A Journey Of Rekindling Joy // Featured Writer Rosann Cunningham
I am thrilled to welcome my dear friend, Rosann, to this space today. I’ve known Rosann for nearly five years through blogging. I came across her blog, formerly Unemployed Faith, at a time when I was walking with my husband through a very long season of unemployment. She was such an encouragement to my heart in that season. We have remained great blogging friends, and I’ve even had the privilege of meeting her in person. I just know you will love Rosann’s heart as she shares about JOY today.
I’m not sure how it happened, only that it did. Life, responsibility, hardship, health problems and loss had all grown fear and discouragement in my heart. This overwhelming feeling of utter despair sucked every ounce of joy I had ever known away from me.
2014 was the year I realized I was smiling less frequently even though I still had so much to smile about. It was the year my health took a turn down a hard path. It was the year I had finally grown sick and tired of being a people-pleaser and decided to put myself first. It was a hard year of change and personal growth. At one point I pondered whether or not I was having a mid-life crisis. I knew I wasn’t the same happy-go-lucky gal I had always been.
Towards the end of that year God placed the word JOY on my heart. It was like this enormous revelation that came from His still, quiet voice. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized my joy was missing.
Slowly, whispers from the Holy Spirit spoke to me, reminding me of one very important truth. Even though my family and I had experienced so much heartache and so many trials during the prior 15 years, one thing had remained steady through it all – GOD! Not once had He ever left us. Not once had He ever failed us. Not once had He provided anything less than what was best for us in the moment and in the big picture of life.
How could I not experience JOY knowing that truth?
I had a choice to make. I could either continue to listen to the darkness and become more and more suffocated by it, or I could strap on the belt of truth (Eph 6:14) and let God’s Word and His promises set me free (John 8:32) to fully experience His goodness and His joy.
And so began a journey to rekindle my JOY.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
~ Romans 15:13
I’m almost 9 months into this journey and God continues to teach me something new each day.
The greatest lessons I’ve learned about rekindling joy are these:
1. JOY comes instantly.
Once I prayed for God to help me fight the darkness drawing me in, I was ready to actively put on the face of joy – even on those bad days. The results came almost immediately! Joy had been planted inside of me the day I accepted Christ as my Savior. I had just spent too much time focused on the wrong things.
2. JOY needs to be sought each day.
[tweetthis]If I’m not looking for beauty in my life on a daily basis, it will go unnoticed. @RosannCunningham via @BarbieSwihart[/tweetthis]
Sometimes the hard stuff is too big and distracting. So I started a daily joy journal. Every evening before bed I write in detail about just one thing that day I have to be joyful about – no duplicate entries allowed. This has not always been an easy task. On more than a few occasions I’ve had to look really deep for joy under the mess.
3. JOY is awesomely contagious!
Before I knew it, I felt happy again and had a sense of almost indescribable peace. I stopped taking life so seriously and allowed myself to joke around and giggle with my loved ones. I’m so much more positive, too. And the really cool thing has been seeing these behaviors mirrored back to me from my husband and my kids. I’ve rubbed off on them – both negatively last year and now in a beautiful way this year!
If you have a relationship with Christ, joy is His gift to you, as well. It doesn’t matter what season of life He has you in right now. You, too, can rekindle the joy in your heart.
Choose to change your focus.
Look for joy in the every day things of life.
Let joy overflow from your heart to those around you.
Rosann lives an active and full life as a wife, mom, writer and Independent Team Beachbody Coach. Her heart’s greatest passions are loving her family well, working out, writing, and pretty much anything dark chocolate peanut butter. She has a strong desire to glorify God with the gifts He’s given her, always sharing the heart of her journey through a life of faith. Rosann is the author of UnEmployed Faith: Clothing Yourself in Strength and Perseverance Through his Season of Unemployment, and Refuel Your Inner SuperMom: A Practical Guide to Getting Your Groove Back. You can find her sharing at RosannCunningham.com.
Loved reading your post today! Thank you for sharing your words on Barbie’s blog!
I could certainly relate to so much of what you mentioned going through: loss of job; medical issues (on top of loss of health benefits); so many changes…
And through it all, YES, He was there! I don’t know that (back then) I’d say I found JOY in any of it; but there WERE times when I did see the blessings – and, according to Ann Voskamp’s “One Thousand Gifts” – Grace + Thanksgiving = JOY! So through it all, we keep receiving His Grace, giving Him thanks for it all, and receive JOY unmeasurable!
Thank you for sharing!!
Barbara, thanks for sharing a little bit of your story. I’m glad you enjoyed my post! 🙂
Oh, how I wish I knew God during some of my most bitter days! If only I had known the truth you discovered: God is the Constant in our everyday struggle. He never changes. He is always present. I can only imagine the comfort I could’ve felt. Fortunately He is patient and forgiving. Now I can feel the joy because I have hope! Thank you for sharing your story!
Amen, Carrie! God never leaves our side. We just sometimes don’t know or think to look TO Him when all we can see or feel is our fear and the crisis in front of us. I’m so happy to hear you know God now and have found your joy. 🙂
I love this. Joy needs to be sought every day especially.
Thanks, Lux! Just knowing I’ve made a commitment to journal about it that evening helps keep me accountable to seek it throughout the day. I’m sure if I stopped journaling about this journey I would find that it has actually become habit to seek joy every day.
Great post, and some wonderful insights. More than anything, I am learning from my present circumstances (terminal illness, and pain beyond the reach of morphia) that:
1) Joy is a choice.
2) The capacity for Joy is increased by service.
I write a blog that has had a long-running – and possibly, now permanent theme of how a caregiver can best survive caring for a dying spouse. And my wife and I have a sanctuary for abandoned and abused dogs.
Most of the ‘quality time’ I have left (as in, able to move…I do not remember being pain-free) is thus dedicated to others, and that is what keeps me happy, and keeps me alive.
Andrew, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and a piece of your story. I will for sure check out your blog! And I will keep you and your family in my prayers. I love that you mention your joy being increased by service. That is one area I have not fully journaled about yet. While I do happily serve in a variety of ways, I don’t often stop to think about how I would feel if I wasn’t able to serve as a result of extenuating circumstances or physical limitations. So yes, I can most definitely see the blessing and joy that comes from being able to serve and love others and how that breathes life into my very being. I appreciate how your note really opened my eyes to that. 🙂