Warrior Prayer: Day Ten "Joy"

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him." ~Psalm 28:7

Often, we can lose our joy in raising our sons with special needs.  We can get so focused on the issues that we face because of their behavior, the intense schedule we may lead to help them with their health or their learning challenges, the lack of progress or all the effort we expend with little results seen that we can't rejoice and have joy.  Whatever your issue, I want to encourage you to have JOY, on this road you are on with your boys.  When things get difficult, turn your eyes to Jesus so you can be saved from the dungeon of depression.  The one thing that has helped me is to repeat Phil 4:8 out loud when I am at the end of my rope.  We can have joy in raising our boys!

Encouragement from Brooke

What is joy really? And if my strength comes from the joy of the Lord (Psalm 28:7),then what does the joy of the Lord really look like?

As I write these words, I'm struggling with a deep desire to be grumpy and complain. Most days I handle my husband's crazy shift-work schedule pretty well. But today? Well, today I feel like complaining. So how do I find joy and strength from the Lord? Enough to make me "burst out in songs of thanksgiving?"

How do you?

Here's the secret: Focus on Christ. Focus on what He did for you (and for your sons) on the cross. I suspect we Christians have a tendency to misunderstand the phrase, "placing our trust in Christ." Placing our trust in Christ isn't something we did once and never do again. Salvation may be a once and forever event, but trusting in Christ is ongoing. Trusting in Christ's work of grace on the cross to be important enough to change my grumpiness to gratefulness. Trusting in Christ's work of grace on the cross to get me through a rough day with my children. Trusting in Christ's work of grace on the cross to be enough when I'm enduring tantrums in the grocery store. Trusting in Christ's work of grace on the cross when my sons choose their own will …

Goal for today:

1. Commit to praying the ten prayers in the joy chapter during day ten.
2. Ponder this? Christ's work on the cross was never intended to be something we took joy in one time and then never again. Thinking on His work and embracing it with a heart of gratefulness is enough to make even the grumpiest among us "burst out in songs of thanksgiving.” No matter where we are, or what we're experiencing, we CAN find joy in focusing on all that Christ has done and made possible through His death and resurrection.

Joy

May the joy of the Lord be __________'s strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

May__________be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22).

May__________go out in joy and be led forth in peace (Isaiah 55:12)

May the God of hope fill__________with all joy and peace as he trusts in him, so that he may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).

May__________go to the altar of God, to God, his joy and his delight (Psalm 43:4).

May__________count it all joy when he meets trials of various kinds, as the testing of his faith produces steadfastness. May he let steadfastness have its full effect, that he may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:1-4).

May__________know that while weeping may tarry for the night, joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5).

May__________be imitators of us and of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 1:6).

May the God of hope fill__________with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit he may abound in hope (Romans 15:13).

May__________know that the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).