Inexpressible & Glorious Joy

This has been a long week.  I’m sick still and it has majorly zapped me of energy and slowed me down.  I finally went to the doctor Wednesday and I’m on some antibiotics now so that should help me to recover.  You know, honestly I struggle with being sick.  Don’t get me wrong… I do enjoy a little bit of the forced relaxation but I struggle with the itch to get things done and proceed with my to do list.  And that’s just not happening right now.  What energy I have I spend on the kids and there is nothing left over for tacking all the projects I’ve got going on or keeping up with laundry.  BUT on the bright side, I have spent more time than usual reading this week.  And that’s what I want to talk about this morning, the bright side.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about perspective.  My husband and I have been talking about this in regards to how we view this adventure of parenthood and honestly, my perspective has been more focused on the negatives. Sometimes all I can see are the things that aren’t going right.  While I was doing my scheduled Reading Through the Bible Plan, God spoke with me this week about my perspective.  Peter begins the book of 1 Peter by praising God for the salvation and hope that we have through Christ.  I was particularly struck by verses 8 and 9:

An inexpressible and glorious joy.

Often I let the difficult things of life rob me of the inexpressible and glorious joy that God has given me through his salvation.

But here’s the thing- I don’t want to.  And I don’t have to!  I can purpose in my heart to not let these things rob me of my joy.  Yes, sometimes the difficulties of life are going to get me down and overwhelm me.  I’m not always going to be full of joy and it’s ok to feel what I feel.  But I can’t let those other feelings steal the joy of my salvation.  When things are difficult and I feel like everything is going wrong I need to submit those feelings to the truth of God.  And you know what’s true?  That God works all things together for good (Romans 8:28).  Whether I’m exhausted from fighting the same battles of parenthood over and over or feeling sad about other circumstances around me, I have to remind myself that God really is working all things together for good.  And that very thought really does fill me with an inexpressible and glorious joy again.

If you’d like to join along in reading through the Bible in 3 years you can find the schedule over at Women Living Well.  Tomorrow’s reading is 1 Peter chapter 4. We’re doing one chapter a day. This is the month’s reading plan:

I hope you all have a great weekend!  I’ll be back next week to share my thought’s on the week’s readings.  If you missed out on last week you can check out my thoughts on Esther here.

Cat

Cat is a teacher turned stay-at-home mom of two boys.  She shares crafts, DIY projects, kids’ activities, and a little bit about life in Ohio.  Learn more about her and the blog on the About page.