“Sometimes you have to let go of the picture you thought life would be and learn to find joy in the life you are living.” That quote really hit home to me. Three years ago, I became a widow. It’s not the life I had imagined when I married my high school sweetheart and pastor husband. I thought we would grow old together and retire doing mission work and traveling cross country in an RV helping churches. But life does not always give us what we had hoped for or envisioned.
I know most pastors don’t end up with the problem-free church of their seminary dreams. Believe me, problem free churches do not exist! If you are a pastor though, we are here to help you keep the JOY when those problems do arise. Joy in the life you’ve been called to, and in the relationships, you’ve been given. Learning this can be hard work- for all of us, but it is a choice we need to make EVERY day. If we can train our minds to focus on the joys and blessings in our life-they are there, if you will look for them-instead of the problems—which are so easy to spot; we can, like Paul begin to say that we have learned in whatever state we are, to be content and to even find JOY!