You can’t change a negative experience by being negative. Chose joy and see what happens 

How many times do you respond to a bad situation with anger, frustration, annoyance, etc – Yeah same. Like 100% of the time. Im human. WE are human. I dont think anyone ever says “Hey I’m so excited about this flat tire that is now going to make me late to work” or “Yay cancer! This is going to be so great for me and my family”

Of course not. And you shouldn’t! Bad things are bad. Period

But being upset, frustrated, or disappointed, while justified, at the end of the day it’s not going to make anything better. 

It is the appropriate response to a negative experience initially, but at some point that negativity will start working against you and any progress or hope you might have to overcome your situation. 

Bad things are always going to happen in our lives – that’s just the price we pay for free will, living as flawed humans, being earthbound. Life will have struggles. You will face adversity. 

What you do in the face of those hard times is what matters. Will you allow the pain to dominate your situation, or will you fight to choose joy and see what happens?

I’m fairly certain no one has ever regretted being positive and joyful. I haven’t done any scientific studies but it feels accurate- doncha think? Happy people never walk around all “boooo. I wish I wasn’t so happy all the time. This sucks!”

Now I know, I know. It’s SO HARD to be faced with a horrible, negative situation and NOT respond in an equally horrible & negative way. I get it.

I’m just asking you to try.

Cause I promise, I did not initially respond to my mom dying &  my husband’s betrayal with any sort of positivity .. yea no! And I have not always been “full of joy” being alone and having to start my life over after 40. But at some point along my journey, I realized the only way I was going to overcome the darkness was with light.  The whole “light at the end of the tunnel” is not something to dismiss or take for granted.

Joy has a way of turning even the worst situations into something you can overcome. 

When my mom first died, I was convinced that my grief was going to take over my entire existence and there was no way I would ever find happiness in a world without her. 

I will always and forever grieve the loss of my mom. It will never feel fair to me that she is gone. 

My heart will always have a huge hole where she used to be. 

But I prayed and prayed and prayed for God to give me something that would help with that heartache.

And He answered my prayer – in many ways – and one of them IS joy! 

Joy has indeed redirected so much of my perspective. Yes, she is gone. But joy allows me to see the blessings I have that have come from this new chapter that I am so grateful for! 

I have a relationship with my dad that I would never have cultivated otherwise. 

I have developed a strength and bravery within myself that I never would have tapped into otherwise. 

I have an unshakable faith in God that I would never have invested in otherwise.

Having a negative reaction to a negative situation gives all that darkness more power and control over your heart & mind. You can’t change a negative experience by being negative. Choose joy – and the best (re. only) way to truly experience joy is through the love of God.

My prayer for you today is that when the bad stuff happens (and I’m sorry friend, but it inevitably will), you pause your negative reaction. Feel your feelings –  embrace your pain, sorrow, hurt, anger. But I pray you resist the urge to fight the negative with the negative. 

Yes, life is going to be hard. But it can be wonderful despite the hard –  trust that God has a wonderful, glorious, joyful plan for your life, and while THIS situation is horrible, it’s not the end of your story. Let’s search for joy together – God’s love for us is a great place to start 😉 

XO

Tay