Joy hasn’t always come easy to me.
Most of my life I have chosen to live in the victim circle rather than the proactive circle; which means I let life happen to me rather than taking charge of my life and choosing how I react and what happens to me.
Since being on the race I have learned what it truly means to have joy and speaking life. Month 1 I had a close friend of mine tell me that most of what I said was negative.
This hurt. It hurt to know that I was choosing to speak negativity rather than life and positivity. I was also embarrassed. I didn’t want to be seen as a negative person.
So I started thankfulness journalling. Which means everyday or so I would write out 10 things I was thankful for and it changed my mindset completely. I realized how blessed I am and how much there is to be joyful about.
So I wanted to share;
1. My teammates and how beautiful and wonderful the Lord has created them individually and what they bring to my life!
2. COFFEE!!!!! This is not a necessity but its something I enjoy that I’ve been able to drink and try all over the world
3. My family and all the support they have given me, especially over the past year with the race
4. The beautiful world we live in. Though it’s very broken, The Lord has given my squad and I a chance to travel and experience lots of different cultures.
5. How blessed I am with living in America. A lot of times I take this for granted and I just pray that I would live everyday to the fullest and realized how lucky I am.
6. The wind. This is something the Lord has been teaching me these past 4 months, that He speaks to me through the wind. And I always know the Holy Spirit is present when I feel the wind blowing.
7. Music. Music has always been a huge part of my life and worship through music is the way I best connect with God.
Also *very* exciting side-note: I was asked to be one of the worship coordinators for my squad!! Which means that I have the honor to help plan worship nights during squad time, like our months together, debriefs, LDW’s, and checking in on individual teams to help them mix things up for worship team-times!
8. Journalling. This has been a daily thing in my life that has helped me with prayer and my quiet time. My Grammy set a really great example for me and the benefits that journalling brings, and I’ve definitely seen the fruit with it.
9. SUNSHINE!!! The sun brings so much joy-to warmth, the color yellow, tans, and vitamin D. Also Team Dynami (my team) had the pleasure of getting 2 new members; Sarah McClure and Julia Barker!! So, our new team name is Sol, which is Sunshine in Spanish!!
10. Lastly, I am so thankful for the money that the Lord has provided for me to be here! Over $11,000 which is a HUGE deal!! I thank Him everyday, but also I thank Him everyday for Fully Funding me! I know the rest of the money I need with pour in, so why not thank Him in advance!
Thankfulness journalling has been huge for my attitude, but also with my intimacy with my Father! It has helped me appreciate everything He has blessed me with daily!
((if you want to be apart of helping me get fully funded by january 29th, I need a little over $3,200! which I know is completely possible and with your help and prayers I know God with provide! He has done it many times before and I have complete FAITH!!!))
thanks to all for reading and letting me share my joy journey!
