Joy Is a Choice You Can Make Today
By Kay Warren
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About this ebook
When trouble comes your way, your first thought probably isn't about joy. More than likely, you feel fear, panic, worry, anger, or even hopelessness.
But here's a secret that can change your life: The level of joy you experience on any given day, in any given situation--no matter how challenging it is--is totally up to you. It's not dependent on others--what they do or don't do, how they behave, or what they say. It's not dependent on your circumstances. It cannot be held hostage by pain, disappointment, or grief.
Joy is a choice, and no one has exemplified that more than Kay Warren. While this text was written before the death of her son Matthew, the message Kay wants to share with you remains the same--you can choose joy. And if you want to discover how you can make that choice--every day--you've come to the right place. Drawn from the first three chapters of Kay's popular Choose Joy, this little book illuminates the life of Jesus--a life that exhibited great joy despite opposition, sorrow, and pain--showing you that God created you not for a life of struggle, but for a life of joyful relationship with him and with others.
Kay Warren
Kay Warren cofounded Saddleback Church with her husband, Rick Warren, in Lake Forest, California. She is a passionate Bible teacher and respected advocate for those living with HIV & AIDS, orphaned and vulnerable children, as well as for those affected by a mental illness. She founded Saddleback's HIV & AIDS Initiative. Kay is the author of Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough, Say Yes to God and coauthor of Foundations, the popular systematic theology course used by churches worldwide. Her children are Amy and Josh, and Matthew who is in Heaven; she has five grandchildren.
Read more from Kay Warren
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Joy Is a Choice You Can Make Today - Kay Warren
© 2016 by Kay Warren
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-0267-0
This book is excerpted from Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough, published in 2012.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled CEV are from the Contemporary English Version © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled GW are from GOD’S WORD®. © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.
Scripture quotations labeled MSG are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NCV are from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NJB are from THE NEW JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright © 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled Phillips are from The New Testament in Modern English, revised edition—J. B. Phillips, translator. © J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
1. Seeking a Life of Joy 7
2. Showing Our True Colors 23
3. Rediscovering Jesus, the Man of Joy 35
Notes 57
About the Author 59
Back Ads 60
Back Cover 64
1
Seeking a Life of Joy
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with shouts of joy.
Job 8:21
Joy does not come easily to me; I’m definitely more of a glass-half-empty kind of gal. In fact, I’ve struggled with low-level depression as far back as I can remember. As a little girl, I was emotionally intense—I cried easily, agonized over the pain others felt, and carried the weight of the world on my small shoulders. So I’m not talking to you about joy from the perspective of one of those deliriously happy, peppy people who never have a down day. Some days I’m thrilled just to survive!
The Bible gives some commands that are extremely hard to understand and even harder to live out. One of the most difficult commands is to forgive our enemies. In light of the terrible cruelty and evil we can inflict on each other, this seems like asking an