Choose Joy Book Study - Intro & Chapter 1

I’m a glass-half-empty kinda girl. As a matter of fact, the glass is also dirty, has a chip in it, and leaks.

I think that’s what drew me to this book. The title is Choose Joy after all, so it must contain some insight on ending up with a joyful heart, right?

Choose Joy Book

If you started reading this book with me, you might be wondering why I would choose a book written by someone who succumbed to her illness at the age of 38. The answer is simple. Her writing is open and honest. She doesn’t sugarcoat the details or her disease (ankylosing spondylitis and leukopenia which, as she fought, caused her to developed steroid-induced Cushings). She talked about the incredible pain and loneliness of being totally homebound. She’s real.

But throughout the daily struggles, she chose joy. To say I admire that would be an understatement. I desire joy, I long for it, and I fall so short.

“She chose joy. Not happiness, which is as flimsy as a shirt blowing on a line in the breeze, but true heart joy, which sustains through obstacles, disease, death.”

I love what co-author Mary Carver said in the introduction,

“Given this overwhelming army of diseases that attacked her from the inside out, Sara was a prime candidate for bitterness, self-pity, or depression. And who could have blamed her? But rather than dwell on her pain and her loss, Sara chose to trust in a God Who is good all the time and to be filled with gratitude, hope, and joy.”

Here are a few of my takeaways from this week’s section:

In Chapter One, Sara explains how she wasn’t an overly confident person. She was simply in the habit of saying yes. She continued doing the next good thing and had faith that God would wrap together her habit with opportunities for Him. Instead of looking at all the things I can’t do, I need to focus on the next good thing I can do. The rest is up to God.
Although she became completely homebound, Sara kept her connections and friendships a priority. She believed the most important thing you could give someone was your time. What a statement in today’s electronic world. Too often we’re having dinner while we’re all looking at our cell phones instead of interacting with those around us. Time is precious. I need to be present in the moment with those I’m with.
Sara noticed how her friends still showed her love. She mentioned it was in the little details that could easily go unnoticed. But she noticed. She was intentional in how she viewed life. She looked for each little thing to be grateful for. So often I do the opposite.
Mary mentioned that Sara continued choosing to live a beautiful life even after she became ill. It wasn’t the life she had hoped or planned for but it was the life she was living. I tend to spend too much time thinking of the life I wanted to be living instead of the beauty around me. And face it, not many live out the life they plan for or dream of.
“But the reason I am happy is that I choose to look at my blessings more than my burdens.”
The final two paragraphs of Chapter One left me in tears. Sara trusted that God had a use for her illness or else He would have taken it from her. She was totally at peace with the unanswered “why me?” that I’ve uttered one too many times. She didn’t need to know why. God knew and that was all she needed. I pray for that peace with my circumstances!