SPRING2017 EDITION | Page 8

[phone] Store #2: 11065 Condor Ave. Fountain Valley, CA [phone] Store #3: 16811 Noyes Ave. Irvine, CA [phone] Store #4: 13722 Jamboree Rd. Irvine, CA [phone] Store #1: 18319 Euclid St. Fountain Valley, CA We Buy and Consign! World Plus Consignment offers a huge inventory of home furnishings from showrooms, model homes, factory samples, private collectors, & consignors. Have space? Let us furnish it! Selling furniture? Let us do the work for you! www.worldplusconsignment.com DEGREES through Correspondence Associate through Ph.D. 16:33). Is that to say you will never cross the drylands of sorrow? No. But that is to say your sorrow will not last forever; “Your grief will turn to joy” (Jn. 16:20). Years ago I lived on a houseboat that was docked on the Miami River. The level of the river would rise and fall with the tide. The boat rocked back and forth with the river traffic. But though the level changed and the boat rocked, we never drifted. Why? Because we were anchored to a concrete sea wall. Courageously joyful people have done the same. They have anchored their hearts to the shoreline of God. Will the boat rock? Yes. Will moods come and go? No doubt. But will they be left adrift on the Atlantic of despair? No, for they have found a joy which remains courageous through the storm. And this courageous joy is quick to become a contagious joy. Christians of the New Testament church were not known for their buildings or denominations or programs. They were known for their joy. “They ate together in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts. They praised God and were liked by all people” (Acts 2:46-47). The early Christians were joyful Christians. In fact you might argue that there is no other type. In the purest sense, the phrase joyful Christian is redundant. We shouldn’t need the adjective. We don’t put the word dead in front of cadaver or wet in front of water or handsome in front of Max. (Just kidding.) Ideally, we shouldn’t have to put joyful in front of Christian. But we do. We do because we tend to major in contingent joy and not courageous joy. But God can change that. Assess your joy level: Are you joyless? Do you spread more pessimism than you do hope? If so, God can help you. Grimness is not a Christian virtue. Believe that joy is possible! Don’t give in to despair. What Jesus said to his followers, he says to you. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). Be open to the possibility of a joy from heaven. Joy may be elusive, but it is never gone. Sometimes it just takes some work. My friend Jerry has taught me the value of gratitude. He is 78 years old and regularly shoots his age on the golf course. (If I ever do the same, I’ll need to live to be a 100). His dear wife Ginger battles Parkinson’s disease. What should have been a wonderful season of retirement has been marred by multiple hospital stays, medication, and struggle. There are many days that she cannot keep her balance. Jerry has to be at her side. Yet Jerry never complains. He always has a smile and a joke. And he relentlessly beats me in golf. I asked Jerry his secret. He said, “Every morning Ginger and I sit together and sing a hymn. I ask her what she wants to sing. She always says, ‘Count Your Many Blessings.’ So we sing. And when we get to the line that says ‘name them one by one’, we do just that: we stop singing and start naming our many blessings, one by one. And when we are through, recognizing the truth of those many, many blessings does much more to relieve her pain and my anxiety than any of her meds could do.” Anxiety thrives in the petri dish of if only. It doesn’t survive in the world of already. For that reason, treat each anxious thought with a grateful one. Take a moment and follow Jerry’s example. Look at your blessings. Do you see any friends? Family? Do you see any grace from God? Love of God? Do you see any gifts? Abilities or talents? Skills? As you look at your blessings, take note of what happens. Sorrow grabs his bags and slips out the back door. Unhappiness refuses to share a heart with gratitude. One heartfelt thank you will suck the oxygen out of its world. So say it often. Who is to say God won’t give the same to you? Why don’t you call out to him? Ask God, “Lord, what is separating me from joy?” Ask him to replace your contingent joy with courageous joy. Ask him to help you anchor to the firm rock on his shoreline. Ask him to show you the joy that cannot be taken. He will. He will stir a revival of contagious joy in your heart. Used by permission ©Max Lucado • Credit for life experience • Study at your own pace FOR A FREE CATALOG, CONTACT US AT www.lbcs.org • [email protected] 352-621-4991 or write to us 5480 S. 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