Good morning! Before I begin, did you notice the explanation mark at the end of ‘good morning’? At first I put a period, but then thought a moment, no, it is gonna be a great morning! Just a small thought to start off.

But the thought on my mind this morning is on that joy that God puts in your heart, and wanting to protect that from the thoughts of this world today. When that joyous thought enters your mind, you can’t help but to smile on the inside and out, at least for me. I heard my pastor say one time, if you got Jesus inside you, and try to hide it, you can’t. Because God’s love is more powerful than anything, more powerful than any awful or negative thought. I told someone one time, it’s hard to be depressed when you’ve got Jesus.

And when you’ve got Jesus, people can’t help but see something more in you. I like to tell some people, who are just, so beautiful with the spirit, that ‘Jesus looks beautiful on you’. Because let’s face it, in this world, myself included, when we are feeling down, we probably don’t look our best. But even so, when we let our holy spirit shine inside, that’s what we show, and His spirit is always beautiful.

I’m learning to try and hold onto those joyous thoughts, even in conversation. No one should make you feel as though you cannot express your joy, and if they do, that is not a person you want to be conversating with. A friend gave me great advice. She said, ‘If you know that you are gonna get hurt after the conversation, don’t have it.’ And oh how many times is this true. Mostly with myself, I go in a conversation hoping it will go one way, or maybe I can fix something, or try to get my side of the point across, but it always fails and ends up with me feeling worse when I get off the phone. That’s one reason I tell people I absolutely hate talking on the phone, I will text any day, but I am not a phone talker. Never been. Maybe it’s because I’ve had too many hurt conversations over the phone. And when that happens, and you hang up, you are left alone with your thoughts, that’s the bad part.

So, if a conversation is going to take your joy away, do not go into it, thinking you can overcome the conversation, because to me, that is saying, Ok Satan, I’m gonna win this one. And that is a dangerous thought. Though carnally I crave to do that, we do not need to engage Satan. We avoid him. We avoid things that he can use to steal our joy from us. We do not engage with the conversation. Grant it, that can be hard, but it’s worth it to protect your joy.

2 Thessalonians 5:22 ‘Abstain from all appearance of evil.’

Exodus 23:7 ‘Keep thee far from a false matter;’

Keep away from the negative aspects in your life and hold onto that joy inside and let people see the Jesus in you.

A friend that was recently saved went back home and she was telling me how her family said she was different. I was so excited to hear her talk about this. When you are born again, we are a different person. We have a love and joy that we could not have before. And it’s so precious to us.

Talking to myself mostly today, but Don’t let someone steal your Joy today. Love you all so much, and thank you to those that read these. It mean’s a lot to me and I hope to be a help always.