This
summer I had the privilege to intern for the Allegheny Conference of the BIC. I was thoroughly blessed by the summer’s
experiences and what all God taught me over the summer. I am thankful to those who gave me this opportunity.
I
would say that perhaps the week during my internship that had a big impact on my life was the week that I worked at Rio de
Agua Viva in Chambersburg.
I started out being slightly nervous and anxious at what exactly my duties would be this week. However, after meeting with
Pastor Brad Stutzman and talking to him for a little bit, I was not anxious anymore but excited. Brad even asked me if I could
come up with a lesson by the next evening to teach to the youth group. Perhaps it is my unrelenting quest for a challenge,
or just that I did not want to let Brad down, but for whatever reason I said “Sure. I’ll do that.” I went
home and started working on it right away. Well I was certainly blessed as I prepared the lesson I was going to teach the
next evening. After preparing the lesson that I taught, I spent extra time in God’s word that evening. It was a special
evening in the presence of the Lord; the following is an excerpt from my journal.
“Perhaps one of my favorite books of the Bible to read is the book of James. So I did
my devotions in James 1 this evening. The verse that really hit me tonight was verse 2.
The second verse is a very difficult verse to read..."Consider it pure JOY, my brothers,
whenever you face trials of many kinds." Ok...stop right there. So at first glance the human nature in me makes me go, "Hold
on, we are supposed to be happy in difficult times? Um, excuse me but don’t you know that trials are painful?" But being
HAPPY and being JOYFUL are two different things. Happiness is a fleeting emotion, here one moment, gone the next. Like when
you first get your favorite flavor of ice cream, in a large dish. At first, you are so happy and like, "Oh my goodness, this
is amazing!" But by the end of the bowl you aren't feeling like that. Joy, on the other hand, is a state of mind; a thinking
pattern that you have. Joy is choosing daily to not focus on the negative in life, but focusing and counting all of God's
blessings that he has given you.
Perhaps that is why in Gal. 5:22-23(the fruit of the spirit) we are called specifically to
cultivate and develop Joy, NOT happiness. God wants us to change our thinking and our mindset. That’s why God says,
"..be TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING of your MIND..."(Rom.12:2) The mind is a very important part of your life and how you think
about things influences every aspect of your life!!
So, we are called and commanded by God to change our thinking.....so exactly how can we do
that? Well, I believe that we can change our thinking by surrendering our will to His will. The Holy Spirit will, when we
ask for his help, help us overcome our own selfish tendencies in our thought life. This does not mean, however, that you will
be cured, once and forever. On the contrary, it means you will mess up and you will daily have to ask for forgiveness and
start anew. But the cool thing is that God never, yes never, holds our screw-ups against us after we repent.
Pretty cool isn't it?”
The
above excerpt represents what God has been teaching me during my work at all the different churches. We as Christians especially
need to be focusing on transforming our lives and cultivating the fruits of the spirit….in this case specifically joy.
It does not matter what you are going through in life, and at times we WILL, yes we WILL go through very rough stuff, because
Jesus loves us and he is ALWAYS with us. Period. It says in Hebrews, “He will never leave us nor forsake us.”
That means he is always with us every minute every day of the week. So, with this in mind, we can begin to stop focusing on
the circumstances at hand and focus on sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with a world that is in desperate need of hope.
