August's Challenge: To Be Joyful

Like I wrote last week, my challenge to myself for the month of August was to be joyful, to praise, to give thanks and to find the good in things.

A grateful heart is a joyful heart. Or so I've come to believe.

Rewind a bit, for those of you who may not know. I decided to give myself a 6 month challenge, actively pursuing the character I want in order to leave behind the legacy I want to be known for.

This is month 2. Joy. Joy in difficult circumstances, mundane circumstances, ALL circumstances. Last week I confessed that I often struggle with depression. Depression, however, is not something that I want to be known for, I want to be known for the joy that I can express because of the freedom found in Christ's power over death.

The first logical step in my mind is praise and thankfulness.

Praising God, even in the bad things or hard times, allows you to see the light at the end of the tunnel, shifts my perspective, even when I haven't seen or experienced joy for a long time. 

My challenges for the month were as follows:

1. Find something to praise God for every day

2. Do one nice thing for someone in secret every week

The journal challenge:

100 Things That Make Me Happy

While happiness and joy are not the same thing, finding reasons to be happy also lead to a more joyful heart.

So how did I do this month?

Finding one thing to praise God for every day was interesting. I used the calendar in my day planner for the month of August and wrote down one thing every day. Or almost every day, towards the end of the month I was still praising God for things, but not writing them down. I found that what I praised God for most was people. I knew that I loved people, but it was interesting to me that they were also my happy things, my reason to praise, much more than good circumstances or good things. It will be good for me to remember in the future, when I feel depression hitting. It will make me re-evaluate if I've been with people enough. 

One nice thing for someone in secret was good. Easier than I thought to bless someone, harder to do in secret than I would have imagined. So most of them didn't end up as secrets, more as surprises. I did realize that most of my 'nice things' tended along the same lines, cards, chocolate bars, hugs. I need to learn to express myself in all love languages and in all sorts of ways, so that will be something for me to continue to work on. 

The journal challenge....(sorry for the bad quality photo)

And that's August. 

How and where do you find joy in your life?

Stay tuned for the September challenge:)