Cure for Selfishness?

Not too long ago I read Diane Hunt's Victory Call - "What Am I Holding Onto?" And it caused me to question, "How do I live MY life? IS it MY life to begin with?!"
I believe I found mySELF acting on, "what will make ME happy?"

I have a Bible app on my phone and I signed up for one of the reading plans called Jolt of Joy. I (I) guess I (I) felt I (I) needed some joy in MY life. (I hope you are getting the picture here...of MY SELFishness).

But GOD....time and time again GOD kept showing me as I was reading these devotionals that life is NOT about ME. The way TO joy is not about me....

Another morning I woke up thinking about MY life and my relationship with God and I asked myself this question, "Am I about ME or am I about HIM?" Within moments I was reminded of a familiar acronym for joy.

JOY=Jesus-Others-You

Right away, I thought, "Wait a minute here, is this the order in which I should live MY life?? If so, that means...I have to THINK and CONSIDER Jesus FIRST...then OTHERS....and THEN me??...What??!! I'M pretty far down on the list, don't ya think?

Hmmm, what does it say I will have if I choose to live MY life in THIS way? Could it possibly be JOY?

Think about it...does a life of SACRIFICE equal a life of JOY?
Tell me, does that make sense?!
NO!!

But then again, God's ways are NOT our ways; HIS thoughts are not our thoughts.
I feel I need to share and give testimony here that this is TRUE. For the past three to four months there have been things going on in MY life where it has been ever so tempting to just focus on MYSELF-but God!!

Over and over again He has intervened and provided "a friend that sticks closer than a brother" to lead me into close intimacy with my Lord and Savior Jesus!
The result! I've decided that no matter what is going on in my life, Jesus will be the calm in the storm, the peace that passes understanding, and the JOY that floods my soul.

JOY equals-Jesus-Others-You!
The cure for SELFishness!....Something to think about.

"Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men." ~ Phil. 2:1-7

Sue Mercer
Women Of Character Graduate

May is fast approaching and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.

ONE. WALK - call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.

TWO. Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Go to Family Freedom Walk Support . Be sure to designate your gift to FFW: VC

Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter's team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!

Come join in the fun. Please?