The Joyful Life Magazine
The Joyful Life Magazine
A quarterly lifestyle print publication for Christian women seeking the JOY found by inviting JESUS into our everyday lives.
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  • A few days ago we experienced a significant power outage during a thunderstorm. It was an inconvenience to say the least. Plans were shelved, dinner was derailed and stress levels were high. When the power finally came back on, several hours later, signaling life could return to normal, everyone in the house cheered. We were delighted, relieved, and so very thankful. ⠀ ⠀ The whole experience was quite the wake up call. How often do we take the time to say thank you for our electricity? For our hot water, the food in the refrigerator. For the countless other things we take for granted each and every day. We may try hard to instill a spirit of gratitude in our children, yet often forget to model one ourselves.⠀ ⠀ In today’s culture, the spirit of entitlement is hard to ignore. “You deserve to have it all”, it whispers in our ear, “everything you want and more.” It's a dangerous mindset that forsakes gratitude for discontentment. That causes us to focus not on the abundant blessings right in front of us, but the things we might be missing out on. That takes the focus away from God and His will for us, and puts it instead squarely on ourselves.⠀ ⠀ As Christians we are instead called to cultivate a heart of gratitude. To be “overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:7). Does that describe you today? ⠀ ⠀ When we start to lose perspective, when discontentment and dissatisfaction rear their ugly heads, and we start to take our blessings for granted, Psalm 107:1 encourages us to look to Him. ⠀ ⠀ “...because He is good and His faithful love endures forever.”⠀ ⠀ When we look to Him, there is always something to be thankful for. His goodness, His faithfulness. His love. The cross. There is not enough gratitude in this world that could ever suffice. There is always a reason we can find to lift our hands, and say, “thank you.”⠀ ⠀ Vicki Bentley, @purposeful_joy⠀ ___⠀ ⠀ Tag a friend who needs to be encouraged by this today! ❤⠀ ⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #gritandvirtue #shetheroar #givemejesus #lampandlight #christianlife #itiswell #christianliving #christianmagazine #christianwoman #faithinspired
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  • AMEN. This is one of the most powerful and profound statements I have read in many months. Let's be mothers who pray -- diligently, faithfully, relentlessly -- for the precious children God has gifted to us.⠀ ⠀ ⠀ If you missed today's blog post by Megan White, 'THE BITTERSWEET STORM OF POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION', click through the link in our bio to read her journey from grief to victory and how God met her in the midst of her storm.⠀ ___⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ READ Megan's post by clicking the link in our bio. @jasemegrenae⠀ ⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #joyfulmamas #shetheroar #christianblogger #gracegirls #christianwoman ⠀ #christianliving #christianmoms #propelwomen #givemejesus #faithinspired #theeverygirl #gritandvirtue #pursuitcommunity #womenintheword #hopewriters #seekhimfirst #shereadstruth #coffeeandjesus #gracerunsdeep #proverbs31woman #weareunveiled #postpartumanxiety #proverbs31ministries #gracegirls #jesuscalling #postpartumdepression #boldbraveyou #itssimplytuesday #ppd #joyfullifecommunity
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  • God brings about sweetness through the storms of life. He promises to use our trials for good. Not always the ‘good’ we would choose — but the good that’s best — the good that brings us to our knees. In today’s blog post, Megan shares with us how God used the raging storm of postpartum depression to bring her to her knees and right into the beauty of what God has for her in this season.
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  • I have a fiercely independent 4-year-old. She's smart and capable, but it doesn't change the fact that, like it or not, she's little. And being little comes with limitations. She can't always do what she's set her mind to—and this infuriates her. ⠀ ⠀ When she was a toddler, she would ball her little hands into fists, grit her teeth, and shake. I kept waiting for her to turn green and rip her clothes off, Hulk-style. ⠀ ⠀ I nudge her gently, over and over, with the question: "Do you need to ask for help?" ⠀ ⠀ My 10-year-old, though taller, is not much different. When a math problem doesn't make sense to her, or the craft she's working on isn't turning out the way she envisioned it, tears of frustration overflow.⠀ ⠀ Again I prompt, tenderly, "Do you need to ask for help?" ⠀ ⠀ When the zipper won't zip and the numbers don't add up right, why not just call out for backup? After all, Mom is right here, ready and waiting, with experienced, agile fingers and years of math classes lodged somewhere in her brain. ⠀ ⠀ But they don't want to ask for help. They seem to prefer struggling over admitting they can't do it alone. ⠀ ⠀ Parenthood is like looking in a mirror, isn't it?⠀ ⠀ I know the psalmist's words are true: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). Yet too often, just like my little girls, I choose to struggle through life's challenges and disappointments, tears of frustration streaming down my face—insistent that no, I do not need help. I can handle this myself. ⠀ ⠀ Except I can't. ⠀ ⠀ And my Father is right there, lovingly waiting with infinite grace and patience for me to confess what He already knows:⠀ ⠀ I need help. Will You help me? ⠀ ⠀ The answer is always yes.⠀ ⠀ Rebekah Crosby, @writetheroughdraft⠀ ⠀ ___⠀ Tag #joyfullifecommunity to be featured in our feed. ❤
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  • How easily I let fear take control of my emotions, my perspective, and my reactions to situations. ⠀ ⠀ The popular worship song ‘No Longer Slaves’ proclaims ‘I’m no longer a slave to fear; I am a child of God’. Every time I sing those words I’m reminded that fear enslaves us. It takes control and it holds us hostage — but if I’m being honest, a simple reminder that I am a child of God does little to loosen its grip.⠀ ⠀ In the overarching story of life I have no fear — it is finished and I am no longer a slave to anything apart from Christ. But in the minor story of life — the personal and experiential story of life — fear has a very real grip, often. ⠀ ⠀ As Believers, I don’t think that’s something we should just settle into and get comfortable with — as if it’s acceptable to live in fear because we are human and it sometimes feels impossible not to. I believe it’s something we are meant to wrestle with, battle, and have victory in — because Jesus paid the ultimate price to free us from fear in order that we could live our lives in confidence, hope, and a resigned peace even in the midst of our personal, experiential stories that the overarching story is one of victory!⠀ ⠀ And that is the story we have been written into. ⠀ ⠀ Sandi, @sandisutton
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  • We started off married-life as two green kids still at University and knee deep in student debt - debt that because of our lack of wisdom would keep growing until we buckled beneath its weight.⠀ ⠀ It was a season of our lives that we didn’t steward well.⠀ ⠀ A season that the consequences have long out-lasted.⠀ ⠀ A season that for better or worse I allowed to define me. To label me a failure and a burden. To clothe me in shame.⠀ ⠀ When I was growing up, my Dad always had a favorite track-suit that he would change in to when he got home from work – his ‘second skin’ we called it. He was so reluctant to part with these items of clothing that he would wear them until they were falling apart. One such tracksuit, threadbare and paint-stained, drove my Mother to desperate measures, and under the guise of cutting off a loose thread she cut the jumper from top to bottom - while he was wearing it! I’ll never forget the look on his face as it fell off him or how he made her sew it back up so he could keep wearing it.⠀ ⠀ How often do we insist on continuing to wear the filthy rags that Jesus has cut off us? ⠀ ⠀ In Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul instructs us to put off our old-self and to put on the new-self that is created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.⠀ ⠀ The truth is that in Christ, we are a new creation - the old has gone and the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). We have been made right with God and we need to deliberately take off the lies that we’ve absorbed and put on that truth.⠀ ⠀ My own journey has taught me that while we might have to live with the consequences of our actions and decisions – of the old – we do not need to live with condemnation. And that no matter how comfortable we are in what we have always known, what God wants to clothe us in is a much better fit. So now, the only labels I will wear are the ones He has fashioned for me.⠀ ⠀ What do you need to take off today and what is God inviting you to put on instead?⠀ ⠀ Aimee Walker, onbecomingesther⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ___⠀ ⠀ Tag #joyfullifecommunity to be featured in our feed. ❤
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The Joyful Life Magazine
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My Journey Through Postpartum Depression and Anxiety | by Ashley Bartley | The Joyful Life Magazine
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  • 10 min

My Journey Through Postpartum Depression and Anxiety

  • Posted on May 22, 2018May 21, 2018
  • byAshley Bartley
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When You Find Yourself in the Wilderness | Christina Painter
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  • 5 min

When You Find Yourself in the Wilderness

  • Posted on April 10, 2018April 9, 2018
  • byChristina Painter
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joy is not chosen it is grown
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  • 6 min

Joy is not Chosen, It’s Grown

  • Posted on March 19, 2018May 22, 2018
  • bySandi Sutton
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