Don't let your joy fade....

Joy. What is joy? Many people confuse joy with happiness, but the two are absolutely different. Even the online dictionary of joy and happiness are considered one in the same. To get the definition that I am talking about, I went to http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/dictionaries/. When I looked up happiness, it was associated with the enjoyment of worldly pleasures, and joy is the exact opposite: the joy of the righteous is with God.

We cannot allow our circumstances to affect our joy. "Because joy is withered away from men." The joy of the Lord is what feeds us, it nourishes our souls. If any plant is not watered, it withers. The joy is our water, and our tree will wither before we produce any fruit if we allow ourselves to be affected by our circumstances. As a friend of mine said, "We can be joyful, without being happy."

Apple

You are the apple of God's eye. God has not only made you, exactly how you are, but he has also chosen you to follow him. Deuteronomy 32:10 says, He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. To me, this verse stands out. While we were in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness, God chose US. He led us about, he instructed us. Even when we wandered away from the one true, loving God, he kept us as the apple of his eye. 

To finish this post, I found one of my favorite artists (Britt Nichole), and used the music video for "Gold". Britt specifically used the saying and verse to write this song. I can only give you the hope that the lyrics stay with you today. Because you are truly, "worth more than gold".

Today, young teenagers are pressured to be who their peers want us to be. God wants us to be his. Simply held in his open arms.

~ Karlee Rae