Loving your life

I once felt that being or feeling happy was the most important thing in life. The truth is there is a difference between "Happiness" and true "Joy".

I currently attend a mom's group and last session they brought in a wonderful woman who spoke about joy, this is how she kind of described the difference between the two. She said being happy is momentarily, it is a state of mind or due to the circumstances in that precise moment vs being joyful is something that comes from the inside from within, is an amazing emotion no matter the circumstances.

I researched some of the meanings and one said happy means: having a sense of confidence in or satisfaction with (a person, arrangement, or situation ).
 Another one said: fortunate or convenient .

So this is just my opinion, notice how she said joy is an emotion? Okay emotions come from the soul, vs feeling content or happy not so much in my opinion , for example; I might be very happy because I was able to buy me the dress I had been wanting for so long, or because my husband is being super nice all the time and helps me with the house chores. Now, what happens after a week of buying a dress or maybe months? What happens when my husband is to tired from work and tells me he will no longer help me with my chores? Am I still going to feel happy? I don't think so. See the happiness that came from buying that dress went away the moment I realized is no longer new and now is just another dress in my closet.  I am no longer happy about my husband helping in fact I am upset at the fact that I must figure out a way to do everything on my own.

Maybe these are not the greatest examples but my point is that the happiness I once felt due to these two different situations is now gone along with them too.  When you feel joy in your heart, no matter what the situation is, the joy remains. You might question this and think how is this possible?.

Well it is! See we have to find the strength within us, and not allow the lies from the enemy to control our thoughts, we should not give into his lies because he can lead us out as slaves, slaves of fear, anxiety, anger, rage, depression, worry and many more things that are not of God.

I speak for my own experience,  I once became a slave of fear to the point where I would not leave my home always with the fear something terrible would happen to me. I grew weary of trying not to think, I would sleep all day, just so the days could pass by quickly,  I wanted it to end,  no matter how if you know what I mean. I thought about ending it myself so many times, but I had an amazing reason  to keep trying, and that was my husband and my 6 month old baby.

It all started the moment I graduated from college and I stopped my super well paying job. See!! Once the two things that I was doing at the moment made me so happy were gone, so was my happiness. I had learned to be happy due to the circumstances in my life which at that point were really good for me, "convenient" and they meant a lot. Then I found myself wondering now what? What's next? I had been married for two years to a wonderful man but I wasn't able to find happiness in that. It all seemed pointless to me. The truth is God had other plans for me and my trial to become the woman he intended for me to be had just started, and I wasn't even aware. James 1:2-3.

Never did I pray about my situation to change or feel better, I did believe in God but I saw him more as a source of asking for something every time I found myself in a bad situation. I feel like I saw him as that rich uncle who can get you out of trouble. Never did I thanked him for all the blessings he was given me. I grew up catholic and my grandma sure did  not see God that way. She loved him believed in him, praised him, and this lady was a woman full of joy. So where did she find this joy? Was it luck? Had she chosen it, and made it her own? I believe the second one.

The joy that comes from the father in heaven NO ONE or NOTHING CAN TAKE IT AWAY!!

Once I found myself in a whole,  I realized that all I had accomplished had made me so happy for a season,  but when that season was gone I had no joy to look forward to the future.

The point is that we can go through different seasons in our lives,  we can cry and then laugh, make good choices or lots of mistakes,  win or loose,  we can get up or remain  on the ground lost, feel joy or sadness.

But guess what, we can choose joy, we can always get up, we can always count in that strength that is within us.

God is able to change any situation,  and even if you are not a believer you have that strength within you, you need to choose to be strong,  choose  not to be a victim but a victor, focus on the good, there is always a good in every one's  life.

There is a book I read a couple of years ago it is called "Love Your Life" by Victoria Osteen, https://www.amazon.com/Love-Your-Life-Living-Healthy/dp/0743296982. I highly recommend it if you are going through a bad season  in your life this book will encourage you.

I am not the best at writing having said that Spanish is my first language but this blog is something God placed in my heart a long time ago. And I decided to begin with the LOVE subject so I could share a little bit more about myself, I have been through many great seasons in my life as well as bad ones and really bad ones but God in his mercy brought me out of all of them stronger and I have learned so much from each and every one of those bad seasons and I am glad I went through everything I did, it all made me a better person.

Please feel free to make any suggestions about this post and blog it would be greatly appreciated and leave your comments as well.

Thank you!

And don't forget to choose JOY.