The Mid Life Joy Challenge #midlifeJOY

God recently had a little smack down talk with me.   In light of my impending 40th birthday, God had a question for me:

 "If you're not happy now, with all I have given you, when will you be happy?"  

I didn't have an answer.
You see, I live my life chasing happiness on the tail of one little word -  WHEN.  

I will be happy WHEN I am married - CHECK
I will be happy WHEN we have a child - CHECK, CHECK
I will be happy WHEN we move to that house - CHECK
I will be happy WHEN we make XX amount a year - CHECK
I will be happy WHEN I have a good career - CHECK

There's a never ending list of WHEN's you can chase.  I have more freedom, luxury, security, love, and pleasure than 99% of the world's population. I have been saved for eternity by the blood of my Savior.  Yet when people ask "How are you?" my most common answers are;  busy, tired, or fine.  If I'm honest, I have to admit that I'm not a very happy person.  You see there's still a list:

I will be happy WHEN I lose 50 lbs - 
I will be happy WHEN we are out of debt -
I will be happy WHEN ...

So, I had no answer for God.

Sitting in the silence of our conversation He whispered a new word to me:  JOY.  Joy?  That surprised me.  Not contentment, or even happiness?   He whispered JOY.   He whispered it into my ear like a reminder, an assignment, a challenge.  God wants me, His daughter, to be full of JOY now, not later, not WHEN, but now, because it's already been given to me.  You see JOY is very different than happiness.  

Happiness is a feeling human's seek, JOY is a gift God has given us. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Happiness is fleeting, JOY is eternal (John 14:1-3) 
Happiness is self-centered, JOY is God-centered.  (Psalm 1:23)
Happiness is fragile, JOY is strength.  (Nehemiah 8:10)

I've accepted the challenge to start living out a life of joy.  I'd like to invite you to join me.  
This year-long project will consist of monthly themes that will force us to take a look into areas of our lives that are stealing our Joy.  We'll look at what God says about these areas, memorize truth-giving scripture, and then walk out these truth with a challenge.  Each month I will post at the beginning of the month about the theme and challenge, at the end of the month I will post a personal recap of how I walked out the challenge.  

The challenge for January is to decide to join me in the Mid Life Joy Challenge.  If you are not subscribed to The Celebrated Family - you can do so on the right hand side of the website.  With the remaining days of January share a picture on Twitter, Instagram, of Facebook with the tag #midlifeJOY.  Let's keep our eyes open for JOY and share it with one another.  

Winner Announcement: Devotions for a Healthier You

I recruited some help to announce the winner of Devotions for a Healthier You by Katie Farrell.  Thank you for all the comments here, and on Facebook, sharing your one step toward health.  I pray blessings over the steps you desire to take this year in becoming a healthier you.  

Devotions for a Healthier You

Today kicks off our Family Faith Resources series.  We all have limited time and money to put into finding great resources for our family, so I aim to help you this year with reviews of great new books and movies ... and I'm giving them away!

Fellow mommas,  today's resource is just for you.  Katie Farrell's Devotions for a Healthier You is a treasure of a book.  It is lovely. It's the type of book that reassures me that the art form of book publishing is alive and well.

After seeing too many bad books out there that try to combine health, weight, and Jesus, I have to admit I am leery of the Christian health genre.  I'm just not interested in another "pray the weight away," product.   Devotions for a Healthier You could not be farther from that cliché.  Katie Farrell has crafted devotions to help woman dive into the Word of God to find their true beauty, strength, and health.  Devotions cover such topics as:  knowing who we are, finding contentment, people pleasing, and laying your burdens down.  The fact that Katie genuinely seeks to find her identity and beauty in Christ is evident throughout the book.  These are not hollow words she writes. You can hear her story here.

Each devotions is based on scripture and ends with prayer.  These short devotions would pair well with journaling, or would be a great mid-day break for busy mommas who just aren't going to get in a 45 minute Beth Moore study each day.  This book is going to be one of my go-to gifts this year.  I know it will bless my friends and fellow mommas.

Sprinkled throughout the devotions are recipes and "dashes of inspiration" which make the book a treat to thumb through over a cup of tea.  The book also includes prayers for health, and identity scriptures, which would both be great for memory work or written out on a sticky note on your mirror or desk.  The book concludes with a sample week meal plan.  (If this leaves you wanting more, you can find it on her website Dashing Dish)

We are a few weeks in to the New Year.  Do you have the goal of making 2015 a healthier year, be it physically, spiritually, or both?  Farrell writes, "Living a healthy lifestyle does not have to be hard work or a drastic change.  The best place to start is by making small changes in your everyday life."  (pg vii)

One of the changes I am making this year is making appointments to exercise on my calendar, and treating those appointments as valuable as work appointments. What one change are you planning on making?  Maybe it's to have a regular time to read the Word?  Maybe it's to start eating healthier?  I'd love to hear your changes in the comment section below.    On Friday Jan 16th, I will select one reader from the comments to receive a free copy of this beautiful book.