Day 23 of Finding Joy in the Journey
Isaiah 9:3
You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.”
We return to this qoute from Isaiah that anticipates the arrival of the Messiah Jesus – a light for the Gentiles and the glory His people Israel. Part of His becoming a man was to experience what we go through (attuning to our situations): Hebrews 4:15: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
From the Joyful Journey book:
In his book, Outsmarting Yourself, Karl Lehman emphasizes how receiving attunement helps restore our RC function. He explains that we will feel seen, heard, understood, and cared for when successful attunement (a mutual-mind state) takes place. We no longer feel alone. Immanuel journaling is based upon the conviction that God offers His children perfect attunement as a good parent does whenever relationship is needed.
~ page 35, Joyful Journey, Wilder, Kang, Loppnow, Loppnow
Session A: We continue revisiting joyful memories recorded on your Golden Moments list. Look for God’s presence in the joys. Invite Him to share thoughts about joys you’re recalling. Again, notice body sensations, attitudes, heart rate, etc.
Journal Prompt:
Practice seeing God in the present and past joys:
Key Words:
[Jesus] To increase your joy – an abundant-harvest level of joy – I took on flesh and bone. This made my sacrifice death effectual. I see you. I hear you, I understand your situation. I am with you. I can help.
Afternoon Session
Ecclesiastes 2:26
For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
From the Joyful Journey book:
Thought rhyming takes participants through five steps from God's perspective as God offers attunement to His children. In distress, God helps us restore our RCs and peace. Through the Immanuel journaling process, God brings healing to the broken interactions (mis-attunement) we experienced in life. Suppose we need to start our thought rhyming while we are feeling upset about something; we can use the following sequence.
1. I see you
2. I can hear you
3. I can understand how hard this is for you.
4. I am glad to be with you
5. I can do something about what you're going through.
(Thought rhyming instructions found on pages 36-44 of joyful journey)
~ page 35, Joyful Journey, Wilder, Kang, Loppnow, Loppnow
Session B: Thought Rhyming as Immanuel Journaling:
Take one or two of your joys from today (or your list) and envision God responding with one or two sentence “thoughts” in the following areas:
Journal Prompt:
I see you,
I hear you,
I understand you,
I am glad to be with you,
I and can do something about your situation.
Key Words:
Prayer
Let it please You Father God to give us wisdom and knowledge and joy. We are no longer identified by our sinfulness (“sinners”) but as Your chosen and holy ones – “saints.” Thank You for saving us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
Evening Session
Session C: Reflecting with Interactive Gratitude:
Spend five minutes reflecting on the day or week.
Journal Prompt:
Journal a sentence about what you are grateful for and then write down how Jesus might respond.
Key Words:
1 Kings 8:66
On the eighth day he (Solomon) sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.
This joy event was the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem, consecrated as part of the Festival of Tabernacles that year. High joy encompassed the community. Our bodies, brains included, are temples of the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Jim Wilder contends we can share mutual-minds states with God (because we have the mind of Christ). This enables us to experience the thought poetry described in Joyful Journey.
From the Joyful Journey book:
Jim Wilder explains that there is a control center on the right side of the brain with four different levels (Wilder, 2004). This control center contains the system Karl Lehman later named the relational circuits (RCs). The control center is where we find the mutual-mind states that create “thought poetry...” The main function of the control center in our right brain is to handle emotions and social interactions. Handling emotions and social interactions maturely is what we have called "suffering well." The control center also contains our joyful identity that grows through relationship and practice in joy.
~ page 34, Joyful Journey, Wilder, Kang, Loppnow, Loppnow
Prayer
Jesus, I re-consecrate my body-temple to You. I hail You as my King and welcome You into my heart and home, my relationships and responsibilities. Amen.
I give everyone and everything to You God;
I give everyone and everything to You.