JOY!

This year, March 3rd to be exact, I became “of age” as they say, I became 18!!!! soooo, naturally, I looked up all of the super awesome things I can do as a legal adult!!!

I can vote!!!

I can get a tattoo!!!

I can buy lotto tickets!!!

I can buy fireworks!!!

I can buy cigarettes!!!

I can get kicked out of the house… I can be sued… I can go to prison… I can make a will… okay YIKES!!! 

anyways… hahaha… now that I was a big girl… I started to get the big tough question majority of 18 year olds have no idea the answer to. “What are your plans after high school?” 

I quickly realized that the best answer to that question was “I’m waiting on a sign from God” because no one can argue with that answer right???

I know some of you have gone through high school, college, have careers, but… do you ever still find yourself asking God what your purpose is? I’m here to tell you that a purpose that we have as followers of Christ is sharing the JOY you have in your heart from nothing else but Jesus. A purpose we have is finding JOY in the waiting. Recognizing the JOY Jesus has set in your soul and realizing that joy isn’t a feeling. Its a choice, it’s a way of life.

So one day after a tennis match in the spring, some of my younger teammates asked “Kelsey how do you stay so positive?” They asked me about the joy that I have—I instantly just wanted to say JESUS. Right? the ways I KNOW the spirit works in my everyday life!! 

I want to explain to people what the feeling of true JOY is. I want to tell them to write JOY on their heart.

I remember one of our talks during CIA one time, and this was about 6 years ago, PT explained to us happiness is a feeling and that JOY is a choice. It’s a way of life. JOY is something that we have that never goes away because we recognize that true joy comes from the Lord. We can’t give back what Jesus has done for us. We rest in the VICTORY that was already won. Right? So that THROUGH our struggles, THROUGH our pain, WHILE we are waiting, WHILE we are anxious, we can rest in the fact that the war is won. IT IS FINISHED. We have to comprehend the sacrifice Jesus made for us. And BOY, its an amazing, overwhelming thing??? Am I right?? The victory is the reason I am joyful. True JOY is found in the freedom we have from our sins, from the freedom Jesus have given to us.

Matthew 7:7 says ”Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Right? SEEK JOY, remember the CROSS. Fix your eyes on what has already been done for you. Rest in that. 

I was babysitting this little girl named Mackenzie a few years ago, she was 7 at the time, and we were making bracelets. While I was stringing on the letters J-O-Y, she says to me, “Kelsey, do you know what JOY stands for?” “The letters stand for Jesus, Others, Yourself” and WOW that stuck with me. I am so glad she taught me that because it is a perfect reminder of what we are living for as followers of Christ.

Never think you are too small, young, old, broken, UNQUALIFIED to make a difference, spread your JOY. 

Although I may not know what career, or exact plans are for the future, I KNOW my purpose is to love, purpose is to share the love of God I have experienced in my life so that I can share my JOY and spread Jesus’ light and the freedom I have felt from knowing Him!!!! 

(That’s what we are called to do right???) 

I know that my purpose is to TRUST, because He has it all mapped out for me. His plans are GREATER and BIGGER than the plans I have for myself. So I will lay it down. Lay it down at Jesus’ feet and I will find JOY in the process.

When there is JOY on your heart, you may feel unqualified, broken, fearful of future, but you HAVE to believe God is using you. He is using you as an example to spread the Gospel!!!! The good news that God doesn’t look for perfect, put together people to spread His love, but he’s looking for YOU. Disappointed, imperfect, worn out, UNQUALIFIED, YOU. Believe in the washing away of our sins for new life. He is with you in whatever season you are in. He meets you!!!! (Bible passage) 

I also find that JOY from Jesus reminds us of so many things, we are not alone, we are free, we are saved, we have this incredible gift and opportunity of living in complete freedom, complete JOY. 

Romans 13:15, one of my favorite verses, I love it so much, I wear it on my wrist, it says “May the God of HOPE give you all the JOY and PEACE as you TRUST in Him.” “May the God of HOPE give you all the JOY and PEACE as you TRUST in Him.” So many good elements in that verse so I want you all to look up at the screen and read this with me, “May the God HOPE give ME all the JOY and PEACE as I TRUST in Him.” One more time. “May the God of HOPE give ME all the JOY and PEACE as I TRUST in Him.”

It’s JOY in waiting for what God is calling us to do with and through our lives. It’s JOY in trusting in the PLANS He has. It’s believing that Our Father has something bigger and better for our lives and we find JOY in trusting in His promises. 

Wake up with a grateful heart. Give thank to God each day for the things that give you JOY and the ultimate source of true JOY, Jesus.

AMEN? Amen.

With Love, 

Kels