Category: thankful

Your “Joy Bucket”

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
John 15:11

Read Time 3 Minutes

Think about walking through a wooded area where the bushes are in full production just ready for the picking of the plumpest juiciest blackberries. It’s a beautiful sunshiny day with just the right cool breeze. With bucket in hand, you plan on picking and filling the bucket with an overflowing amount of blackberries to take home for making pies, jam, and other blackberry treats to delight yourself for days to come. If you allowed yourself to get sidetracked with the sticks and brush in your way and began filling your bucket with the debris along your path, your bucket would not hold the tasty berries. You would go home depleted instead of being refreshed with the ability to be satisfied with delectable treats for the coming days. Think about this picture as you continue reading my blog post.

Times are tough right now! It seems as though our country is turned upside down. For some in America, the Covid-19 is very upfront and real. Some have tested positive, some have sadly died from the virus, and healthcare workers see it all first hand. For others, the issues have been financial struggles…maybe even the loss of a business. I think for all of us, the times have been very mentally and emotionally challenging. From corona-virus, to protests and riots, to demonstrations of love versus hate, to continued deep divisions in our country both politically and personally, it is very hard to be positive!

During my life, I have encountered and navigated through some very difficult and heartbreaking times. These struggles have helped me to grow in my faith and learn to rely whole-heartily on God to supply my every need, my every comfort, and my complete peace. I have even learned how to experience true joy right along with sorrow.

I am desiring to do the same during these trying times, but it seems very hard. I find it a daily struggle to stay positive and grab hold of all the peace and joy available to me through God in the midst of so many negative issues in our country. A couple of nights ago, it became clear to me why I have been struggling with this matter of joy. I have the head knowledge and the experiential knowledge of joy, and I have been praying to feel God’s peace and joy during these tough times; however, I was forgetting a very important action on my part. I was forgetting to actually REJOICE! When I choose to rejoice, then the “joy bucket” in me begins to be filled up. Because each day seems to be filled with so much negativism in the media and in the conversations of so many, the negatives have been the focus and what I have been piling in my bucket. The negatives we are all facing were the big things in my mind that were depleting my “joy bucket”. I needed to adjust my thoughts by beginning with the action of rejoicing.

This is the day that the Lord has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

I am now consciously taking action each day. I am choosing to REJOICE in who I am in God. Just the simple fact that I am His puts me in an overriding victorious circumstance at all times no matter what is going on in this world. I am His, a child of the one true King. My life will always be abundant because He is always good to me. He promises to get me through anything I face in my life. I am secure in eternity because of my salvation through Jesus Christ. Because He lives, I can face each day with confidence. With this kind of security, why would I not choose to rejoice every day! I hope that you too can choose with full confidence and peace to REJOICE in knowing God, His goodness, and His Son, Jesus! Join me in filling our “joy buckets” with all the fullness of His goodness today!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.  Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:11

Interrupted!

Fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

Read Time 4 Minutes

In the past few weeks all of our lives across the United States as well as most of the world have been interrupted by Covid-19. Even if we have not personally contracted the virus and hopefully will not, we are all effected by the quarantined environment we are living in daily. Grocery store shelves are empty of basic needs, restaurants, businesses. schools, and churches are closed for now, and new vocabulary and guidelines are developing such as “social distancing” and “working remotely”. It is certainly an unsettling time and pushes our minds to think of scenarios we are not used to thinking about here in America.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ” Luke 12: 22-23

I find myself thinking each day as I eat a meal prepared at home, how thankful I am for that food on my table! Although, I have always been thankful to God for provisions, it is much more heightened in light of the growing reality that even in America our abundant lives we have become so accustomed to can be interrupted!

As a Christian we can draw on the truths of God’s promises to supply all of our needs and to be our stronghold through uncertain times. However, if you are like me…even when we know these truths, we can find ourselves allowing anxious thoughts to creep into our minds. We fear things our minds imagine that goes beyond the reality. These fears are fed, of course, by all the panic and media coverage going on all around us. The struggle is real to choose the way God wants us to think. We often live in our own strength that wants to feed on fear and anxiety which is not of God. This reminds me that even the Apostle Paul struggled with being pulled in this way. He tells us in Romans 7:15, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

Paul struggled like we do, but he also learned the secret to doing life and living above fear! He shares in Philippians 4: 12-13, “I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.  I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

In the last few weeks, our lives have drastically been interrupted by Covid-19! It helps me to remember that if we purposefully set our mind on the truths and promises from God’s word, we can begin to realize that He does supply all of our needs. However, those needs may not be what we are used to thinking we need. If everything were stripped away from us, God would still give us what we need to endure all things. He will give us strength and peace for whatever circumstances He allows us to encounter. If you really think about it, HE IS ALL WE NEED! Paul showed us that by praying and singing hymns to God even when he had been beaten and thrown in prison (Acts 16).

Maybe this interruption can be looked at positively as a time to draw near to God in a new and deeper way! A time to praise Him, love others more expressively, and shine a light on a world that needs Him desperately!

When fear and anxiety begins to set in, it helps me to remember to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17.

Remote Exercise

A result for me from the corona-virus outbreak has been the closure of the YMCA where I had just begun building up my clientele. I am thankful that I have been able to put a spin on the remote work environment. Instead of holding training sessions with clients indoors, we have moved outdoors, and I am able to still meet their needs by holding personal training sessions at a local park. We have been using stairs, paths, piers, park benches, and rails to aid us in getting a good physical workout. Not only is it helping each person to stay fit in body, but I believe it is helping them and myself to stay fit in spirit too! The outdoors is refreshing and rejuvenating…a place where you can marvel at God and let Him wash peace and tranquility over you!

I encourage you to take advantage during this restricted time to get outdoors where there is plenty of space to social distance while getting a good workout for your body and soul! Walk at a quick pace along paths, jog up and down stairs, use a park bench to do inclined push-ups and tricep dips. There are many cardio and strength training exercises that can be done with very little equipment. Get creative, get outside, and get moving to beat the Covid-19 blues!