surprised by joy

One of the things I enjoy about our teaching leader at "bible study fellowship" is that she has these "one liners" that make you think for the next week! Two weeks ago she used the phrase "surprised by joy" and talked about just that.....that we as Christians should live a life where God is able to surprise us w/ joy. She talked about different miracles that Jesus preformed and how they effected those different people differently, but yet in the end they were all "surprised by joy" As I left that morning, I wondered one thing, how many times have I been "surprised by joy" and yet chose to not look at it that way at all?....how many times has the way I perceived things dampened my joy? How often does Christ hand us joy and we choose anger, sour, pity, the marter syndrome , or one of those other options? Lately we have heard alot about the lack of rain, but have we stopped to think about all the water we do have? We don't live in a place where we have to walk to a "watering hole" for water. No we have clean water in our house that is still at our disposal....yet we complain that we are having restrictions placed on us at all....like our cars really need to be watered(not to even mention, thankful that we have a car)....where is our joy for what God has given us? Now this is just one of many examples I can think of....don't even get me started on Christmas! lol

Emma and I have been talking about all the children that don't get to have Christmas presents. I want her to understand that isn't not about the presents and that not every child get presents at all! I want her to understand that she is blessed, that God has given her her own blessings and she should be thankful for that....at this time in her life, something she can understand to be thankful for is Christmas and presents. We have talked about how we would feel if we didn't get anything for Christmas...to which she would be "very sad" and how we should be thankful for everything that God gives us, yes, even Christmas presents. That no she isn't more important to God than the children that don't get presents, but that she should remember to be thankful for the presents she gets and that she needs to be content w/ the things she was given and not always "want" more. Now I know you are thinking...why are you putting so much information on such a little girl? I believe that she is totally able to understand these ideas and I want her to learn it as early as possible...yet as I think about the concept as a whole I realize that not many adults have learned it, including myself. That we tend to be a very self-serving, self-indulging people, we don't think much about what we do have, but more on what we don't have. As I wondered about my lack of joy I realized it's because I can't receive it, how can someone receive joy when they can't be content w/ what they have? If we can't stop wanting more then when do we even give God a chances to "surprise us w/ joy" If we can't "wait" for anything, then God never gets a chance at all....and joy is hopeless to find!
So my next thought was...."what is stopping my joy....my surprises?" What is in my life that prevents me from receiving joy? and how do I change it? I don't have a right to "want more" if God never gave me another thing from this day forward, He is still worthy of all my praise and glory and devotion....so why do I put expectations on Him? Now understand I totally believe in A. S. K....ask, seek, knock....but there is a difference in A.S.K. and expecting...don't you think? The bible tells me to A.S.K., but it never promises the answer will be the one I WANT it to be, it says delight yourself in the Lord...but delights original meaning is to "desire" as in desire to do what's right in God's eyes....if you do that then He will grant you to desires of your heart.(and a little side note....he tells you to delight first...THEN..He will give you the desires..He wants you to act 1st)...but if you are desiring to do what's right in God's eyes then your desires and His desires will be the same....does that make sense? So my bottom line is....if I have a desire in my life that doesn't add up to God's desires for a Christian, then maybe I need to step back and make sure I am "delighting" in Him....and question why my desire doesn't add up to His...then remember that He owes me NOTHING, on the other hand I owe Him EVERYTHING. I MUST be content....and if I am He will be able to surprise me with JOY....how wonderful that could make my holidays!....my prayer is that everyone will be able to be surprised by some joy this Christmas....what a great gift we would all be receiving.

So I guess the last thing to cover would be....what exactly are God's desires for a Christian? Even as I type this I am excited to go back over my notes on this thought...we have already studied it....but I want my facts to be straight and it's getting late!....so that will be for the next blog! lol What do you think are God's desires for a believer?
good night :)