God’s been speaking to me a lot lately. And maybe it’s not that He’s been speaking more than usual, just the fact that I’ve been more willing to listen. Sometimes listening to God is hard because it forces us to hear things that we don’t typically want to hear. Plus if we ignore God and act like everything’s okay then everything looks like it’s okay although it never feels that way.
I
t’s like embracing lies or half-truths… or something.
But God’s been speaking to me a lot lately about joy. It’s not that I don’t have any joy, I just haven’t been the most willing to plunge the depths of my soul with an outstretched arm and grab it with brute force.
So last week I went for a walk with Jesus… because in the last few years I’ve learned that God really likes to go for walks (as do I, funny how that works). It might have something to do with the fact that He probably likes to watch us, as sons and daughters, admire His creation. Or it could be that it just gets us away from a lot of distractions.
But on my walk He was talking to me about happiness and joy. He said something that really stuck out to me, “Joy is not an emotion.” And it’s probably something that I already knew, but for some reason it reverberated in my ears with an even greater intensity than before.
I’m reminded that in Nehemiah it says, “joy is our strength.” Non-joyous people are weak people. And there have been too many times in my life that I have not been a very joyful person. Happy, yes… but joyous, no.
So I started this little exercise where every day I wake up and start thanking God for something. Anybody who knows me knows that I am not a bubbly morning person. I’d rather spout off curses than start shouting off praises.
I’ve started saying a praise here, a praise there; thanking God for this, and thanking God for that. It starts my morning off on a good note actually. I might even be more willing to talk to people. But it also seems to illumine the joy that’s been hibernating in the recesses of my soul.
And with joy illumined, so is my strength. I’m able to better grasp it with Kingdom force, with such intensity that it begins to overpower me – overpower me in the most magnificent way.
And maybe I’m not the one to be the judge of my own joy; that kind of thing is probably better left to those around me. But I really like to think that I’m more joyful.
