Joy

This week I have had many things I am reflecting.  Many.  I have been blessed to be a part of an experience professionally that really brought about some deep reflections.  I have had some needed conversations.  I have gone through some special sentimental things.  I have had some private things shared with me from the teens that come to our home a lot that is deep and personal and heavy.  And I have been deep in the word, both for myself and for the bible study I was having with the teens in my home tonight.  One particular thing has kept recurring in my thoughts through all of this... its the three letter word of JOY. 

I had a friend mention the word this week and the conversation we had spurred me to really dig again into what JOY is.  I am profoundly grateful for God's word that I can use to really line up what I know as truth and that is to what I will write of tonight.  What is joy... in general, and to me.

In John Chapter 15, we are reminded that it is our relationship with our Christ that opens our lives to His joy.  Joy comes only from being immersed in His love and then sharing that love with others.  Then and only then is our joy fulfilled.  It says in verses 9-11,  “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."  Our joy is given to us from Christ's joy when we keep his commands and when we love as He loves.  Then our joy is complete.  COMPLETE!

What does that mean?  Does that mean if we have a hard season and we aren't as happy as we normally are that we have lost our joy?  Does that mean we can't be sad or struggling?  Absolutely not.  Joy is not happiness and must not be confused with it. Happiness is based on circumstances.  When my bills are paid in full I am happy.  When I owe, not so much.  But either way, I still have joy because joy is not based on circumstance but rather on Christ. 

It is huge to remember this and hold to this, especially when things are difficult.  We will all have season of trial.  The bible even warns Christians to be prepared because we will have them.  In John 16:33 we are told, "33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  Yes, we will have trials and tribulations and we will have seasons of sadness and struggle.  And in those, our happiness may diminish on an earthly level.  But... "I am the vine and you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, but apart from me, you can  do nothing."  As long as we remain in Christ, we will continue to draw others to Him, even in our earthly sadness or sorrow, because His joy remains in us and continues to be a light in the dark.

I don't know about you, but it is very much an encouragement to me to know that just because I have a hard season or feel sad for a time, that it is no reflection of the inner JOY that has been made complete in me through Christ.  Kind of takes the weight of my shoulders and places it back where it belongs... at the foot of the cross.  I learned a long time ago, through the illness and death of my sweet Tuffy, that God is a God in ALL seasons.  He is with me on my mountain tops and He is even more present with me in my valleys.  He walks with me.  He carries me.  He sits with me. He holds me.  He gave me every emotion I feel and as long as I feel it while still seeking to glorify Him, then He allows it because in all emotions there is glory for Him and growth for me.  What a gift to know that I can sing with joy or cry with joy... either way... it is with JOY because He loves me and I love Him right back!

I am so excited about some of the things God has brought me to and through lately.  They aren't anything on the scale of losing my son, but they are daily hardships and challenges that I have experienced that have really made me rely on Him alone.  And when no one else seems to really understand sometimes what exactly it is I am experiencing on the many different levels, I find when I open the Word of God, sit in prayer, listen to a sermon, or embrace bible study time with others on Sundays (and my new one on Mondays YAHOO!), God always understands, blesses, stretches, and reaches down to touch me. 

And all over again, my joy is made complete and I know, even when I am sad, it is never ever lost, because the One who IS joy is with me!

Joyful!!!

Robin