Something caught my attention this week, causing me to ponder about happiness & joy. I thought…does happiness equal joy? No…but then what is the difference? Because I have joy, but not always happiness. Made me wonder. So I looked into our real joy…simply, it is a fruit that is grown by the Spirit inside of us. Among the other things that should grow abundantly: love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) For me, I think happiness is something that’s a “perk” if you will…not a given. Joy however, is something we can find & maintain through sorrow or pain. Joy is that inner calm that connects the hope of our future with the desire for sustinence, which brings us the reminder of joy. Although “stuff” happens, there’s something inside that keeps finding little things to delight in…and I can’t take any of the credit, because it’s not ME that brings those little things into my path. **Interjection, I read a quote this week “If you can’t find joy along the path, don’t expect to find it when you reach the end of the path.”**”When my anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.” (Psalm 94:19) Christ is my consolation. He is my comforter & has provided me with a joy that will not be shaken. If I cling to this, Job’s words in 6:10 will be my words as well…”Then I would still have this consolation–my joy in unrelenting pain–that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.” I cannot say that I am always pure in my thoughts, or that I’m never angry or upset, but deep down I hold on to God as my anchor. Through this, my joy fuels my hope & my hope is enhanced by joy because I can trust that ” They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isaiah 35:10) Yay for Joy!
Category: Faithfulness
Frustrations & Faith
I can’t speak, so I will let the thoughts in my head come out through the only truth I can grasp at this point. “Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say.”–Job 23 (excerpts)I’m doing this today….feeling like “God, what is going on here?” You know me, and you know I’m a fixer, a thinker, an analyzing maniac …..what am I supposed to be learning through this? There is hope, I know that…I don’t feel it right now, but I know there is….but where? What am I supposed to think, feel, grasp, say, etc.? “Lord, you have searched me and you know me….you perceive my thoughts from afar….you hem me in–behind and before; Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”–Psalm 139:1-10 (excerpts) This gives me hope in knowing that no matter how frustrating or far I feel that I’ve gone, how deep my despair, He is still with me…..if I don’t have words or emotions to express the way I feel or the things I’m thinking, He knows them & it’s okay. When I don’t even comprehend the thoughts & feelings flooding my eyes, He sees clearer than I ever will & understands.”Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” –Romans 12:21Remembering the goodness of Christ, the grace He has given, gives me hope for tomorrow and peace for today. Despite the storms that rage against me, He alone is my rock & my salvation. With Him, what can come against me? Though I may stumble & fall, He will lift me up with his righteous right hand & guide me in the paths of righteousness. He will provide for me & comfort me. Say what you need to say
Stand Forever
As I’m working today, the flowers on my desk are all withering away….when I brought back an empty vase, my friend said “Don’t you wish they would last forever?” Then the verse from Isaiah came to me: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
In life, there are things that leave us… beauty, wealth, strength, & power. God’s word survives through it all. Flowers will die off, food will rot, clothes will wear, but God’s word survives through it all. Tragedies happen, relationships fail, warriors are defeated, but God’s word survives through it all.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10) God’s word will sustain us, guide us, redeem us and heal us. He alone will give us strength to press forward, wisdom to judge clearly, discernment in difficult situations, peace when we are restless, and comfort when fear comes close.
“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.” (Psalm 27:4-5) This is my prayer. May you join me in the beauty & love that is our God. He is the sustainer & creator of life. He will be our refuge & our hope. His love abounds to the edges of the earth & the depths of the sea.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction & faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) Stay close to the father and unlike the flowers, you will not fade away.
Hope….and courage.
So today I visited an old (literally old, as in age) friend in the hospital. His whole being is an encouragement to each person that he knows. It is this kind of person that I hope to be someday…but seeing him in the hospital shook me back to the memories of my own grandfather in the hospital. Some of you didn’t know me at that time, but it was a difficult time for me & my family. It was a deep time of uncertainty & disbelief. The quietness of the hospital room, being surrounded by a presence of peace & grace, yet shrouded with fear and pain. In the last few hours that I spent with my grandpa, I sang him some old hymns & read some scriptures…he was unresponsive for two weeks, yet when you held his hand he would squeeze so tight that you knew he understood my intentions were to show my love for him. Today, as I visited my friend, we prayed & he squeezed my hand the way my grandpa did…it brought tears out of my eyes, silently releasing the longing I still have to see my grandpa again. As I remember what God has told us & look back on how I have seen Him work, I know that through this, God IS STILL WITH US. Last night, I watched Martian Child, and the father says to the little boy who has been hurt, abused, abandoned & left behind, “I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER, ever….leave you.” As the child embraces the man who he knows truly loves him more than anything, you get a sense that this is how God reaches out & comforts us amidst our pain. In Romans 8:28 it says “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God.” And Romans 8:38 says “So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. Think on these things & be comforted knowing that though men & women die, leave us, move away or forget us, God will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER….leave us.
Undaunted 