Life, it's a Big Faith Journey

Have We Lost Our Joy and are We Stuck? (Ep.10)

August 30, 2021 Diana Hudgins Season 1 Episode 10
Life, it's a Big Faith Journey
Have We Lost Our Joy and are We Stuck? (Ep.10)
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Show Notes Transcript

You know when you get to feeling your life is just stuck and you just can’t seem feel upbeat because you are just not feeling the enthusiasm for life? Or are you someone that feels that this is it, life isn’t never going to get any better? Are you so bogged down by the talk of the world? Being selective and then being intentional is really important to your overall health. Feeling encouraged and alive is much more than what foods you chose to take into your body, its about all the things you chose to ta into your overall well being. You have found times you just feel numb to many things, you feel tired, your semi-happy emotions, your basic mediocre contentment level has finally learned to settle for this speed. You wake up feeling a little more motivated and thinking just maybe I can reach higher today, but all those thoughts are shot down before you even really get your day started? All because someone said something that didn’t set right with you or you turned on to hear all the negative news or something came up against you to what you felt was setting the tone to how your day was going to unfold. Those few times turn into more often times that you are just going through the days not really feeling like you are ever going to get where your heart once desired to be? You hope that reading a new motivational book or try to find something to kick your inspiration into gear might help. Yes it very well may, but then yet tomorrow you just are not as committed? Today let’s talk about how to keep ourselves inspired to build on a foundation of happiness and joy. 

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You know when you get to feeling your life is just stuck and you just can’t seem feel upbeat because you are just not feeling the enthusiasm for life?Or are you someone that feels that this is it, life isn’t never going to get any better? Are you so bogged down by the talk of the world? Being selective and then being intentional is really important to your overall health. Feeling encouraged and alive is much more than what foods you chose to take into your body, its about all the things you chose to ta into your overall well being. You have found times you just feel numb to many things, you feel tired, your semi-happy emotions, your basic mediocre contentment level has finally learned to settle for this speed. You wake up feeling a little more motivated and thinking just maybe I can reach higher today, but all those thoughts are shot down before you even really get your day started? All because someone said something that didn’t set right with you or you turned on to hear all the negative news or something came up against you to what you felt was setting the tone to how your day was going to unfold. Those few times turn into more often times that you are just going through the days not really feeling like you are ever going to get where your heart once desired to be? You hope that reading a new motivational book or try to find something to kick your inspiration into gear might help. Yes it very well may, but then yet tomorrow you just are not as committed? Today let’s talk about how to keep ourselves inspired to build on a foundation of happiness and joy. 

I can choose joy for right now, but to have it in a lasting way I must mend my heart. Joy comes from; a heart that is solid, a heart that is directed toward heaven and not earth and a heart that seeks the best from each day. Joy can be a choice, but the best joy is the symptom of a heart that's full of it. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10 NIV. I have to say that I am truly feeling that God is continuing to put on my heart to reach out to those who are lonely and feeling lost and struggling in this time. So here I am again wanting to encourage you to rise up and listen to these words. There are some of you that are uncertain what to do or what to believe. We are tired in ways we have never felt before. So sick of the “doom and gloom.” I know there are those who feel alone, helpless, and hopeless. I want you to know that I am praying for you. Contact me for I want to know how best to pray for you.   Today I am speaking to you and to many others who are just finding the day to day difficult. It doesn’t matter who you are or what age you are or what you do in life, you are important and what you contribute to the world matters. If you are isolating yourself from giving of yourself please know the world is missing out on you and what you do have to offer. The ole devil himself wants you to remain in this dire state of mind. So I want to touch base of some things you can begin to do to get yourself out of the pit of despair. 

First off I am speaking to you today from my own experiences in life. I am not a licensed counselor, but in my lifetime I have had a lot of experiences and solutions for myself and for others that have worked.  And by now you have heard me say that for me it is all or nothing. I believe that having enough faith in God even if we don’t have faith in ourselves, we can give it all we have because honestly we have nothing to loose for believing in Him and in ourselves because of Him. He is our creator and He created a plan for us and we need to know how to tap into our great destiny. Yes, we were created for more than this, you can count on that!

You being a child of God and those times when you are feeling unworthy then I think it is important that you realize that by feeling that way about yourself you are also belittling of the sacrifice Christ was willing to take for you in dying on the cross. When you put yourself down you put Him down as well. The Bible says that we are seated in all authority with Him.This realization should pump you up to know that you are more powerful than you could have ever envisioned you were. You are even more than a conquerer. Put on your armor of God. Rise up and use it. Look at that confidence rising, see that joy coming back.

One of my favorite movies to help me feel joy is “Because of Winn Dixie” I remember how this little girl who once again moved to a small town attempted to make friends in a community that appeared to have lost their joy. If you haven’t seen it please watch it and if you have watch it again. She rescues a dog who not only helps her move past her loneliness he helps her find happiness. They both help and bring this community together, and together they all find joy again. This movie revealed how to love one another for who they are and as a result watch one another change. Oh the impressions and expectations we place on people can be so judgmental and even cruel because of the way of thinking that we can’t get past things that really are not as they seem once you allow yourself to be open to give others a chance and give the opportunity for you to get to know them better, rather than staying on the side lines looking in. I believe that we often times need to make the decision to let go of some things from time to time. We need to decide to not let that thought or way of thinking consume us. Don’t give those things power over you, instead think of it this way. I have power over it. God tells you to take captive of your thoughts. Do not let those negative thoughts rule your life. 

I want to encourage you to get your journal or a notebook. And as a side note here remember: I will post this transcript on this podcast as well so you can even go back and find the questions. In your journal or notebook write this question: What are the things your mind thinks about each day? What kinds of things do you think of? Now of course this list could go on forever, but for the most part just start writing down things you think of on a daily basis and how you feel about those things. Now, see any negativity in them and write those thoughts again but in a more positive form. Turn your thought process around by taking captive of the negative ones and began thinking upon those positive things even if you do not feel like it, even if you don’t see it as so. Envision those thoughts being what and how you wish for things to be. God tells us to believe and pray believing and calling those things which are not, as though they were. You can find this in Romans 4:17. If He said then you can do it, keep praying this. Isn’t that encouraging?  

First thing in the morning, pray, pray before you get out of bed, or better yet, roll out of bed and onto your knees and say Good Morning Father, I come to You giving thanks for all you have done for me, all that You are doing for me and all that You are going to do for me, in me and through me. I acknowledge you my Lord. In Jesus Name Amen. And then say out loud “Today is going to be a great day!” Just say it regardless of whether you feel it or not. And make it a habit. Habits are established by doing the thing at least 21 days so don’t give up too soon. Keep writing in your journal about how your day was and what you thought about and what you did so you can look back at the progress you are making.

I have always been called to write and so even as a child I kept journals. At one point I felt that by writing things in the form as I wanted them to be, as petition of prayers to my God. You may have heard the saying that “It is written” in terms of the Bible and known as the trusted Word of God. I began writing my wishes in prayers to be written in the way I desired things to be according to God’s Will for my life claiming “It is written.” To me this meant it wasn’t just my thought process, it is actually written in the foundation of my commitment to how I want to live my life.  Now of course God’s Will for our life will not always be like ours so we must trust that when praying according to His Will we will receive what is truly best for us. He is our Father and He knows better than us because He is God Who knows all things. Here is your guarantee Psalm 25:10 teaches us that: All the LORD's ways are loving and faithful to those who keep His covenant and His decrees.” 

As you start your day I want to remind you of this read it out loud: Psalm 23

A Psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

You have to pour that goodness in. If you have experience with Binding and Loosing then you know when you bind something there is now an empty spaces that the negative thing left, that you then Loose to fill them with the things that should be there instead. You don’t want to leave an empty space you need to fill it with the goodness of God. So you should also do this with the words that come from your mouth and the thoughts you allow to enter into your mind. Slam the door on those negative things. It is important to remember that negative never comes from our God. He wouldn’t say those things about you. You are His child and He is your perfect loving Father. Take your authority over those things negative. Take captive of those thoughts as He tells you to do. As the first confessor of the messiahship of Jesus (Matt 16:16), Peter was entrusted with “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 16:19a)—that is, the privilege and responsibility of “proclaiming the good news of the kingdom” (Matt 4:23). In fulfilling this role, he was to use these “keys” to unlock the kingdom for certain people (“loosing”) and shut it up against others (“binding”).

Be intentional and be selective in what you allow your ears to hear or your eyes to see. Be careful what you allow to manipulate your mind. And establish your choice on this matter in your home as well. Do not leave an entrance to your life or those of your family for the enemy to come in and take up space within you. Do not allow that negative spirit live in your home. You should be aware of your surroundings and you should know of certain areas that may need your attention to prayer, but I like to pray knowing that I don’t have to know all things because I know my God does. I know also that if I knew all things I couldn’t survive it.  So I pray to Him saying “Father I pray for the things seen and unseen, the things spoken and the things unspoken. Father bring the light to the darkness so that those things that are hidden will be revealed.” 

Limit what you allow your environment to be immersed in. Honestly, if I listen to main stream media I find myself depressed and upset. Nope, not doing it. Find an alternative. Take certain apps off your phone and unfollow anything upsetting to you. Having studied journalism in college I can tell you that propaganda is more alive than it has ever been in our world. They get paid the big bucks to infiltrate your minds to believe their agenda of what sells works for them and its not only them that this works with. Money talks, that is why whether right or wrong God tells us it is the root of all evil. Money in itself isn’t wrong, but how it is used among several other examples I will not go into here but you have a good idea yourself. Your beautiful spirit simply cannot inhale all the depressing and scary news. So shut it down! Don’t allow it to feed on your emotions.  Go about your life unaffected by the manipulation of the spirit of fear that keeps knocking at your door each day. Instead fill yourself with positive words and thoughts. Where do you find them?

For one start with you and what you say to yourself and what you do in your actions. Planning is awesome when you follow through with those steps. If you already have a plan for your day just go through each of those steps and keep walking. So to begin with create a plan whether it be on paper or simply a reminder in your mind. Me personally I prefer to write things down and I love, love, love being able to mark them off the list as I have accomplished them. I am a visual learner and I love seeing things displayed in front of me to remind me and inspire me. Our family has marker boards and we love writing on them each day to encourage one another. Of our many messages and reminders we leave I love you messages on them. Chore/goal lists are also fun to mark off as we see the accomplishment in our desire to complete what has to be done. When we look back on our day we feel accomplished and that feels good. It opens us up to more and more freedom in our lives and a sense of well-being. 

I was encouraged the other day as I saw my oldest grandson sharing his  goal’s list and dated when he plans to have accomplished them. Making goal lists help to keep us on tract and serves as a reminder that we got this far so keep going. Each day even if only a baby step will still get us there, the next day we may have bigger steps. But the thing is as long as we are working in that direction even 20 minutes per day we are further along than we would have been had we been waiting on someone else to do something for us or simply just continue to procrastinate or find another somewhat justified reason why we can’t. Procrastination has a lot to do with keeping us stuck and depressed, let’s bind that one out of our lives in the name of Jesus and loose up inspiration with the favor of God into us. The one thing that motivates me is for someone to say I can’t, I won’t. Watch me do it!

Be selective whom you chose to talk to, listen to, and be friends with and what you surround yourself in.  Don’t get up and start your day talking to or listening to a negative person or turn on the news or scroll through social media. Do not let them be your firsts of your day.  Let God be that and make for a better day. The news has lost their way in trying to report the good things that go on in our world and I will say this again, there is good news to be found. They just make it harder for you to seek it. Sometimes you need to make the decision to find new friends, chose an encouraging mentor and or friend. Its ok to be selective and protect your well-being.  Garbage in garbage out well garbage isn’t always the same gunky mess as it went in. It has a greater stench. After its had its way with you and caused its damage on your emotions and your mind and your body, no telling what it will be when it comes out of your mouth or has been sitting in my thought process too long. What a steaming mess. Too much bad stuff kills you. And do not allow those things place upon yourself to become a disease and spread it to others. 

Find God believing people and reach out to them. Find yourself a Bible believing church and become involved in it. Have a daily personal relationship with God. Let the words you feed yourself come from His Word, Christian music like the K-Love or AirOne stations. Tell Alexa to play some praise and worship music. She will start somewhere for you. Do things that make you happy, even the simplest of things, do them. Go about your day talking to God and quieting yourself to hear him. Love yourself. I want to say a word about another social media outlet which is Faith Social. It is much like the platform of FB. Give it a try and see what you think. It always opens up with this awesome Bible verse to welcome you. 

Again, you can be picky, you can be choosy and its ok to protect yourself and feed all things good and what works for you to your overall being. I feel that God is saying this is how you should be as taking care of yourself is truly the temple of God. Being all that He has meant for you to be to yourself and to other people by protecting and taking care of your entire well being. This way when you give of yourself you are able to give the best. 

Get up with positive music on that makes you feel good. Have an alarm sound that doesn’t make your dread the day which is upon you. “This is the day that Lord has made and I shall rejoice in it.” Psalm 118:24. Say, “Good Morning” with a big smile even if you want to go back to bed. Smile at yourself in the mirror. Talk good to yourself, make the effort. So if you have a plan for your day, do whatever it is to make yourself feel and look your best according to whatever you have to do today. Keep talking that positive talk. When I was a kid my Mother always said, to smile anyway and fake it until, you make it. Then I got older and realized its truly faith in action believing that the things that are not but will be as I continue to activate my faith by what actions I chose to take. By speaking the words and filling up my being with goodness I would see these things come to life. Maybe it is time to decide to jump and do things you have only dreamed of. Be adventurous. I remember feeling proud of myself for jumping out and trying new things such as eating in a restaurant alone and enjoying myself. Chose things that challenge you and be proud of your attempts. Make a step forward. Which reminds me of something that really encouraged me that I wrote parts of it down in my journal. 

It was from Denzil Washington who said in a graduation speech to a large group of college graduates: If you don’t fail your’e not even trying. To get something you’ve never had you have to do something that you never did. I’ve been protected, I’ve been directed, I’ve been corrected. I’ve kept God in my life and its kept me humble. I didn’t always stick with Him, but He has always stuck with me. Never be discouraged, never hold back, give everything you’ve got. And when you fall throughout life remember this—Fall forward. Never give up, without commitment you’ll never start, but more importantly without consistency you’ll never finish. You have to work at it everyday and you’ve heard the saying we don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan. Hard work, works and workin really hard is what successful people do. In this social media world it tends to make you think just because your’e doing a lot more doesn’t mean your’e getting more done. Fall 7 times get up 8. Don’t confuse movement with progress. You can run in place all day and never get anywhere. Continue to strive, continue to have goals, continue to progress. Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship and anything you want good you can have so claim it, work hard to get it. When you reach back, pull someone else up, each one, teach one. Don’t just aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference. Keep moving, keep growing, keep learning, see you at work. 

Remember the devil has came to steal, kill and destroy. The Word confirms it. No it isn’t just you, the enemy hates us and will do whatever it takes to bring us down and take us out. He thinks the opposite way of God. So combat all that negativity by thinking and believing God’s way. The enemy definitely has always been busy, but it is so evident in the past couple of years. We have authority over him and the ability to make a difference. We also have a responsibility to educate ourselves and to ask God to guide us. The enemy can sneak in and use even good people too to accomplish what he wants too. So this is why we must have discernment and continue to guard ourselves from evil.  Until next time: Do not just believe and trust anyone. Question everything and go to God with it. Ask Him to show you, to lead you. Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”  Do not let your life be overcome by fear and allow you to stay stuck in it. God tells us 365 times in the Bible, “Do not fear.” So that is a reminder of every day to live your life joyful and fearless. I love you all. -Diana Hudgins