Even When

Even when...

Life is hard / Life is easy

I feel excited / I feel lost

It all makes sense / I don't even know what's going on

I'm fearful / I'm content

There's love / There's loneliness

...even then.

Even then, I will praise your Name. There are times in life that are full of obvious joy, and then there are times of tumultuous joy. The latter being the kind of joy you maybe have to work a little harder for. Not 'work' in that if you only smile enough you'll just feel it, but rather the kind of JOY that comes from a simple choice you make. 

The choice is whether or not to be full of joy regardless of your circumstances, regardless of how you actually feel.

True joy has nothing to do with emotions. It is reflected in the type of thoughts you choose to dwell on, the words you choose to grace your speech, and the actions you choose to embody. It doesn't necessarily mean you don't still feel or experience those emotions. Emotions are very real, and not bad. The unhealthy part of emotions is allowing them to shape your identity & perspective. Who I am - and Whose I am - does not change based on my emotions. 

True joy is evidence of the Holy Spirit living in you. So when life gets messy, I'd better be praying that I'm filled up with the Spirit and not the world or my own selfish desires. I should probably be more proactive in spending time in the Word and in prayer to gain a godly perspective and not allow fog to settle in and cloud my view.

True joy exudes love and selflessness, when you would naturally seek selfish desires or wallow in self-pity. Sometimes all we need is to step outside ourselves for one minute so we can see that there are much bigger things going on. Everyone has a story; everybody deals with stuff. When I choose joy in the midst of my own struggle, I can also choose to focus on others rather than myself.

True joy is not contingent on your everyday surroundings. When car trouble, broken relationships, loneliness, financial questions, and tiredness invade your life, joy should still be the end result just as in a week full of blessings. Nothing is too big, too much, or too complicated... it is always possible to choose joy.

We sang this song in church today: Blessed Be Your Name, by Matt Redman. I was struck with the brutal and utter truth found in these words. It's generally easy to praise God when blessings are plentiful and abundant, but what about those times wandering through the wilderness or desert? Yes, when everything in my life seems to be working out just as it should be, those are times that we love to be thankful. But what about while walking down a painful road marked with suffering? Do we still choose gratitude?

No matter what the emotions, situation, surroundings, or natural instincts, 

God, my heart will choose to say: Blessed be Your Name.

Blessed Be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me

When the world's 'all as it should be'

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

(Video w/ Lyrics - Matt Redman, Blessed Be Your Name)