In the Morning Joy Will Come

WEEPING MAY ENDURE FOR THE NIGHT…

Well, hello friends and fellow readers. I’m back and I’m so excited to share another nugget with you.

As Christians we are often told that we are to have joy. However, when life brings us pain and we are sad, somber, and gloomy we often find it harder to feel the joy.

Joy. What is joy? The biblical definition of joy is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness that is dependent on who Jesus is rather than on who we are and what is happening around us. Joy, in its fuller, spiritual meaning of expressing God’s goodness involves more. “Joy is a deep-rooted inspired happiness.”

The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8).

The word says that we should count it all joy when variousthings happen to us. (James 1:2).

How you might say, do I do that? Did you know that joy is closely tied to peace? Well, it is. I know that it is easy to say reach for and hold on to that joy, but when the pain is so real and so raw all we want is for the pain to stop. We grab snatches of happiness along the way. We put on our smiles and hide behind our happy faces, but then we retreat into our closets of depression, low self-esteem, and pain.

I recently saw a quote that said, “Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God.”Well, to commune (focus on God, share your heart, pray intensely) with God is to experience true joy.

In an article that I read the writer said that when you look for the joy of God you will find it. So, we have to actively pursue God to find His joy. It reminds me of the times that I would send one of my children to get something for me; they would come back and say, “I couldn’t find it.” Now, mind you, I told them exactly where it was. When they went back to the place, guess what, bingo, there it was!

Now that might seem a little abstract when we speak about finding joy. But it’s not so farfetched! When we seek the joy of the Lord, we will find that even with all of our problems, situations, and circumstances we can find it. Will we always be happy? No, but we will find peace and contentment.

Why! Because our joy is found in the presence of God. The joy of the Lord is our strength. It will help us to keep pressing forward, to endure, and to hope.

Romans 14:13 reads, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

When you get that joy, no one can take it away from you, because you will find yourself anchored.

Anything fully secured can’t be taken away.

Early in the morning just as the dawn breaks, the sun will peak over the horizon, and you can see more clearly. Joy has come.

We’ll talk again later, but until then you’re wished much love, joy, peace, and blessings.

~Barbara G.