Greetings, everyone!
I hope everyone is doing absolutely fantastic. Fall is here, which means that the next few months will be filled with lots of gatherings, family functions, vacations, and so much more. For some people, these next few months will be hard. Maybe you have lost someone who was close to you recently and this will be your first Thanksgiving/Christmas without them. Maybe this is your first fall/holiday season to be single in very long time. Maybe you are part of a broken family, and this time of the year is stressful for you.
And maybe in this season of your life, everything is going spectacular, and you are eagerly anticipating everything that is to come. Whatever your circumstance may be, I am a firm believer that you can have remarkable JOY.
I can honestly say that I live an extremely joyful life in real life and online. Everything is not perfect, and I have things that I have to work through, but I am growing through it as well. I am constantly stopping to thank God for all that He has done for me. He has been better to me than I ever thought was possible — through the tears, the happiness, the hurt, and the frustrations. I count it ALL joy.
Letting Go of the Past
Letting go of negative things that have happened in our past can be so incredibly hard, but it is SO necessary if you want to live a joyful life. We cannot change the past, so we have to accept what is and know the BEST days of our lives are ahead of us. A scripture that has really helped me let go of the past is, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the LORD. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope'” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Remember, God’s Word cannot lie. His plans for us are GOOD.
Gratitude
I know you have probably heard that living a life full of gratitude is the secret to being joyful. You have heard it many times because it has been tested and found to be TRUE!
We can go into this holiday season focusing on what we DON’T have, what could maybe go wrong, what we may be missing out on … OR we could enter this season with a heart full of gratitude. We can be thankful for the things we DO have, the amazing friends and family God has blessed us with, our health, our vehicle, our home, God’s grace and mercy, and so many other things.
When we think and focus on good things — things that we are grateful for — JOY is an automatic response. A scripture that helps me think on good things is: “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8).
Exercise
Exercising has an endless amount of benefits, and bringing people joy is one of them.
Scientifically speaking, exercise releases endorphins, which boosts pleasure, resulting in a feeling of well-being. The past few months I have been exercising regularly, and it honestly has CHANGED MY LIFE. I could talk about all the benefits/results I have seen, but I will stick to how it has increased the joy factor in my life. While exercising does release endorphins, it can also help in weight loss, toning up, and just overall bettering our bodies.
I don’t want to sound vain, but I think we can all agree that when we look good, we feel good! This coming holiday season we will take many pictures, dress up in the cutest fall/winter outfits, and maybe see friends and family who we haven’t seen in a while. If we are feeling confident about ourselves and feeling good on the inside as well as the outside, we naturally will be more joyful.
Exercising can help you feel better and look better. I take at a 30-minute walk at least 4-5 days a week. If you don’t have 30 minutes, try starting with 10 minutes. Anything helps as long as you are up and moving. I used to think I was too out of shape to exercise and that exercising was not for me because I felt like it was too hard. A scripture that really helped me is, “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
I have many more tips that I could and would LOVE to share, but this blog post has already been quite lengthy. If you enjoyed this and would like a part two, please let me know in the comments below or send me a message through Instgram (asiah.angelle).
If you’ve made it this far, I am praying that the next few months you experience God’s unspeakable JOY in a way you never knew was possible.
“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy” (Psalms 126:5).
“You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy” (John 16:24).
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things” (Galatians 5:22-23).
XOXO,
Asiah Angelle