How To Be a Joyful Christian and Make a Difference
By: Bebe Nicholson
Tags: Self, Spirituality, Christianity, Faith, Life

Being joyful, even during the hard times, means accepting myself for the person God made me to be so I can accept other people for who God made them to be.

Being joyful means moving forward without a paralyzing fear of failure, enjoying the challenges God has called me to and expecting him to bring about great things in my life. It means waking up in the morning expecting the day to be a great, grand adventure because God is present in this day.

Being joyful means looking for and anticipating God’s action in my life, then recognizing and expressing gratitude for that action.

Being joyful means being outwardly focused instead of inwardly focused, enjoying and appreciating others for the gifts God has given them instead of envying those gifts. It means learning to replace judgment with acceptance and love.

Being joyful means learning to do the best I can, then leaving the results to God. I no longer need to be in control or to be ambitious as the world knows ambition because when I relinquish control, I am free to be myself.

Being joyful means taking pleasure in the small, day-to-day manifestations of grace. It means choosing faith over doubt, love over hate and serving over being served.

Being joyful means realizing that what I do matters, even the small things. Sometimes small things matter most.

Barbara’s story

I realized how much small things matter when I read Barbara’s story. Doctors told Barbara’s husband they had lost her because she technically died during surgery but Barbara survived and told of her amazing near-death experience.

As she tells it, Barbara found herself outside her body, beyond the operating room and in the presence of an extraordinary, brilliant light filled with love, peace, and the knowledge of God.

During this time she also experienced a review of her entire life and was astonished because of the wondrous way her life was interwoven with others. But what really surprised Barbara was that many things she viewed as small achievements, things she scarcely remembered doing, were magnificent to God.

The time she listened with sympathy to an acquaintance who was going through a hard time and the time she placed her hand on the shoulder of a grieving friend were two of the great achievements of her life.

She realized that every encounter she had with another person was an opportunity to become a little miracle to that person. It wasn’t the great feats and achievements God was looking for, but rather, how much she helped others. It was the little acts of kindness that made a difference.

Barbara saw how seemingly insignificant events bore tremendous repercussions. When she rose grumpily from bed and was negative to her family, she spread this negativity throughout the day. Her family took little bits of negativity with them to school, to work, or wherever they went.

But she saw what a positive impact she could have around the world when she saw her kindnesses as drops of light that started in one spot and circled the globe in a band of light.

Barbara realized that God wanted us to spread goodness, and in this way, we became co-miracle workers with God. Goodness was a chain reaction that didn’t stop.