"Delight yourself in the Lord
and He will give you
the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:4

this verse has literally confounded me for about a decade. seriously. and today, i was blessed to see what it means. duh. the blinders were lifted, and i feel  kinda silly that i didn't "get it" before. but i am so thankful that i do now. i just keep chuckling, and thinking, "really, amy? really?" so simple. yet so hard to do. all these years i've been trying soo hard to understand what it means, really means, to delight myself in the Lord, beyond the obvious finding joy in none other but the Lord. understanding that all joy comes from Him. allowing myself to find all my joy in Him. WHY have i been looking beyond that? did i really think it couldn't be that simple??

in order to find joy in life, we must first find joy in the Lord. yeah. i know. DUH.

to find joy, to be joyful...to DELIGHT in the Lord...

you must recognize yourself as a sinner. check. i don't know if there is anyone alive who recognizes themselves as a sinner as much as i do (see...there it is again, boastfulness & pride. high-mindedness. i sin. all. the. time.)..

you must confess your sins. to God and to those you have wronged. this one i am not as good at. i tend to confess sin in general terms, and i'm not good at asking forgiveness if i've sinned against someone say, a long while ago & i figure that maybe they didn't even realize it, or that they've already forgiven me without me even asking..or that maybe by asking forgiveness i will bring it to light and cause them greater distress than if i just let it go. i am working on this. as well as being more specific.

you must trust that God is going to and has extended His Grace to you, through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, and His amazing Love....and accept His forgiveness as whole and permanent. this is hard for me, too...because i know i don't deserve it.

but that is where the amazing thankfulness & gratefulness comes from. if you know that God extends His mercy and grace to you... even though you don't deserve it, because He LOVES YOU SO MUCH....what else really matters? 

and this brings joy. joy unspeakable. and full of glory.

and this. finding your joy in the Lord. not your job, not your family, not money, not in the glorious beauty around you, not in relationships, not in possessions, not in ANYTHING other than HIM...this is delighting yourself in the Lord. you may find joy in all those other things...but first, find a high degree of gratification, extreme satisfaction,  excessive happiness and felicity in Him..and then, when you recognize that nothing, no one will ever afford you joy in the way that He can, and will...then He will give you the desires of your heart. ♥

duh.
for real.

isn't it awesome, and also slightly annoying to AHAAAAAA, figure something out that you've known all along??