1552 Choose Your Party

We’ve all heard the saying “misery loves company”. It’s true isn’t it? Well, let me tell you something else… Misery might love company, but so does joy. And joy throws much better parties.

You get to choose the party you throw and the party you attend. There are pity parties and there are joy parties … and these two are not equal.

You may think when you’re feeling miserable you want someone to come along and feel miserable with you, but what you really need is someone to invite you to a joy party. Joy is contagious. And you know what else joy is? Joy is STRENGTH!

Nehemiah 8:10 “This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

And that applies to today. That applies to every day. Every day God gives you is a sacred day. It’s special. It’s set apart. And in this day, joy will be your strength.

Now think about that, if joy is your strength, and the enemy of your soul wants to make you weak and ineffective, doesn’t it make sense that your joy is under full attack? And doesn’t it make sense that opportunities for misery and invitations to pity parties are in abundance? Of course! Without joy you are weak. If you are weak, you’re not living up to your fullest potential and showing up as the girl you’re created to be.

If the devil can’t defeat you, he will settle for discouraging you. If he can’t take you out, he will settle for taking you down. If he can’t turn you to evil, he will settle for exhausting you.

The devil resides in the pits of hell in misery. Misery loves company. He is continually trying to lure you into misery with him.

I once had a less than brilliant idea. Okay, I admit, it was more than just once. I’ve had multiple less than brilliant ideas. But one particular idea was to have a Colonoscopy Retreat. Why? Because colonoscopies really aren’t awesome and it seems easier to go through crappy things with others who are going through crappy things. (See what I did there). So, we all book a colonoscopy at the same hospital for the same day. I rent a retreat house near the hospital, we all stay together, we all go through the prep together, then we all recover together. Seems like a great idea to share the misery with others who are miserable. But there’s not a house out there with enough restrooms for that crappy retreat.

You know what you need when you’re going through that? Someone who has gone through it, understands it, but is on the other side of it! Not someone sitting in it with you! You’re useless to one another both miserable. It’s a pitiful party.

Joy is your strength. Get yourself around JOY! Draw from their strength.

But, what do we typically do instead when we’re struggling? We withdraw. We hide. We avoid anyone or anything that could be positive, and we gravitate to the negative. We throw our pity party and we invite other miserable souls to be miserable with us. Ohhhhh how the enemy of your soul loves to show up at that party with party favors. Here’s hopelessness for you. Here’s overwhelm for you. Here’s jealousy for you. Here’s bitterness for you. Check the party favors you’re receiving at your gatherings. Are you walking away worse?

Cancel that party and get yourself in the presence of joy. If you don’t have any joy of your own to bring, sit close to those who do. Again, it’s the opposite of our instinct, and you may have to force yourself to attend a joy party when you’re feeling anything and everything but joyful,