Jesus Girls 1, Mean Girls 0

Do you ever have days where someone tries to rip the joy right out of your life?

I do. (And for the record it happened this week at school--nothing major, but yeah it sucked.)

And it’s really hard. It’s a battle. The good girl part of my brain says, “Be nice. Honor Jesus with your actions. Your response is your responsibility. Self control, Emily, self control.”

But the mean girl part of my brain says, “How dare they act that way! I’ll show you, buster brown.”

One part of me says fold your hands in prayer.

But another part of me says throw your hands in the air and throw a good old-fashioned hissy fit.

Issues. I have them. Maybe most of us girls do. Especially that one special week a month.

But God.

I love how those two words interrupt me. Redirect me. Remind me. Comfort me. Battle the mean girl in me. And cause me to pause.

Pause. Just for a minute, pause. And it’s in that pause where we give the Holy Spirit room to interrupt the mean girl response just dying to come out and bloody the situation.

The Holy Spirit says, “Emily, stop and think. It might feel good in the minute to scream, retaliate, pitch a fit and flood the situation with scary emotions. But it won’t feel good in the long run. It will feel awful in the long run. You’ll feel the sting of regret. Come on, Emily… be rare. Be a girl who looks ahead and determines to do what’s best in the long run.”

Yes, it stinks that this other person is determined to steal our joy.

It really does.

But in reality, my joy can only be stolen if I let it be stolen.

In John 15: 10-12 Jesus says, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

Several things struck me as I read this verse. Each interaction I have with others I’m faced with the choice to either remain in God’s love or retreat from God’s love. I can’t control how this other person is acting towards me. But I can control how I act and react.

If I chose to remain in God’s love and react to this other person kindly, it affects my joy. Jesus interjects his joy right into the heart of a kind person. If I make the choice to be kind, instead of my joy being depleted, it will be completed.

So back off, mean girl part of my brain. The Jesus girl in me is taking over. And holding on to every ounce of joy that’s rightfully mine. Circumstances can steal stuff from me. But not my joy.

And all Jesus girls say, “Amen!”