The Fruit of Joy (Written by my wife)
But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
I began writing this blog about a month ago and then became
too busy to finish it. The week I had
planned to work on it again was the same week my beloved seven year-old Manx
cat, Xander had to be euthanized.
Therefore, I was unable to write about joy last week. Ironic, isn’t it? But it made me realize even more so how much
joy is a choice in our lives. You may
think that joy is not an active decision, but that one can only have joy when
everything in life is going perfectly.
Realistically, how often can we say there is nothing in our lives that
causes stress? I am mostly a happy
person, with a wonderful husband and a God who loves me, but there are often
things cause frustration and, as with the recent loss, sadness.
Do not sorrow, for
the joy of the Lord
is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
I would also reverse that and say that the strength of the
Lord is my Joy! It is how I can keep a
smile on my face. Yes, I can feel sorrow
at the loss of my cat, but I can still feel happiness and peace when I lean on
the love of the Lord.
I have been relying on the Truths of Isaiah 61:3, “To console
those who mourn… To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of
joy for mourning, The garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of
righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified." Notice here, that our joy glorifies that
Lord!
When you read some of the below verses you will also see
that simply having faith and persevering in the knowledge of God’s goodness
will produce joy.
Like most people, I have had my share of heartache and hard
times. There was a time nearly four
years ago when I was so shattered that I could not pray. Let me rephrase that, I would not pray. I was so
angry and confused with God that there was no way I could consider praising to
lift my heaviness. So, I know some of
you are thinking that I am being too simplistic and unrealistic in expecting
you to praise or sing when you are feeling wounded. It got to the point where my soul thirsted
for the Lord and I could not stay silent.
I missed my Heavenly Father, I knew He did not cause the harmful
situation, and He wanted to comfort His child.
I started small with simply saying, “Thank you,” at the end of each day
for all I still had, especially my husband.
My prayers slowly grew longer until I was back to being my usually
chatty self with the Lord. I was
eventually even able to sing praises again without feeling like I was going
through the motions. It took at least
six months for me to go through the process, but when I chose to pursue joy and
release my anger and bitterness, I began to heal.
I have read possibly thousands (maybe hundreds, but a lot)
of books in my life, and it is difficult to choose a favorite, yet I can say
that next to the Bible, the book that touched me the most has been Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah
Hurnard. If you have never read it, I
highly encourage you to do so. My
husband and I read it together last year and we both were very moved by the
story (We are now reading Mountains of
Spices by the same author on our Kindle.
It is Part 2 to the story and also very good.) Much Afraid’s journey reminded me so much of
myself in allowing bitterness and resentment to bully me to the point where I
was hindered by going to the High Places with the Good Shepherd. Had I been a character in that book I would
have been called Walks by Sight (or Much too Logical). I have learned (am still learning) to become
Acceptance with Joy as I can see that Sorrow and Suffering have been my
companions for a specific purpose. I may
never fully understand why. However, I
can accept the hard times by remembering God only wants the best for His
children, and He does not cause bad things to happen (See Jeremiah 29:11). He can use
the hurts of our past to make us become better people if we allow Him to. That is, when we chose joy.
Here are some more scriptures on joy:
Now may the God of
hope fill you with all joy and
peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit. Romans 15:13
that you may walk
worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him,
being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all
patience and longsuffering with joy;
giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us
into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or
powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. Colossians
1:10-17
Therefore we also,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore
submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your
hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
James 4:7-10
that the genuineness
of your faith, being much more
precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to
praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:7-9
