Since creating this chalkboard a few weeks ago, it’s become something I look forward to seeing everyday.

 

In a small way, it encourages me, keeps me focused on God and His plan for my life  and has upgraded my way of thinking. Last week asked God to let my life be the proof of His love. You know it’s amazing how God will give you the desires of your heart when you just ask.

This week I’m not focusing on asking God for anything in particular, I’m asking Him to help me keep something. Something very simple and something we all have let someone steal from us at one time or another:

 

Merriam-Webster defines joy as, “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires…the expression or exhibition of such emotion…a state of happiness.”

To me, joy is so much more than that.

I don’t see joy as merely an emotion. Emotions can fade. Joy to me is a lifestyle. It is a constant and consistent state of being filled with so much appreciation with the blessings God has bestowed upon you that you literally can’t keep it to yourself.

There are a lot of things that give me joy. Seeing a woman see the portraits I’ve taken of her and for the first time, she sees the beauty God has placed inside of her? That brings me SO. MUCH. JOY. So much it moves me to tears.

My joy is something I’ve worked really hard to get. There have been moments in my life where I’ve allowed people to weigh me down with their drama, hurt and pain. I can be the happiest person when I wake up in the morning, but one interaction with the wrong person and all my joy would have been out of the window.

Not anymore.

My goal this week is to continue to keep my joy. When trouble come your way, when your faith is tested, when someone tries to drag you down with their negativity, whatever you do: DO NOT LET THEM STEAL YOUR JOY. 

You’ve worked so hard to get it…why let anyone not worthy of sharing in your joy take yours away from you?

 

In all you do this week, with everyone you encounter….BE JOYFUL.

 

Cheers to having a great week…filled with joy 🙂

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo,