Light, Love, Hope

Thank you for joining us again as we continue discussing Joyce Meyer’s audiobook,
Simplifying Your Life – Learning How To Rest.

We left off with:

Over and over in this audiobook, Joyce stresses that it does not make any difference any way – in the situations she has described or in any situation that we get upset over – so why get so worked up over it? Instead – just change your approach.

Joyce continued on by saying that we even pray wrong.

10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. Colossians 1:10-12 NIV

Joyce said to pray something Jesus can answer that is in the will of God! She went on to say that, just like the bible says, in the world you will have tribulation, but cheer up – He has overcome the world. She says to go all the way through with God this time for victory! She suggested we pray that we are strengthened with power to bear all things, for patience, strength to go through, not for things that aggravate us to go away.

Joyce directs us to:

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12 NIV

She said she puts on the behavior to have power to endure whatever comes her way with a good attitude. It wouldn’t impress anyone if we never had any problems, but if we have similar situations and yet remain happy, peaceful in a consistent attitude – now THAT is impressive!

Let us be happy, calm, peaceful – she suggests we join in or be by ourselves in our own emotions. She talked about how misery loves company but for us not to get upset when we can’t bring someone else down. She also talked about how it makes us angry when we’re around people that are happy when we aren’t, and if this is the case, we need to change our approach.

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We are back to continue discussing how we can simplify our lives by learning how to rest. Joyce Meyer has a lot to say on this subject, and we have thoroughly enjoyed all of the information that she shared in her audiobook!

We left off with this:

She explains that when emotions take off in a different direction, we don’t need to jump on board with them! We become upset initially. The more we talk about what happened, the more we react to what occurred, and the more upset we get about that situation. Let’s work to change that.

Another thing that Joyce addressed is that we are to remain calm in order to hear from God. It is better for us to remain in wisdom. She said that we’ve probably all heard it said before, but we should NOT make a decision when we’re emotional. She stresses to make sure we will be happy when the emotions subside. She talks about feeling the high of emotions when we’re looking to purchase something. Whether we go into debt or not, be sure we can afford it! Joyce says this is especially important if we have to lay plastic down in order to pay for it. She suggests that we think on it, and if we want whatever item we’ve had our eye on that our emotions tried to take off with, to take the time to think on it and then go back. If we take our focus off of the item and put it on something else, the emotions will subside. You will save yourself from going into a lot of debt this way or getting yourself into trouble buying things you really shouldn’t.

Joyce told a story about how she purchased some jewelry one day. She was overcome with all of these good emotions when she saw the jewelry sparkling under the lights in the jewelry store. She joked about how the lights must be different in the jewelry store because when she purchased the jewelry and brought it home, it did NOT sparkle under her lights at home like it did under the lights at the jewelry store. She thought about her purchase, and then the very next day she decided to take it back for a refund. She knew the person she bought it from, so she had to humble herself and freely admit that she purchased something she did not need. Actually, she had pieces very similar to it at home already, so she just needed to return it and admit that she acted upon her emotions when she purchased it. Wow! What a lesson to be learned here if we just reign in our emotions or think on it overnight!

My husband and I just recently did that this past year over a car purchase. We didn’t necessarily need another car, but we saw one that caught our eye. We were so close to buying it that we could smell the leather long after we had gotten out of the car after a test drive. Oh, the color was a beautiful candy apple red, and it called out to me. I slide behind the steering while and into the driver’s seat and felt pure joy when I drove down the road taking it on a test drive. The salesman let us take it home, and we were so very close to buying this car. We took it back, though, and decided to think on it over the weekend. I am SO glad we did because when we shifted our focus, the grip of the new car smell no longer had a hold on me. I was able to rationally think about this purchase and realize that I was acting on my emotions when I was willing to sign on the dotted line. Thankfully and proudly, I did NOT buy the new car, and I did NOT go into debt or deplete our savings account on a purchase that would have been lead by my emotions! Whew! That was a close one!

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Before we dive into discussing the first part of Joyce Meyer’s CD where she is focusing on learning how to rest, let’s take a moment and just clear our thoughts the best we can. Take a deep breath in through your nose, hold it a second, and then blow it out of your mouth. Ready? Go! Do this a few times to just relax yourself and imagine that we’re inhaling all of the goodness of God and exhaling all of the things that have tried our patience and nerves today. As we do this, let’s imagine in our minds that these things lose their grip on us, and feel all of those things release us as we breathe out!

Ah!

Now we are ready to begin.

Joyce immediately goes into things that wear us out: our thoughts; decisions; talking; multi-tasking; worries and fears; excessive concern over what other people think of us and of what we’re doing; being insecure. These are all things that just zap our energy, draining us mentally and emotionally. They absolutely wear us out!

Joyce advises us to stay calm no matter what goes on in our lives or what concerns arise. She talks about how much energy it takes from us and how sick we can become because we never shut down inside. She lays it all out for us so plainly that if we’re upset, we need to just calm down. If we’re mad, we need to try to get over it. If we’re offended, we need to try to get over that, too. She said it is just an endless cycle of upset that leaves us depleted and miserable. All of this is easier said than done, though, right? Our flesh is weak and we just want to get upset and hold on to these feelings. Doing so only hurts us! We get so upset, then we’re wondering why we’re unhappy and plain miserable.

Joyce goes on to say that the world is not going to change. The devil and people won’t change either. Even if, by chance, those “problem people” we’ve been dealing with do decide to change, there will be others planted in our lives that aren’t so nice. Upon realizing this, she had a revolution that since those things are not changing, WE have to decide to change, instead!

Joyce told a story about how her husband, Dave, always had peace and that she was extremely jealous of the peace that her husband had. How did she have so much turmoil in her life and yet her husband, who was dealing with the same stuff that she was, managed to be happy and was feeling good every day?
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Being that today was my daughter’s birthday, we traveled to a nearby city that she dearly loves in order to have dinner at one of her favorite restaurants. After the delicious meal, we decided to check out a “new and used” type of bookstore which was conveniently located right next door. We were not that enthused at first because of the thought of used items, but we were pleasantly surprised when we walked inside! There were rows and rows of bookcases packed to the rim with any and every kind of book you could possibly imagine. They were in good shape, too! Some you could not even tell that they were used at all. When we first entered with reservations about the place thinking we’d just take a quick look and be on our way, we ended up staying for an hour and a half! Yes, I have an entire family of bookworms. ~proud smile~

I am always drawn to the self-help and faith/devotional type of books. It should come as no surprise that one of the firsts that I picked up was none other than Joyce Meyer! If I was getting paid for every time I mentioned her or her books, I would be a rich woman. But, alas, I am not. I share because I truly do enjoy reading what Joyce has to offer. I am always entertained by her humor and my soul filled with the words she shares. She mixes the bible verses in with stories of her life and adds in a little bit of her dry sense of humor that just tickles me! What makes it funny is that some of the things she jokingly “complains” about in her sermons are things that we know we all do in our own lives but don’t want any one else to know that we do it! She has it down pat, though, and it’s just funny how she relays this to us that she’s “been there, done that” too!

You’ll be surprised, now, to read that I put her books back on the shelves. I had seen some of those titles before and had even read through a few of those books a while back. My attention, then, refocused on the wall straight in the back of the store where audiobooks were found. Much to my delight, there were about seven audiobooks by Joyce Meyer on that bookshelf! Score!! ~giggle~ I did not buy them all tonight as I did not want to break the bank! Even though they were at a reduced price, they were still asking a pretty penny for some of those audiobooks because they are in excellent condition.
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