count it all joy

Never fails I can always find something to do instead of what I should be doing. Often that thing I should be doing is homework, and what I tend to do instead is clean my typically messy room and/or wash my clothes, which are otherwise strewn about my room near or around the laundry basket they are supposed to be in. That being said, my room is clean and laundry started (a good thing as I was running out of clean things..), and only 5 of about 27 lines of Shakespeare somewhat memorized.


But did you know...
you don't always have to be happy.
it's ok to be sad, it's ok to cry, it's ok to get frustrated.
it's ok to not smile all the time. it really is ok.

it's ok if you continue to find strength in the Lord.
it's ok if you continue to be joyful, because of the incredible hope that you have.
it's ok because you have a Savior who died, actually DIED so that you could live.


Sometimes I forget that it's ok not to be alright all the time, that real people have problems. To borrow from this morning's sermon, God didn't create us to live in a whitewashed, stain-free world. He uses real people, with real problems to do real things and touch real lives. As long as you continue to be filled with the joy that outshines any sorrow and seek a God who is bigger than your problems, he will continue to work in you and use you to share his love.


"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." James 1:2-3