Stealing My Joy!

I will not let him!
I will not let the enemy steal my joy!

He comes at me, time and time again to steal my joy. He is relentless in his pursuit and wants nothing more than to take me out and to steal it away from me.

But I love it when I become aware of the enemy’s tactic’s and can fight back.
Phil is away for 2 weeks in South Africa on a very exciting trip. This trip is the culmination of a year of prayer and great sacrifice from him. I know this is a God-ordained trip and I am super excited to see the fruit that will come from this.

But you know what? It is also hard. It is hard being left behind and the fact that he is away from home for 2 weeks. It’s hard cause I miss him, and it’s hard cause I know I am not good at doing life alone, I can do it, but I don’t enjoy it!

And the enemy knows this so he digs his claws in even deeper to hit me where it hurts!
I graduated on Friday from Bible College! I know right? So exciting! I finished my studies, I passed with flying colours and Friday was the day of celebration of all my hard work.

And Phil wasn’t here.

And neither were the kids.

And to be honest, all that week I was feeling bummed! I was sad and I was disappointed that none of my immediate family was there to witness this momentous occasion in my life. I have never graduated from anything, and to be honest, I was actually quite proud of myself. I had worked hard and I wanted to share this with the people closest to me, and no one could be there.

Boy, did the enemy have a field day with that:

See, you are not important enough for them to be there.
It’s just a diploma, that doesn’t mean anything.
You are not worth celebrating.
So what if you worked hard, no one cares.

As always he was relentless in his pursuit of my joy.
But I was not going to let him win this one! No siree, this was my day and I was going to celebrate all that I had achieved. I was going to celebrate the sacrifices I made to get my diploma, I was going to celebrate my hard work, and I was not going to let the enemy steal my joy.

Of course my family would have been there if they could! It’s not like they just couldn’t be bothered. All of them had legitimate reasons for their absence, and I know each one of them is super proud of me.

My amazing sister took me out for a celebratory lunch and then her and my honorary daughter Ashlea were at the ceremony to cheer me on.

I had texts and calls from family and friends to tell me how proud they were of me. I had flowers and gifts, and Jackson took us out for dinner that night. And most importantly I felt God smiling down on me as He watched His little girl get her diploma that she had worked so hard for, and I could hear Him whisper in my ear “Honey, I am so proud of you” and at the end of the day that is what matters!

I had a beautiful day and felt so loved. But you know what? It could have been so different! If I had let the lies of the enemy win, he would have stolen all my joy and left me with his lies of being unloved, unworthy and unimportant.

Instead, God shone through and I had an amazing day filled with love, laughter, acceptance and so many happy tears!

So my friends, whatever you are going through, please, do not let the enemy steal your joy. Because when we look, we can always find the joy in every situation, even if it doesn’t look like you think it should!