Sunday, January 11, 2015

Fight Back With JOY

For many years I have fallen in love with Margaret Feinberg's Bible studies. I love the depth and incredible insight she gives while it feels like I'm sitting across from her having coffee. I was super excited about her new book that has just come out and so when our 6 week leader guide and books arrived last week I couldn't wait to curl up and dive into Fight Back With Joy. I thought I could really use some more Joy in my life, I mean who couldn't, but what I found between these pages far surpassed what I knew about joy and has changed how my joy will be lived out.
I've always loved the relatability and humor that Margaret weaves through every page of her books, but Fighting Back With Joy added vulnerability and a whole new insight to Margaret and even more respect for that openness. While this book allows us to see her fight with and against breast cancer, it's not just for those fighting cancer but for anyone in any fight or battle. Depression/loneliness, divorce/abandonment, fear/regret, financial or relationship battles, or the wilderness in which we find ourselves, we can all relate to some area where a fight wages and we need help finding joy through that seemingly impossible time. For me I also feel that this book while it has helped me understand my own fight, I think it shows incredible insight in understanding others fights and battles and how to help them during that time. "All of us are in a fight. Others can fight with you,but no one can fight this for you." (pg.18)


"Everyone who wakes to a confrontation and crisis- whether you picked the fight or the fight picked you- has an important choice: which weaponry will you choose? Cynicism and spite? Complaint and control? Or perhaps you are prone to deny and withdraw. To let your fleshy heart turn to stone. But there is another arsenal available to the daughters and sons of God." (pg.18)
Joy as a weapon? I never thought about joy as a weapon and as I look back at many past fights that I've waged I did not fight back with that weapon. I hate to admit cynicism, sarcasm, and complaint were the weapons that I drew first. I can't help but wonder looking back with new insight and a much better perspective, how different those situations and circumstances would have been if I'd chosen joy instead. "Joy would not deny the hardship, but would choose to acknowledge and face it no matter the outcome." (pg. 18) No, having joy would not make everything instantly better or make things suddenly easy. But it would have changed me and more then likely the people around me because I had chosen to have that joy. Joy requires more then just a choice, it requires intentionality. Margaret defines joy as a whole spectrum of emotions, actions, and responses. They include gladness, cheer, happiness, merriment, delighting, dancing, shouting, exulting, rejoicing, laughing, playing, brightening, blessing and being blessed, taking pleasure in and being well pleased. "The Bible insists that joy is more than a feeling; it's an action. We don't just sense joy; we embody it by how we respond to the circumstances before us.: (pg. 19)
Far too often then not, when life has knocked me down, when I felt felt alone and deserted in the wilderness, rejoicing or happiness or delighting have felt light years away. Looking back I feel like this could have so much more to do with my unwillingness or blindness to the blessings of joy that God placed right in front of me but because they may not have looked like or been what I was expecting I missed out on those precious gifts.
I don't want to miss out on anymore opportunities for joy! I want to recognize each and every one and delight that those sweet moments or opportunities have been given to me. I want to look for ways to spread joy to others as well.
This book, like every other book of Margaret's I've read, has and will change the way I pray. In the fights that life brings I have a new arsenal and my weapon of choice from now on will be joy. I don't believe for a second that this decision will be easy but my choice will be that it's worth it.

If you haven't already picked up a copy of Fight Back With Joy, go do it! Check out this promo video and chose today to arm yourself with a new weapon in life's battles and fights.