Joy is an ‘Inside Out’ Job

Did you see the Pixar movie, Inside Out, in which a girl named Riley grapples with mixed emotions (joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust) around her family’s move to a new city?

We saw it when my son Trevor was little, and he exclaimed, “Mommy, you’re the joy character!“

That was true for most of my life until I got sick. By year three of my journey, I had lost joy. The only time I felt it was in my dreams. Then I would wake and face the drudgery of another day filled with pain and fatigue.

Life was like that for some years until I started reading my Bible.

When I moved to Arizona, I looked for a church and contacted Chad Nanke, a pastor affiliated with Andrew Wommack Ministries.

Pastor Nanke visited me in my home and remarked, “You strike me as a joyful person. However, you’ve let sickness rob you of your joy in the Lord. Healing may be finding it again.”

His words struck pay-dirt.

So, a few weeks later, I signed up for a session with Dr. Kevin Chapman, a licensed clinical psychologist and Founder of the Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders.

I had seen Dr. Kevin’s Sound Mind Show on YouTube and wanted his guidance on how to get my joy back.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqXU-GuwMy4KE4ZuvSguQAjprK22coUU6&si=PFCq5F5xggOAaOYP

He shared that I was experiencing Anhedonia, the clinical term for when someone’s brain loses the ability to feel joy or pleasure, usually due to trauma, loss, sickness, etc.

Since it was the holiday season, he said encouragingly, “Tell me five things you can this Christmas to feel joy in your heart.”

I thought for a moment, and then gave him my list:

• Send holiday cards to family and friends
• Put up and decorate my tree
• Bake and deliver brownies to my neighbors
• Listen to holiday music
• Buy ornaments with my son’s pictures in them.

“Good,” he said. “Start with these and let me know how it goes.”

By doing this ‘joy-building’ exercise, here’s what I discovered:

First, joy is a choice. If we’ve been born-again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ joy, which is independent of circumstances, is in us. Just like the Pixar film, Joy is an ‘inside out’ job; it is up to us to bring it out.

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines … Yet I will rejoice in the Lord” (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

Second, the more we experience joy, the more our brains seek it out. For example, it was only three months later that I went to Cleveland to celebrate my birthday at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and see a Cavaliers versus Heat basketball game. Those two things would not have been possible if I hadn’t practiced joy in the Lord!

“Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10)

So, the next time you are sad, feel it. Let your body process it so it can move through you. Then you won’t get stuck in sadness, which is when it becomes depression and anhedonia.

Build joy into your routine, including giving it to others. Brightening someone else’s day is one of the best elixirs!

If you keep flexing your joy muscle, you’ll become like the Hebrew word Chedvah, which represents a frisky lamb skipping across a field.

That joyful lamb is your true nature beloved child of God!

#joyintheLord