Mrs Charlotte Cooper
Pastor's Wife
Calvary Baptist Church
Branson, MO
How The Grinch ...........my Joy?
.....wait...that's not right is it?!?!
No usually we blame the grinch for stealing Christmas and satan for stealing our Joy. But truly most of the time we give our Joy up willingly, when we decide to do things our way. I must not let anyone steal my Joy while serving the master.
So, I decided to write about Joy because it's so, SO important and God has laid this on my heart...
Joy is not just a word you see on a Christmas ornament at Christmas time, nor people with empty hearts and plastered on smiles because "I'm the. Pastor's wife" at church or because it's part of the "Christmas spirit" to air an act of happiness...........that's what the world has and it's fake as fake snow! True Joy is one of the fruits of the spirit and is not dependent on circumstances. I had to make a choice this week and it wasn't so easy.
I'm going to be real here and share my raw imperfect heart;
How slippery the slope of letting things get between you and the Lord is and how quick your Joy is cut off when that happens!
First off this was not my week, everything went wrong; hard decisions came up, manual labor, long days, and there were some things that were said behind my back that hurt me deeply when they got back to me (now granted it was meant as positive as possible...I think....but that doesn't really matter anyways.). I just had one of those moments where I wanted to give up and I was highly considering it. I literally made excuses to myself and husband why I could not go to church. I didn't want to talk to people and I especially was NOT HAPPY! I had let myself and circumstance that week steal my Joy. I wouldn't even go to God's word even though I knew it had the answers for healing my heart and restoring my Joy.
Honestly I felt mad at God, that somehow all of this was His fault, I was serving Him after all, right?
On top of that I'm about 7 weeks pregnant with raging hormones... To say that I was a hot mess with mascara stains a mile long would be an understatement.😂
BUT GOD, in his GOOD MERCY, kept drawing me to Him even when I didn't want to talk to him, I had let sin creep in and I just wanted to be done and blankly stair at the tv and veg.
I was weak, tired, and numb.
I was trying once again to carry these burdens myself and it had stolen my joy and hurt that Fellowship with my heavenly Father.
Sometimes as Pastor's wives we can stop serving just because we want to and have a burden for that capacity, to an attitude of serving because we have to, because jobs need filled and there's no one else to do it.
Oh the bitterness that can spring up against serving in ministry and the people in the church, not so good!
Can I please encourage each one of you to guard your heart and mind from this attitude?
I have seen and experienced how this thinking will eventually drain and sap the joy and energy right out of your hearts.
When Joy is gone, all we are left with is bitterness and brokenness.
If you are at this point like I was, please come to Jesus. Sometimes it's hard but get back into His Word, come, and talk to Him!
So, why am I saying all this?
As a reminder we need to check our hearts daily. Pushing problems down till eventually a blowout happens will not help anything, the best thing to do is just take care of it. Restore the Joy of Salvation and serving Him by Remembering why us ladies do what we do!
Maybe a problem like this hasn't come up in your life yet.
There's a few ways to guard against these problems and protect your joy;
1.Don't let tiny roots of bitterness grow up in your heart and steal your Joy in life and in ministry.
2.Daily commune with him with that sweet, sweet fellowship!
3.Take everything that comes your way with Joy in the knowledge of God's love and Grace he gives so freely to handle any Heartache, betrayal, discontentment, etc..
We need to keep our heart right not just because our husband is a pastor, but to have a personal walk with the Lord regardless of the position your husband holds. We serve Jesus because of who he is and because he has so wondrously saved us! The Lord has to be real in our life or else it cannot stand the test of time! Going through the motions in our own strength will get us nowhere!
Our kids are watching us, How we serve the Lord is so important! We can't put up a mask on Sunday and then be different the rest of the week. Kids can see through hypocrites a mile a way. If you can't trust and follow God with Joy, what makes you think it will be real in your kid's life? If we truly believe God is real, it must shine through our lives. I have seen where a lack of Joy will lead to discontentment in where God has you and, if you let it, a lack of joy will eventually destroy you....satan wants that so that you can't be a good witness and be a tool God can use.
Joy in the Lord and serving Him is one of the best witnesses for Jesus, at home and abroad.
We have something the world does not have, can they see it in your life?
We have so much to rejoice in and to praise the Lord for, Salvation just for starters!! We cannot base our Joy on circumstances, material things, or on how we feel, but it is in Jesus that our joy and strength needs to be kept!
Without the Lord in every hour of everyday in your life, this life is rather pointless.
Nehemiah 8:10b
"For the joy of the Lord is your strength"
Proverbs 17:22
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
He is Joy in the midst of whatever you are in!
Choose Joy Today!
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