Thriving in my circumstances is a stretch when so many surprises pop up....negative surprises. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'm reading a book by Tim Hansel, The Hidden Adventure. He lives in constant pain after an accident.
"Every single day since my accident, I am forced to consider how I might choose joy as a daily attitude. It's a constant choice. Some days the pain is so overwhelming that joyous is not what I want to be. Sometimes it's a demonic battle for me to choose joy for the next minute, much less the next day. And as I've said, choosing joy doesn't alleviate the pain, the ambiguity and the doubt. it just gives a way to live with it."
"I have lived with this truth for decades: Joy is a choice. I don't have to wrestle with physical pain often, but other pains and disappointments knock on my door often."
Hansel recalls a conversation with Dr. James Dobson,
"Tim, why, after all this, why do you choose joy?"
"Because I have to," answered Tim, "Sometimes I think I'd literally go to pieces if I didn't. I know that if didn't choose joy my life would atrophy. The confidence that God is in control keeps me choosing it."
I agree with Tim. Knowing that God is with us and in control of all, we can choose joy. This week I've misplaced some important papers and several things are not going "my way." I am deciding to choose joy. I encourage you to choose joy...no matter what. If God does this for Tim, He'll do it for us.
"The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).
