How do you grin and bear it?

[HisLeast]

What about the fruit of the spirit, Joy?

What about the fruit of the spirit "long suffering"?

[SweetSomber]

I agree with both people here. Long suffering is good, but, honestly God has blessed us each with so much, in life, and in His presence, that most of the time, we should be joyful most of the time, and for the minority of the time, we just suffer patiently.

By the way, I believe that a person can be joyful, and yet sad at the same time. Like when a loved one, that is a christian, dies, and goes to be with the Lord. You can be joyful, in a deeper sense, but cry because you miss them.

[Pilgrimtozion]

I think the presence of joy in your life depens much on what you focus on. You can focus on the 'lousy' things in life, the things that hurt, cause pain, or the scars from the past. If you do that, you won't have much joy. But if you do what Philippians 4 tells us to do and focus on God, His goodness, what He has done for you and who He is, there will be joy in your life. Of course there will be pain, tears, and difficulty. Joy is not, however, a surface emotion that comes and goes. Biblical joy resides deep inside your heart and is there, no matter what the circumstances.

[miepie]

I had the opposite a few years ago in my life..... I wanted to do something, and almost got everything ready to go do it, and then God said NO! I was very disappointed at first and I didn't understand it...... it took a lot of talking with Charles then to be able to obey (he was still in the USA then)....... so finally I obeyed Him and didn't do it.......
A year later the same thing came up again, and I didn't expect it to go through because the first time God said No....... but this time He said Yes!

Looking back I can understand His reasons why very well...... but at the time it was pretty difficult, but going against His Wishes was something I just couldn't do either......

Love you,
Mieke

[livingwaters]

I had the opposite a few years ago in my life..... I wanted to do something, and almost got everything ready to go do it, and then God said NO! I was very disappointed at first and I didn't understand it...... it took a lot of talking with Charles then to be able to obey (he was still in the USA then)....... so finally I obeyed Him and didn't do it.......
A year later the same thing came up again, and I didn't expect it to go through because the first time God said No....... but this time He said Yes!

Looking back I can understand His reasons why very well...... but at the time it was pretty difficult, but going against His Wishes was something I just couldn't do either......

Love you,
Mieke

Amen!!! That is the key...know HIS voice and leading of the Holy Spirit!!!! God gives us joy and peace which surpasses all understanding!!!! Only God can give us HIS peace and HIS joy...When you have those gifts from our Heavenly Father, you can do all things, and be happy in them, through Christ Jesus!!! Glory to God!!!

[tt1106]

What is it that you are doing that God commands you to do, that you do not enjoy?

[Christian_lady]

I agree with both people here. Long suffering is good, but, honestly God has blessed us each with so much, in life, and in His presence, that most of the time, we should be joyful most of the time, and for the minority of the time, we just suffer patiently.

By the way, I believe that a person can be joyful, and yet sad at the same time. Like when a loved one, that is a christian, dies, and goes to be with the Lord. You can be joyful, in a deeper sense, but cry because you miss them.

For the past week or so, He has been suggesting that I read certain verses that have to do with exhibiting and remembering Jesus died and was raised.

And I couldn't understand what it meant or how it relates to what I've been going through.

Your post sort of points to the right answer the reason being: There is a mix of sadness and emotion for what Jesus has done and even He says the world rejoices while we mourn and then we rejoice while the world mourns, etc. etc.

The death of Jesus was sad but happy at the same time. His 2nd coming will create emotions of happiness for some, sadness for others.

I can't say I've reached the 'end of the road' conclusion with these thoughts but I feel like this might be related to what God is trying to teach me.

CL

[RabbiKnife]

The OP mentioned (later in the thread) that evangelizing was the issue.

So my question is, exactly what about "evangelizing" makes you uncomfortable? We might need to redefine the term.

[Christian_lady]

The OP mentioned (later in the thread) that evangelizing was the issue.

So my question is, exactly what about "evangelizing" makes you uncomfortable? We might need to redefine the term.

It kind of has to do with evanglizing and it kind of has to do with me putting my self on the backburner.

It's possible that I have the term 'self' incorrect. I am under the impression that you put all of your desires, thoughts, emotions on the backburner and seek God's desire, thoughts, emotions first.

After a while, there is nothing left for me to think, feel, desire because I'm waiting for God's green light. And then I get kind of frustrated because I'm kind of missing out and wasting time.

Maybe I'm taking a wrong approach/