I suffered from all 12 joy stealers. In fact, I was so miserable that my husband often threatened to call me “ce” instead of Joyce (true story), which I explained in my last two posts about suffering well. For many of us, we do not suffer well. We tend to perpetuate the painful memories by reliving the pain that robs us of joy in our present lives. The links to my last two posts are: 7 Ways to Suffer Well: (Part 1) and Joseph, an Example of Suffering Well and God’s Response: Part 2 of Suffering Well
12 JOY STEALERS
Sadness: sorrow about the loss of love, honor, respect, innocence, and not being accepted. It is a feeling of dejection, which is a low spirit of depression and discouragement.
Depression: brooding on one’s problems
Apathy: absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement (I don’t care attitude)
Despair: loss of hope
Discouragement: having no courage, confidence, or hope
Grief: keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss
Hopelessness: having no expectation of a favorable outcome
Despondency: being in very low spirits due to a loss of hope and a sense of futility about continuing one’s efforts
Misery: a condition of great suffering because of pain, poverty, etc.; distress
Feeling Inferior: below average; low status, rank, etc.
Feeling Worthless: without worth; of no use, importance, or value
Complaining attitude: to express dissatisfaction, pain, uneasiness, censure, resentment, or grief; find fault
I spoke with an elderly man who spent his whole life reliving his past hurts. Have you ever been around people who have to tell you how bad they had it and the terrible things that happened in their lives? How does that make you feel? Do you relive your past hurts and disappointments? I, too, suffered a lot of hurts, disappointments, abuses, rejections, betrayals, etc., which was why I had no joy and was always angry. I didn’t like living with myself, and I made everyone else miserable. My website, hopeforcompeletehealing.com, contains my story and how I discovered the secret to overcoming these 12 joy stealers, plus so much more.
I asked the elderly man what the purpose was of telling us these terrible things. He said he can’t get them out of his head. I told him the first step was to forgive each person who caused him pain, and then to ask God to take that memory out of his head. I overcame my painful memories by doing this. In fact, just today, I was complaining again. By the way, complaining is a symptom of a painful memory. So, I asked God to show me why I was complaining. I waited until God brought the memories to my mind of how my father often let me down. Next, I forgave my father and asked God to loose (untie and remove) the negative effect of each memory from my mind related to the unmet expectations and the resulting disappointment. This process is explained in detail on my website. I invite you to visit my site to learn more. https://hopeforcompletehealing.com
This man, and many people, are only focused on what they don’t like and the bad things that happened, and they remain stuck in misery. Do you see yourself stuck in the pit of depression and misery? Maybe you feel sad, humiliated, or ashamed, which is stealing your joy. See the following page to transform these negative heart issues with transformation truth: JOY Issues
You may also be interested in reading my story of Freedom from Humiliation and Mental Strongholds of Shame and Sadness
All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.
My latest book is Unlocking God’s Promises, which explains 18 categories of promises that are relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.
If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.
Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.
Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-Changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, the 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.
Hope for Complete Healing 
Dear Joyce, this is a powerful post. I have nominated you for the Liebster Award! It is an award aimed at recognizing new blogging talent and the idea behind it is promoting each other’s blogs. Your blog might not be new, it is definitely worth promoting. You are an awesome and blessed writer. Please find out more about this in my post at: https://patriciawagner.life/2018/07/06/i-was-nominated-for-the-liebster-award/ & For more information and official rules on the Liebster Award, please go to: https://theglobalaussie.com/liebster-award-2018/
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Thank you Patricia, for the nominating me for the Liebster Award. I read your post and was very blessed. Your kind words and encouraging spirit is so inspiring. Unlike you, I struggle to write as I have a writing disability. But God, but God, had a purpose for me that included writing so He forced me to learn to write. I found Pro Writing Aid to be the most helpful writing tool. I have learned so much about how to write well through blogging, though I struggle greatly. In fact, a year and a half ago, God said I was to write a book, lol. He caused me to lose my job so I had the time to write my book. He also told me that when I finished the task He had given me that He would provide another job, which He did. He even provided two fabulous content editors to review my book and to give me feedback, so I am in the process of rewriting. Thank you again for your kind words and encouragement.
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Dear Joyce, this is amazing! And it sounds like God. That is the type of things he does! I am very inspired by your testimony. I look forward to seeing your book come out and to purchasing a copy. Thank you for your beautiful feedback for me, God has all the glory. May God bless you and add another miracle to your life now in Jesus mighty name, amen!
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