five minutes of silence. (don't do anything)
3. Five minutes of palms up meditation, receiving the Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,  goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

I've been in the class for about 4 weeks. I have done this whole sequence only two days. I am used to spending time in solitude with God. But, this structured way of quieting my mind and breath is a new one for me. I did it this morning. I'm finding that it takes discipline to quiet my mind.

I need this. My body and mind need this. I'm going to keep practicing. I'm going to learn to breathe right. Even if it is hard.  

see day 1 for a list of all 31 posts