Reclaiming My Joy

Today, I pray for joy!

Joy for you, joy for me!

Today we take back stolen ground!

This is a call out to all my friends to pray for me. I have been letting my everyday joy get stolen away and I have been allowing frustration and dissatisfaction to rule my life. They have become part of my language to the point that I don't realize I have unleashed them on my friends.

I felt this when I was talking with Swanger at Famous Dave's. We were talking about our churches and how it's been hard to make relationships and nothing has been easy. He said, "It sounds like I'm not satisfied." I think I have been. I have been pushing myself to rotate my perspective. Now I look at things a little differently. I love my church. I just need to keep building relationships.

One thing I've learned recently is that you have to maintain relationships. You can't expect them to stay strong when they lie stagnant. Mike Bickle says, "You must take new ground or you will lose the ground you already have taken." This is becoming more true the more I chew on it. I know that I need to contribute and not withdraw from everything that makes me unhappy. I need to engage and work on loving and being loved. We have to keep pushing forward if we ever want to increasingly become like Jesus. It is so easy to throw in the chips and walk away. I've done this many times.

Pray that my joy will increase. Pray that I will catch myself when I give power to negativity. Call me out when you hear me spewing venom my mouth.

I apologize for that.