Hey friends! I love you all so much and I'm thankful that God has given me this platform from which to express Himself, as well as all the supporters who stand around me. God! You're crazy good! SLDFkjalskdfjlaksjflaksjfl ksdjfl kj!!! (haha, for clarity's sake, this is what I type when I get too excited to formulate words.)
Sometimes there aren't words for How great He is, so you've just gotta throw your hands in the air, stick your tongue out and go "BLAAAAAAAAAAGH!" I'm 100% serious. My friends Paul and Sam told me that if I led a church some day it would be our call to worship. Try it. It's freeing! Express the joy that is welling up in your soul!
It is okay to be joyful. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is not okay to not be joyful. Joy is the fruit of the Presence of the Spirit of Christ! If He dwells in your body, JOY lives in You! So even when you don't feel happy, surrender to Joy!
I have a few things the Lord has put on my heart, all at once. I just love His perfect timing.
The other day, I saw this sign (to the right) posted outside of a friend's home. Wow. So true. So joy has newly resumed its place in the forefront of my mind. I swear. Go back and read my post Relearning. It's been this whirlwind journey of relearning Love, and then Grace. Now Joy. Wow.
Then my friend Tori got home from Mozambique, where she had spent the semester ministering and receiving at Iris Ministry's Harvest School. She came back and I realized that in many ways, I'd lost my joy. She said something that blew my mind. "Mission work is not a suffering contest." WHAT?! I mean, I knew that. But what?? God wrecked me that night. I mean totally messy silly sloppy wrecked me with His Joy. I laughed like I haven't laughed in a long time.
Then at Church this morning Pastor Carlos spoke on the passage where Jesus sent out the 72. The whole thing is about rejoicing over our intimacy with the Father. Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. And Holy Spirit rejoices in US! Oh man. I'm so glad that I know Jesus. It is totally ridiculous how much He loves us! Carlos went on to share a story about how He had been preaching at a youth conference once on missions (loving the unlovables, feeding the hungry, saving the lost, healing the sick, clothing the poor…like really DOING the STUFF!) and how it is so necessary. He's incredibly inspiring, so I'm sure that it was wonderful, but after the service, he was talking to his mentor about the sermon. The man, who had spent 25 years as a missionary in the remotest parts of Honduras, told Carlos, "You forgot to tell them how fun it is to obey God." It really really is GOOD NEWS. Following Jesus is the most Joy-filling thing you could ever do.
Oftentimes, we idolize sacrifice (or even obedience). We focus so much on what we're supposed to do that we forget why we do it. We obey God because it is a DELIGHT! I read something today on a squadmate (Bryan Matthews)'s facebook wall: "If hearing God is about knowing what to do… then knowing what to do is your god." Wow. Find purpose and joy and fulfillment and identity in Christ Himself. Not in knowing about Him or knowing what He wants out of you. In HIM. In His PERSON.
I'll end with a testimony (and then a song. You know how I love a good song).
So about a week ago, I ran into a friend of mine who'd been struggling a lot. She'd been really blessed by what she read on my blog. (Thank You Jesus! I'm so glad that you can take thoughts that I don't even think will be read and just totally run with them, delivering them where they need to go!) We got to talking and I got to speak all of this Life into her where she had replaced the truth of God for a lie. The enemy (I don't want him to get puffed up, so we'll keep him in his place) weaseled his way in to her heart and lied to her! I see it happen all the time, and it pisses me off to no end. HE HAS NO AUTHORITY. JESUS TOOK IT BACK. NO MORE LIES IN JESUS' NAME! When he gets to your identity, he cripples you – not because he has the right to, but because he tricks us (usually through shame or condemnation) into thinking we aren't good enough. OF COURSE YOU AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH! THAT'S WHY PAPA SENT JESUS!! REST! REJOICE! Go God!
Anyway, that was a tangent. I'm quite tangential…prone to tangents…I don't know how to best, well, nevermind. She forgot the truth and God used me to minister His love and reconciliation. She'd also been hurt physically and had her arm in a sling. God said "Pray" and I said "Okay". Nothing happened. Crap. I misheard Him. I played it off like it was okay, but I was pretty confused. I layed awake that night (Friday Jan. 6th) really struggling to understand, but I felt Him say that I could trust Him with it. He was just pleased with my obedience.
By the time I woke up, it was out of my mind. Then, a few minutes ago (right after midnight, making it Jan. 16th), as I was formulating this post on His timing (cue possible Pirates of the Caribbean reference about "opportune moments") in bringing me back to the central theme of Joy, I got a very, well, timely facebook message:
I meant to tell you! So, like, the day I got home from Crosswave (so, last Sunday) I was just you know…walking around with my elbow in the sling or whatnot, and I suddenly realized that my elbow didn't hurt anymore. And I was tripping OUT because it had been hurting really bad the night before. And so I went to the doctor on Tuesday, and he was SO surprised, because it was completely healed. I was supposed to wear the sling for another week, and it was still supposed to be sore for about a month. But it's completely healed.
Also, you know how I told you I'd been having terrible nightmares for the past year and half? Well, they were super bad. Like, I'd wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, and not sleep well at all. They were actually making me physically sick because of the lack of sleep and stuff. Well, ever since you prayed for me that night I haven't had not ONE nightmare. At all. It's amazing.
I just laughed and laughed and laughed. Wow. We serve an incredibly good God. And He has impeccable taste when it comes to timing. Trust Him. Go where He leads you. Do what He tells you. But ultimately know that your receiving His love and pouring back out to Him and to the world is the biggest blessing to His heart. So just do that and you're set. Don't sweat the small stuff. REJOICE!
