Finding Joy

I don't know where you are at right now. I bet at least some of you that are reading this if not most of you have been hurt very deeply at some point in your life. And maybe right now you aren't the most happiest of people. Maybe your pretty okay. Maybe most days for you are blah. Its not like your sad, depressed or angry but you are just lacking joy. Now before I continue I am in no meaning to say I have arrived. I am not trying to tell you I am in anyway better then you. All I want to do is to discuss the joy I have started to find on a more daily basis.

As most of you have heard I have been very depressed at certain points in my life. The peak of which is in high school during my freshmen and sophomore year. By this time I had endured some hardships. Again I am not trying to have a look at me and how great I am only sharing my life hoping you can find some of it useful. By the time I had reached my freshmen year in high school I had dealt with 3 grandparents dying, two dogs (I love my dogs) dying, parents divorce, another guy moving in (don't worry he is a great guy), my mom having breast cancer, and the list goes on. I hit rock bottom I was ready to lay it down and give up. But God whispered in my ear daily "I love you and have a plan for your life". So I refused to end it but I was far from happy. I had low self-esteem I was overweight and underliked. I smelled bad and few wanted to be my friend.

The next year my brother went off to college right when were were finally getting along. Life just wasn't going well. My mom went on to sell the only house we lived in and get married. I am very happy for her now but then I wasn't. That next summer I took the next stage in finding joy I really began to hold onto the truth that God loves me. It was in him I need to find my self-esteem. I am as you are created in the image of God. I worked at a camp where I served in the kitchen and the work crew boss helped me to understand how much God really loves us. Going into my senior year in high school I was no longer struggling with suicide and I understood I was loved but still I was far from being joyful.

The next year was a life changing experience I went off to college and for the first time I found my identify in Christ. Understanding that I can't define who I am in what I do but as a man who as been redeemed by a loving God

To finish it off a couple years later, which was this last summer. I went to Chicago and was forced to spend a lot of time by myself and spent finding my fulfillment in Jesus. I have always struggled with finding my joy in people. I in a very real way I worshiped people by putting them before God. It took a summer of being mostly alone to realize how to find satisfaction in him.

Now with all these in place I am living my life finding Joy in Christ and being a his Son.

Steps I took to find Joy
1. I urge you to understand that God loves you with a deep and passionate love beyond measure. Look up love in a concordance of a bible and see what it says about God. Especially look in 1 John and John.

2. Find your identity in Christ. Realize we can't do this life on our own. If we look at ourselves through the eyes of our failures of course we will see a wretched person indeed. But once you have accepted Jesus, he now stands in your place. He has covered your sins with his blood. Your a person who shines with Jesus' light. Realize he has not called you to a life of self-pity but redeemed living.

3. Find those things in your life that you put before Christ. Those little idols of people, sports, food, cars, girls, boys, movies, music, toys, etc. Whatever you think will satisfy you and realize it will disappoint you and leave you empty. So cast them away and strive to find your fulfillment in him and him alone.

This was at least how I am finding joy. It is a struggle but I am happy to say I am more joyful then I have ever been, or at least in recent memory. I pray that you find joy in Christ. Realize that he loves you and is calling you to something greater. He loves you with a deep and passionate love. Keep striving, keep living and allow him to guide you.

With love,
Dan