JOY

JOY. It is one of the most beautiful three letter words I think, so full of hope and promise. We all long for joy, perhaps more than we do for anything else, but we don’t hear much about joy in our world today, we do hear an awful lot about happiness. Happiness is the word of the times and it comes in all shapes and sizes and with varying price tags. If you stop and think the next time you see an advertisement the whole premise is that what they are selling is somehow going to make us happier. A ’in’ outfit, a tasty meal, a prettier face…these are all for sale in our world today and they claim if we can just gather this, that, and the other the formula of all this stuff will equal my happiness and yours. It sounds kind of silly, but don’t we often live that way? Perhaps we don’t think our happiness depends on what we have or how we look , maybe it’s more friends we think we need to be happy , or freedom from our illness, or for our most distressing problem to just somehow go away. Often we live waiting for a time when things will be ’better’ then we think we will be happy. Trials enter our lives and if we cringe, sigh and sadly wave goodbye to happiness for a while we are revealing that in our heart of hearts we really believe that our well being is bound up in our circumstances. But doesn’t the Bible teach us that we should always have joy? And if so what is the source of this elusive and so sought after joy?

According to my dictionary “happiness results from the possession or attainment of what one considers good” wow! that’s something to think about. If that is true part of the key to happiness lies with in our own hearts and what we are considering good. So what is your joy dependent on? What are you considering good …or not good? If our joy is dependent on things of this earth or even on the people in our lives we should prepare to be disappointed. Life in this fallen world will never be perfect! There will always be one more thing in our lives that in our minds needs fixing. But what if our source of joy was God our Creator and Savior? What if we could have joy on the mountain AND in the valley because we know that we are the children of a good and sovereign God and that nothing, nothing is allowed into our lives that is not for our good? Now that’s what I call secure and certain joy because we know no matter what else changes in our lives HE remains the same. There is a reason to rejoice!

“I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. …You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:8-9,11

Hello from Sarah!

Just to start off, let me just begin by saying this: I LOVE being around my Christian friends and family, but I also love those moments where I can escape the business and craziness of life and find a quiet place alone somewhere to just think and talk to my heavenly Father.  He is always there right beside me!  The comfort of His friendship and the surety of His counsel are as close as my next breath... all I have to do is call upon His name, and I know He'll be there, ready to hear what I have to say.  And guess what?  I KNOW that He has a lot to say to me too... answers for all my questions, and solutions to all my doubts...  If I will open my Bible in faith (Faith is believing in the unseen), that's when I can always hear His voice !!!!
Anyway.  I said all that to say that that's how I plan to get ideas for my posts.  Actually that's the whole reason why I'm blogging!  I want to share with my sisters in Christ some of the things that God has shared with me during those special moments where we talk, just the two of us.  (Its that simple, and just as real!)

Its like the way two close friends would be with each other...  there's always something new to talk about!  That's how God wants to be in our lives.  Like a really, really, really close friend and confidante that you would call on ANYTIME to talk to about ANYTHING with, simply because we love and trust Him.

Sometimes God will be straight with us, however.  There may be some things in our hearts and lives that He wants us to get turned around.  (I promise you, He won't hesitate to bring  it to your attention somehow!)  The truth might make you uncomfortable, BUT, the nice thing about God is that He does more than just point out our problems.  He tells how we can fix it the fastest way possible, gives us the strength to do that, and promises His rewards to those who (1) obey the warning and (2) avoid further temptation.

Being a friend of God is about loosening our grasp on this life.  Trusting God means knowing that no matter what happens in life, even trials and tragedies, nothing can come our way without first passing through the filter of His love.

God's got everything figured out... and for those who really  want to follow Him, that's an extremely comforting thought!

Jesus said:

"You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. "
-John 15:14-15