Showing Our True Colors

As you know, I'm reading Choose Joy by Kay Warren. I am taking it slow, reading some, and really trying to apply it and process it. The neatest thing is that everything that I read hits very close to home. Y'all it is so good, exactly what I need right now. These notes are for me to remember:

Here is a definition of joy to remind myself of the powerful truths when I'm feeling shaky. Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.

I love this...but to me it is the hardest part of the defintion to apply. "Believing that ultimately everything is going to be all right takes into account car accidents, cancer, bankruptcy, miscarriage, depression, and every other grief we face. Choosing to believe that God is always working, knitting together the fragments of our lives, always in control of it all, means that life will work together for our good and his glory...God doesn't promise answers or explanations on demand. He promises Joy."

"James says that in tough times our "faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors." "No matter what you say you believe, or what others think you believe, there's no hiding or pretending when the bottom falls out. The faith life I claim is revealed in those moments-not to God, because he already knows the true state of my heart, but to me. My true colors can no longer be hidden beneath the Sunday smiles or polite exchanges with a neighbor at the mailbox. What matters most in those times is what I do."

"When the sky falls in and we are thrown into chaos, our faith-life is suddently on display for everyone-neighbors, friends, unbelieving family, and co-workers-to see. And the Bible says that our faith life should provide a stark contrast to the life of unbelievers...you can't help but notice the difference."

This is very thought provoking. "If being a Christian makes no difference in the way we repsond to problems, what good is our faith?" What have I gained by going to church every weeekend, attending Bible studies, memorizing Scripture if, when trouble comes, I'm just like everyone else? When trials expose my faith life, will others see me embracing both the joy and the pain of my life???????

"The only way to grow spiritually is to go through the fire of testing, trials, and troubles. An untested faith is an unreliable faith. We hate the refining process that makes us like Jesus Christ in our character because it involves pain and sorrow and stress and upheaval."

"God is keenly aware of the brutal pain that has ripped you into pieces; his heart aches with yours as you struggle to accept the process that makes you mature. He knows what know one else will ever know." This is the truth.

Yahweh your God is there with you, the warrior-Saviour. He will rejoice over you with happy song, he will renew you by his love, he will dance with shouts of joy for you. Zeph. 3:17 (NJB)