On Joy

I was reading a book from Joyce Meyer as I was getting ready for bed....one of the days this week. and I came to this scripture:

                              John 15:11

I have told you these things that My joy and delight may be in you and that your joy and gladness may be full of measure and complete and overflowing. 

When I had first adopted all of the scriptures about joy I could get my hands on...to me...at that time joy meant something different.

To me-the definition of joy WAS more akin to "hilarity".

There's nothing wrong with that.

Joy can be hilarious. You can be so full of peace in your heart that you find joy and laughter in EVERYTHING. I found myself laughing CONSTANTLY because I had this deep abiding peace that everything was well with my life.

I remember someone telling me in college that I was the kind of person that you pull the shades down on in the morning. Another person called me "caffein bubble" because I was on this constant "high".

And I was proud to have understood that kind of joy in my life. That nothing mattered. I was going to choose to be JOYFUL....

Now....years later....I have found a new definition of the word joy.

Yes....it can be hilarity to me at times still.

But mostly it is not.

Joy to me now is this deep abiding

"CALM delight."

One might mistake it as being absent of joy in the moment.

But joy isn't always EXUBERANCE.  Joy isn't always LOUD.

I don't know. Maybe I know more.

Maybe life is a little more complicated than it was back then.

Maybe it's just the fact that I'm older now.

But then God reminded me of His Word,  

"Be still..........and KNOW." and "In quietness and trust will be your strength"

Now there's JOY in THAT!

Be still....

be quiet....

and just KNOW.

Know He has it all worked out.

KNOW He has all the answers.

He knows the hows whys and whens.

He has orchestrated the past and is orchestrating the future.

Just be still.

And know it.

And in that quietness and trust...............you will find strength.

Where does strength come from?

JOY!!!

I have found that there is this deep abiding JOY when I just am quiet within my spirit and KNOW. Just this quiet trust I have found with the Lord.

It's not so much different from the hilarious JOY I found in walking with Him.
It's just deeper.
Richer.
More precious.
More intimate.

I don't have it all figured out.

But I do know that I still have that joy no matter how it displays itself.

Picture a babbling brook that flows along quietly and peacefully. It's not loud and rushing. Nor is it splashing all the rocks around it and bouncing off the banks.

It's just bringing refreshment to everything and everyone along its path as it quietly flows down stream.

Just a CALM delight.

That's what I've found with the Lord lately.

And it's STILL JOY!

Have a JOYFUL day!
Find a calm peaceful delight in knowing that He's completing a good work in YOU!