Searching for true joy..

Hmm I was looking at blogs and I came across this blog....I think it's a good blog. So I thought I should share it...because the world's definition of joy is so different than what the bible says it is. Happiness is good but it's temporary. Joy is satisfying long term. Only true joy comes from God. According to this blogger she said that "JOY" stands for Jesus first, Others second, and You third. I find this to be biblical and a struggle. There are so many distractions in my life...that I need to remember that the best way of showing love to everyone that is in my life is by putting God first. If God lives in me and His love overflows in me than it's a good thing for everyone because I cannot give what I do not have. I will always struggle with this issue...but I hope that God will continue to work in me both to will and to do His good pleasure even when it's hard.

JOY= Jesus, Others, You

"Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23) and therefore it should be something that Christians pray for. We pray for patience and peace all the time (at least I do, as a mother of a toddler) but I rarely find myself praying for joy. Actually, almost never.

But, joy is something that God promises to give us as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our life. As we submit to Christ and allow Him to live through us through the Holy Spirit, joy will be evident. Sometimes, this is not easy to do because of our circumstances but we can always pray for it and allow God to work in us what we can’t do on our own.

I’m not sure why joy has sprung up recently – I guess because I see too many Christians (myself included) not joyful even though the God of the World, the Creator of all things, has come to dwell in them through His Spirit. We have forgiveness, we have unconditional love, we have acceptance from God because of what Christ has done for us. Because of this, we will have eternal life. So, why aren’t we joyful?

I believe the acronym for JOY that I ran across several years ago while reading a commentary on Philippians can help. I had forgotten it until I read an article about former model Kathy Ireland (I had no idea she was a Christian!) and she mentioned that this acronym for JOY immediately helps her put her priorities in place. JOY = JESUS first, OTHERS second and YOU last.

As any born-again believer knows, this acronym is Biblical. God in Deuteronomy tells us to put Him first, Christ tells us in Matthew to seek first His Kingdom. Paul in his letters to the Philippians and Galatians tells believers to consider others before ourselves. And what does this lead to? TRUE JOY.

Does this mean we allow people to take advantage of us and run all over us? No, we still set up healthy boundaries that allow us to put God first (for example, if we say yes to every volunteer and service activity, there will hardly be time to put God first and we can stressed and strained. Not to mention grouchy and unjoyful.)

Try it for yourself – see how things change on a daily basis by just focusing on this simple thought. Jesus, Others, You. I promise you’ll see that God will meet all of your needs in the time that He’s given you if you simply trust His plan."

Internships, internships, internships

So I've been spending the last few weeks looking for a graphic design internship in the Pittsburgh and Washington, PA area. It's been frustrating. Very frustrating. Many of the graphic design internships requires you to know some HTML, CSS coding and website stuff. I was suppose to learn that kind of stuff this past year, but the department couldn't find a new design professor to replace the one that left last year.
As a result, I have learned nothing web-design related this year.

I applied to about eight different places that offer graphic design internships that's strictly print media related (which is something I DO know how to do)...some didn't offer internships but was offering a job. I e-mail them my resume anyway...and wrote a cover letter proposing that they can hire me in the summer as a temp worker until they find a full-time person for the graphic design position.

So...I said a few prayers. And fingers crossed.

I really really really hope I can get a good internship somewhere...I really would love to have more experience.

And...that's my thoughts for now.