Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. This is a day that the Lord has made, and no matter what it brings…I WILL rejoice and be glad in it! When I met with the Living God this morning, I had difficulty finding my joy! There’s no good reason that I should be lacking joy, but it just wouldn’t come to me “naturally” this morning – since I know the one who comes to “rob, kill, and destroy” would love to disarm me – I DETERMINED to have Joy in my head, even if my Heart wasn’t inclined on its own at first. I “named it and claimed” as my own, and I repeated Words Breathed by the Living God long ago to help me along. I thanked God for my Joy as if it was already a done deal, and I played songs in my head that I can always count on to bring joy to my Heart when I hear them. I FOUGHT FOR MY JOY this morning…and I won! I just needed a little help from my Head to kick my Heart into Joy-mode, and it didn’t take long to feel it from my head to my toes. I won the Battle again this morning. Isn’t that the way you fight through your Journey of Faith too?

It can be so easy for people to believe that the Journey of Faith is an easy one, and they lose out on how to Fight for Faith in the process. Some don’t think that “bad” things should EVER happen to the Good People, and they think People of Faith should be forever tiptoeing through the tulips of life every minute like a Stepford Christian. They question God when things aren’t going their way, and they sometimes blame every U-turn on the enemy. They twist the concept of a Loving God into a belief system that only tolerates good things and full bank accounts, and when things don’t go well in the life of a Christian, the world is ready to mock God because of it. We (Christians) are set aside as God’s Children, but we have many of the same challenges everybody else has…we just KNOW how to fight back and we KNOW we’ll always win when we do. When we lack Joy, we must DETERMINE to have it, and we “take captive every thought” because we understand that the Mind often deters the Heart…IF we let it. How we handle the “joyless” times determines our Witness to the world. We don’t seek Joy because we want to feel “happy” – we seek Joy because having it in the face of Adversity is a huge Witness to the lost world and to the power of my God. After all, who would want my Jesus if I whine and complain about my circumstances, and I walk my Journey with no Joy?

When we’re faced with adversity or dealing with trials, the biggest “focus” should never be on our circumstances – God already has that part covered – it’s how we handle them instead. David was hunted down like an animal even though he was a “man after God’s own heart.” He wasn’t “saved” from the trials; he was equipped with the Answer instead, and over and over and over again, David DETERMINED to find His Joy. Job had his life turned upside down when everything was “taken” from him…including his children, even though he was “the most righteous” man on earth. In his agony, Job cursed the day he was ever born, but he DETERMINED to Trust the Will of God in the process. Job stood as firmly as any broken man can stand, and He held on to the only Hope there is. His faithful friends questioned God when they contemplated how such bad things could ever happen to a “good” person, and they wondered what Job had done to deserve it. Eventually, Job confessed his wrong and prayed for his well-meaning friends, and God restored his life in DOUBLE MEASURE because of it. If “bad” things can happen to the “most righteous man on earth,” then they can happen to you and me too – but when we DETERMINE to Trust Him in the circumstances we’ll ALWAYS be victorious…and we’ll always find our Joy!

I started this new day a little low on joy, but I DETERMINED to find it…and I did! My Heart isn’t the only thing that matters in this Journey – my mind needs a lot of work too! But as long as I am DETERMINED to have ALL that God has Promised to me, and as long as I never lose sight of the Greatest Gift known to mankind, I will ALWAYS find my Joy. I’m an imperfect woman of God living an imperfect life, but I Serve Perfection with everything I’ve got. I focus more on how I handle my Circumstances than the details of the trials, and THAT’S why I’m Victorious every single time. NOW I can be the Good Witness God created me to be! Look out, world!

How about you?