Trust and EnJoy

When you go skydiving, you  jump out of a plane and fall through the sky. (Hopefully) you don't spend the entire time freaking out about whether or not your parachute will catch you. (Hopefully) you trust the instructors to have given you a well working parachute and will ensure you make it to the ground safely. Really the best thing you can do is trust that your parachute works and not spend your time in the sky worrying about it, to do what your instructors told you and expect what they said to be true. The best you can do is enjoy the view and experience of "flying."

Wouldn't it be awful to spend the whole time regretting stepping out of the plane and stressing and worrying about something you have absolutely no control over? It's sad to think that this is how a great number of us spend our lives.

One thing I've learned since being out here is that we were never meant to carry four things in this life:
1. worry/stress/fear
2. bitterness/unforgiveness
3. regret
4. shame

We were just never designed to carry them! Just like our bodies weren't designed to digest bleach, bad things happen when we try to carry any of these four things. Plus, we miss out on the good things of today because we're living with something we were never meant to live with.

God wants to take all of these from our shoulders and give us His rest. We aren't meant to worry about the future, and worrying about the past is just silly because we can't do anything about it. We were made for the Garden of Eden, where there were no troubles and we lived in perfect connection with God.

But there's more good news! God doesn't only want to give us rest. He wants to give us joy in the rest!

One thing He told me not long after I moved here is to Trust and Enjoy. He wants us to trust Him and enjoy the life that He's given us. As someone who grew up singing the old hymn Trust and Obey, this element of enjoying surprised me. I had to double check in my spirit to see if I'd heard that right. I had. God explained that in trusting Him, we will do what He asks of us. Obedience should be an automatic response to fully trusting Him. But the thing He wants to remind us religious people, who tend to be very solemn about our relationship with God, is that He wants us to enjoy life. He wants us to enjoy this gift that He's given us!

Often times when we think of the word Joy, people try to soften its meaning by saying it's not a feeling or an emotion, just a thing we supposedly "have" with God. But if you look at any definition of joy or how God uses it in the Bible, you can see that it very much is an emotion; and one that we are capable of truly having with God.

Now you'll see that "Joy" is the root word of  "Enjoy." So to enjoy something is to actually have joy in it! So many times we strive after joy and try so hard to have it, but that's never what God intended. Joy is not something to work for. Just as a gift is freely given and someone might tell you to "Enjoy!" God wants us to enjoy (have joy in) this life He's given us. We don't need to strive for it. We just need to sit back and enJoy it.

So I challenge you, if you want to experience God's joy in your life, try sitting back and taking a serious (but not really) look at the good that God has placed in your life for you to enjoy. Accept it! It's a gift! And keep doing it. Keep looking for the good that God wants you to enjoy and actually take the time to praise Him for it and appreciate it.

Be sure to give your stress/worry/fear to God and trust that He's not lying to you when He tells you something. God can't lie because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Trust Him to take care of you and give yourself permission to sit back and enjoy the goodness He's given you. Trust that His instructions are good and for your good.

Bad things may happen in life, but that does not take away from the beauty of today. We really only have today. Let yourself see the beauty.Trust and EnJoy!