Sitting upstairs, the rain falls steady on the roof.
I love that sound. It’s one of my favorite things to hear.
Early the other morning, I awoke slowly to thunder rumbling low in the distance. I snuggled deep under the covers, my cats warm at the foot of my bed. Quietly purring.
The raindrops rhythmic rousing of the day.
Best of all it was the weekend. No schedule to interfere with this lovely, peaceful place.
Quietly calm.
Completely content.
I can’t begin to tell you the number of years that rolled into decades as I said to myself, “I’ll finally be happy when….”
Like those storm clouds that hold millions of droplets of water, our minds can be filled with as many uncertainties.
We find an endless supply of reasons that we can’t be happy yet.
…
When we have enough money saved for three months of expenses.
When you are able to take that trip to backpack around Europe.
When you can finally afford to get that new siding on the house. And those big, beautiful windows.
When I have that little ten-acre farm I’ve always dreamed of.
When our parents love us the way we want them to.
When your husband and kids appreciate all that you do for them.
When the scale reads the same as it did when we were in college.
The “whens” could go on forever.
And like the rain from that dark and ominous cloud, the lies keep pouring down.
We become soaked in the not good enough.
Perpetually the voices whisper our sense of lack.
Our inadequacies.
Our failures.
All the things we haven’t done. All the ways we don’t measure up. Because in our world, in our minds, these are the lines that are rehearsed over and over again. Pernicious voices that seep in and form a rancid and virtual reality. Our radically inaccurate perception of this life.
We find ourselves saturated with undeserving.
…
But maybe we’re missing something.
Perhaps that ‘how-to-live-joyously’ instruction book didn’t make it into our backpacks when we were kids. And now in adulthood, we have become well-versed in posing behind the window to watch the darkening skies.
We sit listless and wondering.
Wrapped in our blankets of fear.
Lost in our yearning.
Years can pass as we remain doused in disappointment, convinced that our dreams don’t matter. That God has overlooked us.
How often do we let the enemy rain like this on our souls?
Drowning us in devastation. Our lives like puddles, reflecting the darkened skies of deceit and untruth. Growing deeper in despair, expecting only the next storm. The next defeat to serve as proof of our misfortune.
…
I look back with fond memories of Emma’s younger years. Oh, the adorable things that came out of her mouth. She didn’t talk much for the first fifteen months. But soon thereafter…‘loquacious’ might describe her toddler years.
A precocious child, she had much to say about her observations of this world : )
Summertimes were filled with stories of ‘flutterbys’ and ‘bumbees’.
Waking one morning with a hoarse voice, she said, ‘That was a violin in my froat (throat). I coughed it out.’
Her words were her own.
From a parent’s perspective they were nothing short of captivating.
As she grew older, she realized that those pronunciations and phrases weren’t totally accurate. There were additions to her growing vocabulary. New ways to express her understanding and experiences.
How are we similar to a young child as we grow in our faith?
Like the words that my Sweet Louise so intentionally grasped, we hold on to our typical behaviors. Words and thought patterns that go round and round, etching paths of misunderstandings.
We perpetuate the negativity by continually thinking about what has gone wrong in our lives. How things never seem to go our way. That we can never catch a break.
But what if we do something different?
What if we change our words?
Change the narrative that is on auto-repeat in our heads. The Word of God calls us to this new way of thinking. And with it He offers freedom from this physical world, inviting us into a more spiritual existence.
He offers new words to fill our heads and our hearts. Phrases to satisfy even the emptiest of souls.
This, a radical new life ~ a life lived in walking alongside our Jesus!
When we begin to truly consider the dialogue that goes on in our head, we will often see repetitive themes. Themes of judgement. Of fear. Of anger. Of wanting.
These are dialogues that we’ve been programmed to play over and over again by the enemy.
But the Word sheds light on the Truth.
God offers us countless opportunities for replacement concepts. Ways to counter our thinking. New words to capture His Spirit.
Each of us has our own internal conversations. You know the ones. The lies that we allow to creep in, creating false systems of belief. Those reflections of that dark cloud we spoke of earlier.
Now…what if we take those to the Bible along with our little bit of faith?
That mustard seed.
What can God grow in us?
His Word negates the old thinking. By changing just one or two of our old conversations we can see the power of His promises in our lives.
We can look at this more closely through the lenses of our human experience.
Have you ever been caught in a battle?
Perhaps you have found yourself frustrated with someone who has wronged you. I certainly have. And with every fiber of my being I wanted nothing more than to get back at the person who hurt me.
To get even.
In that battle we have a choice.
We can certainly sustain the old and worn out thought processes.
Or we can seek wisdom and comfort from Scripture.
Exodus 14:14
The LORD will fight for you. You need only be still.
OR
Isaiah 40:29
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
During a particularly challenging phase of my life, these verses meant submitting to my God and the power to Trust Him.
I can’t begin to tell you the number of times these verses came to save me from myself. From my own critical position.
God’s Word met me in the broken, aching and longing-for-respite months during my divorce. Though my days were spent immersed in angry courtroom disputes, the piling up of attorney fees, and the enemy’s attempted seduction I had a choice.
A choice to choose my ill-fated attempts at control or calling on my Jesus.
Admittedly I would falter, but looking back, I can see how God carried me through that phase of my journey. His promises to guide and keep me. He bore my burdens as much as I was willing to give them up.
Unlike the fragile nature of our human thought, we can find strength in our Savior to change our ways of thinking.
To truly change our lives.
When we embrace this gift, we find that the happiness we thought was so elusive…well, it is in our midst at any given moment.
We need not listen to this world that tells us that happiness can only be obtained by achievements, objects, or accumulation of wealth or accolades. Quite the contrary.
It is by grace alone that we can find peace.
By what God has done, not by anything that we could ever accomplish on our own.
We are fulfilled by faith.
And we can be satisfied in His Spirit.
The things of this world were never meant to complete us. Only in Christ are we made whole.
We can choose JOY when we choose Jesus.
Living in his presence.
Breathing in His life.
In the glorious space of surrender, those tumultuous places in our lives that we see as murky puddles ~ rather than reflecting those dark clouds that hang above, they now serve to reflect the Glory of our Savior!
And in our change, others will begin to see the loving God who never lets us go.
The One who has promised to be with us in Word and in Spirit.
Today and always.
Forever our JOY!
My Sweet Louise 
Please share your thoughts.