Joy Beyond Circumstances: Embracing God’s Plan

This episode uncovers how joy isn’t found in our circumstances, but rather unchanging if rooted in Him. I talk about how it’s very easy to compare your current situation from someone else’s, but what perspectives we need to keep in mind to keep from losing ourselves. Referring to Paul & Silas in the book of Acts and connecting it to how to find Joy today.

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Welcome back to Reflecting the Son. This is Charlee. I hope you are having a beautiful sunshine day like it is by me today. But if not, just remember that we have the joy of the Lord no matter what kind of day it is. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to talk about today, but I feel it’s heavy on my heart to talk about how to find joy when it seems like there is none to be found.

You know, it’s really easy to say that we’re joyful and happy when things are going really good in our life, but joy and happiness are actually not the same thing. So, for example, the sun is out today and it is just like the best day ever outside and so I’m like super happy cause, you know, the day is just super bright and warm and everything that my perfect day would technically look like. But the joy doesn’t come from the sun that we see outside. Just like my title of my podcast, Reflecting The Son. I’m talking about Jesus The Son. Well, being happy is absolutely wonderful. And I wish that we were happy all the time. That’s just simply not reality. And the Lord isn’t asking us to be happy 24/7. But He is asking us to trust him and be joyful because He is our savior. And at the end of the day, all this worldly stuff doesn’t matter because we have Him.

Now, let’s say that I was in a jail cell underneath the ground in some dungeon, but somehow I still had good spirits. Now, how do you think that could even be possible? Well, the joy of the Lord would be a very good answer. Just simply knowing that whatever happens, you know, it might not be in the Lord’s plan or His will, I guess I should say, that you’re in a certain situation that you’re in because there’s many reasons why you could be going through something.

Maybe he is rebuking you like a father. I don’t say rebuking you like sending you to hell. I just mean like a stern understanding like a human father. Like a stern talking to or like I guess you could say punishment um depending on what you did, but in a loving heart posture. I guess don’t ask me specifics about that. I don’t have an answer for specific situations on when he would rebuke you. But there could also be another reason you could be going through something is even if he didn’t cause what you’re going through, He could be allowing you to go through it because we can learn something through almost everything that we go through.

So even if it’s really hard, just know that you’re probably going to learn a valuable lesson out of whatever it is that you’re going through. Whether it’s treating people with, you know, a better attitude or, you know, just having a different view on whatever it is, I promise you, He has a detour for everything, and you’re going to end up better than you were before. Even if that doesn’t show physically, it will show spiritually.

I think that free will could also be another reason that maybe something isn’t going in the path that The Lord wanted for you. That could mean free will about something that you did or maybe free will about something that somebody else did or maybe they didn’t do and you could be feeling the consequences of what somebody else did because you know this world is full of evil. Um, but that’s why we need to have the Lord because no matter what happy we have him to look forward to and to hold on to when things are hard because The Lord does not promise that our life will be easy. And that’s why you see some people struggling.

Um, but you know, if you think about it this way, He might be protecting you from something that would destroy you. You know, you look at people and it seems like these evil people get all the the good things in life. And when I say good, I don’t know if I necessarily mean good, but I do mean like they have nice houses, they have um lots of money, lots of things. But they are missing something very important.

You cannot compare what he Lord gave you with what the devil is possibly keeping them in. You know, you got to try to look and find happiness and joy in what the Lord gave you. Because like I was trying to get to before about just trying to find the happiness and joy in the situation that you’re currently in. Um, back to the part where I said He might be protecting you from something. Well, let’s say that you ran into, let’s just make it easy, a bunch of money and or a lot of success. And if you didn’t have yourself rooted in the Lord, it could very well end up destroying you. Money is powerful, yes, and it corrupts many people. But you know, Jesus is stronger and if you just place your hope and trust in him instead of worrying about all these financial things and actually realizing that they do not matter at the end of the day.

Like for example, I love going antiquing and finding vintage and thrifted items, especially the vintage things. These were once people’s things that are now just dead people’s stuff. Is that too blunt? Like, you know, you’re here one second and now you’re not. And there’s only one thing that you can take with you and that’s your relationship with Jesus. All this other stuff is just going to be somebody else’s stuff. Okay, let’s take this for example. Let’s say that you do have a really nice house and a nice property and you just feel very blessed. Well, you know that the Lord gave you all of these things and he can very well take them away from you, too. as much as he blessed you with, you have to also be willing to surrender what he gave you because it’s technically not yours in the first place. And when you don’t have that mindset and you let it get to your head that this is your thing and nobody can take it from you sort of thing. I think that’s kind of a dangerous way of thinking because when you realize that it is not yours to covet, you almost need to have a view that you know the Lord owns this but I’m here to take care of it sort of thing.

And so once you do start to have that mentality, it kind of goes downhill from there because now you think that you’re in control of everything that you have and like you are the reason that you own all these things when the Lord could take it away in a snap of a finger if he really wanted to. He is allowing you to live like this. And that’s why we need to continue to glorify him and understand that I think when people run into these mindsets or, you know, run into a lot of money or a really nice thing, they forget to continue to praise the Lord. I’m sorry. I was having trouble finding the words for all of this. And I felt like I was kind of beating around the bush, but that’s essentially what I was getting at is, you know, you forget about praising the Lord when you’re in a good spot.

And, you know, when you’re in a bad spot, it’s like, you know, that’s all you can think about is praying to him and wishing that he’ll help you get through whatever it is. And maybe what we should start doing is, you know, asking the Lord to keep us humble and, you know, he gave us what we have. So maybe we’re supposed to be blessing others, too. Meaning willing to surrender what He gave you to be able to further his kingdom. And maybe he gave you a really nice property. And when you pray for him to use it for his kingdom, maybe he’ll put it on your heart to, you know, build something or use it for Him.

I think a word that is coming up right now is pride. And I think that a lot of people don’t want to hear it. Um, but the more money you have, the more things you have, I think that you are just simply more susceptible to having pride. It is so important to have that daily reflection time, especially just even for staying humble and not being prideful. You know, that’s literally why Satan fell is his pride because, you know, take myself for example. I love like gold jewelry. No. And before you say, “Oh, you need to get rid of it. It’s an idol. Let me explain. We’re allowed to have things. It’s not like me just having something is a sin, I don’t think. Um I think the Lord wants us to be happy, but he doesn’t want us to put things before him. So, I mean, I do love my gold jewelry, but it’s not my identity.

And I think the problem comes is when, let’s say, I put my jewelry on and I get all dressed up and I walk around thinking I am better than the next person that I pass on the street because of what I’m wearing or maybe you got a nice house and you know there’s somebody walking past your house or something and maybe you see them and they say, “Wow, you have such a nice house.” And instead of being so boastful about, yeah, like I worked so hard for this blah blah , maybe you could just take a moment to praise the Lord and say, you know, we are like so blessed that the Lord has put us in this situation that we could even be here. I think taking taking the focus off of yourself and putting it back on the Lord.

Yes, you may have earned the money to buy the house, but you are actually not in control as much as you think you are. If the Lord didn’t want you to have the house that you’re in or whatever it is, you wouldn’t be able to have it. Do you understand that you have no power and he is literally the one who holds it all? and I’ll direct it back at myself because I don’t want to have to avoid talking about things about myself either because I don’t want to hide anything and you know I also just don’t want to hide anything because I want the Lord to continually work on my own heart too. This honestly you guys, this podcast isn’t even just for you. I feel like the Lord is talking through me also things that I should hear.

So maybe let’s say that somebody did draw attention to like my jewelry that I was wearing walking down the street. Maybe I could like and they said how beautiful it was and I could just simply say, “Yeah, it’s it’s really pretty, isn’t it?” Like that’s totally fine, I think. But I I think the problem is where you walk away and now you think that you’re some very important person because you know people like what you’re wearing. Like, no, you wear it because it’s pretty, but don’t find your identity in it.

Okay, we’re going to kind of get back to like where I was going in the first place. I just felt like I wanted to explain some more things, but um getting back to joy and finding joy in the hard times. So, I’m thinking about Paul and Silas. So, they came across this woman. Um they were spreading the gospel and there was this one woman that was listening to them that had a spirit of fortunetelling. And Paul and Silas were you know through Jesus name they were able to cast that spirit out of her. Well, this woman happened to be a slave of somebody. And when the owners of her realized that, her fortuneelling spirit was gone, they couldn’t make any more money off of what she was doing. And obviously that’s not, you know, of the Lord to be doing fortunetelling. What they did was a good thing, but they were punished for it because of the owner’s love for money.

So Paul and Silas did nothing wrong, but they were thrown into prison. Um, by the way, this is under Acts 16. Um, I’m around, let me see verse 22. And the people that threw them into the jail or prison, they stripped them of their clothes and they beat them severely and flogged them. So it says Paul and Silas were put in the inner cell, which I assume means no windows. So that’s obviously very depressing. They fastened their feet in the stocks. And I looked up what stocks are, and they are basically something, a torture device that they put around their ankles, um, so that they are immobilized and cannot move.

Okay. So, I don’t know what time they were put in this cell, but it says around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, all the prison doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose. I think that story should be like the headliner for why having joy in hard times is so important. You do not know what the Lord is going to do maybe the next time you even pray to him. Let’s say you’re going through something really bad right now. And I’m sorry if you are. Um we all have really rough times. And I’m not saying that to dismiss you, but I’m saying that I know that you’re going to get through it. Okay?

But keeping the Lord in mind and praising him still even in the hard times, you could bring somebody else to the Lord by doing that. People are going to look at you and they’re going to see your situation and they’re going to be like, “Wow, that girl has it bad.” But how can she still find joy? How is that even possible? And it just shows how amazing the Lord is because, you know, we’re supposed to use and do all things to glorify the Lord and find different ways to do that. And simply by you putting your trust in him, putting your faith in him, and understanding that, you know, he’s going to work everything out for good because the Lord, even bad things, he will find a way. as they say sometimes, he finds detours to things to make out everything for good.

And let’s say that you know you disobeyed the Lord and now you think that you’re never going to be on this path that he wants you to be on. Well, that’s not true. It might take a little bit longer to get, you know, more in line with his will for you and your life, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t still have a plan for you. He knew this is going to happen and he had a detour ready for you. So, even if you’re in a spot right now where you’re like really struggling and in just a terrible spot, but you know that you know you did some things that led up to where you’re at right now, just know that he has a plan. and he knew you were going to be here. And that’s why is because you need him. Your situation is going to show how powerful he is. That he can switch your situation around just like that. And you know, maybe the situation isn’t going to turn around in the blink of an eye, but maybe your attitude could.

Did you know that even the jailer, the person that put Paul and Silas in jail, he was able to be saved by all of those events that happened? If Paul and Silas didn’t continue to praise the Lord even in their terrible situation, that jailer, he might have missed out on witnessing what God can do in these type of situations. It says right here in Acts 16:33, “At that hour of the night, the jailer took them, washed their wounds, and immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before him. He was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God and he and his whole household.”

This is getting to be a lot longer than I expected it to be. But, you know, this also leads into forgiveness and not holding things against somebody because,you know, your prosecutor could be saved by whatever situation you’re in, even by the thing that they did to you and how the Lord is going to redeem the situation. Let’s just say maybe you had a friend and they did something to you that you couldn’t even imagine doing to them and you felt really betrayed and you know and maybe you’re mad at them. Maybe you’re just simply sad that they would do something like that to you. But maybe they’re going down a bad path and you know the Lord took you out of that spot so that you wouldn’t be corrupted too. But what you don’t know is what he’s going to do.

It’s very possible that the person that hurt you is going to come to the Lord because of you and what they did to you. Maybe what they did to you brought you to the lowest point in your entire life. So much so that the only place to turn for you was Jesus. and you came to know Him and be a light for him. And soon enough, you know, you found it in yourself to forgive them. And so much so that maybe that forgiveness that you have for them could be the thing that brings them to the Lord. Because they even know what they did to you was not just and it was not right. And they probably don’t blame you for not wanting to forgive them. So simply being able to forgive them could be like, “Oh, how did they do that? I was so terrible to them.” Just bring it right back to the Lord.

Just be like, you know, the Lord the Lord forgives us constantly for what we do. That does not mean that you should just go out and do bad things to people and be like, “Oh, I’m going to be saved. I’m forgiven.” No, that ain’t what that means. True repentance is key for forgiveness. All right. Um, so that means turning away from the bad things that you do and trying to be better and not do them again.

This podcast had a lot of things and it was kind of all over the place, but I kind of just want to end by this question for you. I would love for you to share in the comments how you were in a hard situation and how the Lord was able to turn that around. Just how Paul and Silas were praising the Lord in a bad place just by you even sharing what he’s done for you could help somebody.

So all right you guys, thanks for listening to my podcast. I pray that the Lord touches somebody’s heart. Whoever needs to hear this, even if it’s just one person that is listening to this and you know feels like they’ve been positively affected by something that I said. I would also love to know that I know sometimes we don’t always get to know when you know we touch somebody’s heart.

Just remember the things that I say to you that are encouraging um your feedback on that also encourages me as well. So, all right, thanks for reading!