Choosing Joy and Gratitude Part 2

11/23/22 • 38 min

In the second installment of this two-part interview, Annette (AJ) Spurr shares more gems from her book, "The Simple Joy of Seeing God." Those include some of the following high spots.
The anecdote for fear is focus on God and not our circumstances, according to AJ. She calling on the story of Peter stepping out of the boat and being able to walk on water until he switched his focus from Jesus to the fact that he was standing on nothing but water. She makes the point that people often refer to Peter as the guy who almost drowned by getting out of the boat. But she points out that maybe we need to look at him as the guy who actually stepped out of the boat.
We also discussed the importance of practicing transforming or renewing our minds by noticing the little things in life that can foster joy and gratitude. By using a gratitude journal, she was able to start seeing and reflect upon answered prayers - more things to be grateful for. Tracking answered prayers is a great way to practice gratitude.
She talks about the importance of not only practicing thanksgiving ourselves but training our children to say the secret passwords, "Thank You." She challenges us to remember that in order to be truly grateful we need to express thanks to the gift giver, especially God. This leads us to operating in God's economy and being a joyful giver.
To catch up with Annette, go to her website at https://seeinggod.com.au, where you will also find a link to her book. It also is available on Amazon.
To reach out to Stephen Ray Watts, the musician performing "The Perfect Gift" on this episode, go to https://dotseroband.com
The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com

Previous Episode

Choosing Joy and Gratitude Part 1

Right in time for the Thanksgiving Holiday here in America, we have lessons on gratitude and joy from across a few different ponds. Annette (AJ) Spurr, from Australia, is an author, freelance writer, wife, mom and on a mission to help us recover our joy and gratitude.
Based on many research sources to support her book, she shares some insights about how we may have lost our joy and ways we can recapture it. "The Simple Joy of Seeing God," her first book, starts by telling us some of the elements that may keep us from living in joy and gratitude. In episode one of this two-part series, we talk about three major factors that subtract joy from our lives. She also offers some practical solutions to remedy the situation.
1. Chronic lack of awe. We no longer have a childlike wonder as we observe, move through and share our world. We've lost the ability to see the daily miracles around us. One way to recapture our awe? Go outside and spend time in nature.
2. Avatar effect. AJ tells us that we live in a comparison culture with no point of reference other than that outside ourselves. That leads to comparing what we have to what others have or appear to have. One of the ways to combat this is to simply remember we are loved by God who is our good father and being grateful for what we do have while finding value in our lives through gratitude.
3. She talks about the secret passwords, “Thank you" for helping us enter into the presence of God. Gratitude does not come easily in many cases but practicing just saying "thank you" daily or even hourly helps to shift our perspective and move us into the presence of God. She says, "We are not just thankful to be in His presence. We are in His presence because we are thankful."
In part two of this two-part series, Annette shares three more gems useful for not only identifying our lack of joy, but also practicing ways to reclaim it.
To catch up with Annette, go to her website at https://seeinggod.com.au, where you will also find a link to her book. It also is available on Amazon.
To reach out to Stephen Ray Watts, the musician performing "The Perfect Gift" on this episode, go to https://dotseroband.com
The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com

Next Episode

Choose to Embrace Your Gifts

Yes, you are gifted, talented and creative. You are created in the image of the great Creator. Believe that. The gifts you've been given are for the glory of God, the fulfillment of your soul and the benefit to others.
Today, in one of my rare solo episodes, I explore some of the reasons why we do not see ourselves as creative, or gifted. I talk about why, in my life, I have given real estate in my brain to the reasons that I (for decades) believed I could not offer my gifts because they were not as good as that of others or I could not bring a perfect product to the offering table.
As I share a personal, and hopefully humorous but poignant, story about believing I had to compete and compare myself to another, I hope to shine some light on why we need to focus on what we have been given and not feel bad because we do not have the same gifts as another. We are all uniquely gifted and I want to offer some inspiration to walk into that truth rather than think we must be just like, or better than, someone else. To compete and compare is to dismiss the beauty of our own gifts from God and to relinquish the opportunity to say "Thank You" to the one who gifts us with nothing but good.
To reach out to Stephen Ray Watts, the musician performing "The Perfect Gift" on this episode, go to https://dotseroband.com
The website to connect with Laura Padgett is https://lauralpadgett.com