Day One Hundred and Sixty-Four

Verses: "'I have told you these things so that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy may be made full and complete and overflowing.'"

John 15:11

How to have joy.

Honestly I never thought I would ever have joy after I got diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Getting diagnosed with fibromyalgia and living with it for four years, changed my life, but in some ways: for the better. Recently I have been feeling so much joy and happiness. I know that my joy and happiness is from the Lord. Because I prayed to God for Him to either: heal me of my pain or give me the strength and joy to endure it. God blessed me with joy when I thought I would never be happy again. But now I feel joy even though my circumstances have not changed, God changed my heart and He can and will change your heart to.

How do you have joy despite your circumstances?

1. Seek God daily by reading the Bible, praying to Him, listening to Him, and worshiping Him.

I know I say this all the time but without God, we can do nothing but with God, we can do anything! (Matthew 19:26) It's easy to get busy and forget to spend time with God. But if you put in the work by seeking God daily, it will change your life. It changed mine, everyday I wake up, get my coffee, read my Bible on my Bible app on my phone, and pray to God. You don't have to spend hours seeking God, just set aside ten or twenty minutes before you start your day. One of my best friends told me to seek God every morning and every morning I do, I feel like a whole new person. Because the more we draw near to God, the more He draws near to us (Psalm 125:1-2). So if you put in the work by spending time with God daily, I promise, you won't be disappointed.

2. Pray to God for joy, ask God to renew your mind, and then change your mindset.

First you of course have to seek God and when you pray to God, ask for joy. Then you need to pray to God to ask the Holy Spirit to come into your mind and renew it. Renewing your mind is something only God can do so you have to ask God to renew it. But once you ask God to renew your mind, He will (Deuteronomy 7:9). Now here comes the hard part, changing your mindset. You have to start fixing your eyes on God and think about what you are thinking about. Let me explain, everytime a thought comes into your head, you have to ask yourself: "Is this a thought that is from God or from the Devil?" Some thoughts from the Devil might be: "I am not good enough. I am not worth loving. I am always alone." So when you have those thoughts, you have to choose to think about something from God like: "God says I am loved (John 3:16). I am a child of God (Psalm 136:1)." It takes work and practice but I promise you that positive mindset on God, will change your life. Because if you only focus on the negative things about your life, how do you ever think you will find joy when all you are doing is looking for darkness? Like my Dad always says: "You find what you are looking for." So if you fix your thought on God and positivity, you will find that and the same goes if you focus on negativity.

Once I changed my mindset, it changed my life. You can do it as well! There is always hope (Jeremiah 29:11). This won't happen overnight but I promise you if you put in the work by praying and seeking God, God will bless you with joy despite your circumstances (Psalm 118:6).

3. Surrender your life to God.

How to do this is to say: "God, I am surrendering my life to you. I put my faith, hope, and joy in you. I pray that you bless with everything I need. But God, I give my life to you." You surrender yourself to God by giving God EVERYTHING: your doubts, fears, anxiety, problems, your health, your job, and give God your heart. God will be there to help you (Psalm 121:1-2) and He will bless you with whatever you need (Isaiah 49:13).

Prayer:

Dear God,

I pray as I seek you daily, fix my thoughts on you, focus on the positive things in my life, and surrender my life to you that you renew my mind and bless me with joy. I want your joy Lord, not joy that comes from circumstances. I ask that you bless me with joy so that no matter what I am going through that I always have hope and joy from you. I know in your word it says that as I seek you that you will draw near to me. I pray that as I seek you that you help me build a close relationship with you. I praise you for your goodness, love, forgiveness, and mercy. I thank and praise you for you are so good to me. I know that you hear prayers and that you will help me. I thank you for hearing me and I thank you for helping me.

I thank you for all my many blessings and for Your Son.

In Jesus's name, I pray, Amen!

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Hey beautiful I hope you are doing well. I hope you are staying safe. Thank you so much for reading! Remember I have a new podcast episode out so go check that out!❤️💜💜

I love you so much and I hope you have a blessed day❤️💜💗

-xoxo Caty❤️💜💗