Choosing Joyfulness
Resolution for a broken spirit.
“A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22)
Since I received the diagnosis of breast cancer, I learned to value the Word of God even more. On many occasions, the Spirit of God’s Word has lifted my spirit from the depths of anxiety, and like a surgical procedure, His Word has brought joy to my inner parts.
The wisdom of this blessed scripture tells us that there is a healing effect which occurs in us when we make a choice to be joyful. However, you cannot fake being joyful. I’m a witness! There was no way in this world that I could fake being joyful while facing the brutal psychological and physical battle of having aggressive breast cancer. Genuine Joy comes from God, in whose presence causes our hearts to burst into radiant beams of joyfulness - lifting our spirit and, therefore, bringing healing to mind and body. Being joyful is of God, and we get to choose to receive it. Some might ask, “Do I have a choice in this situation?” The answer is, “yes!” You see, the whole premise of this word is that someone is choosing to rejoice despite the condition of their situation. They choose to consider the good that God has done, rather than the misery and the opportunity to be angry, sad and depressed.
Operating out of a broken spirit can lead to lethal results that can be catastrophic to our physical bodies, as illustrated by this word, “a broken spirit will dry up the bones.” There is no resolution in “faking it until you make it,” as if you do not have a choice in the matter. When your life is on the line, you do not have time to waste faking joyfulness; however, we can choose to be joyful.
I had to choose to be joyful by acknowledging the fact that I was weak and in need of God’s divine intervention. When I opened my heart to God, He gave me a new song to sing while my physical body was in excruciating pain. Yes, I thank God for the oncology staff that continues in their efforts to care for my physical body. However, only God can heal us from the inside outward.
My personal prayer is to choose to be joyful. Admit that I have been deeply damaged, choose to repent and accept God’s Joy.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”1 Corinthians 4:7-10;16