“There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while… Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious inexpressible joy.” 1 Peter 6-9 (NLT)
When I was a little girl, I was always trying to make people laugh, especially my mother. I’ve always thought my mother was beautiful and I still do. She has always enjoyed laughter, love and family gatherings. I can remember a few times when she was going through something difficult. I was used to seeing a smile on her face but during these times I could tell things were a little off. I recall purposely being silly in front of her and using my best efforts to make her laugh. When that beautiful smile flashed across her face, my world had straightened up again. The audience had been captured and all was right again for that moment.
That is what joy in God does…it invades the dark space where sorrow has hunkered down. It doesn’t knock on the door but flings it wide open and walks right in as a trespasser. Joy recalls past smiles as it begs sorrow to remember the great times. Joy dances around trying to make sorrow laugh in spite of its present circumstances. Sorrow can sometimes be afraid to laugh and turns it’s back on joy, fearing a smile would be disrespectful to the growing challenges.
But contrary to sorrow's belief, God gave us joy…inexpressible joy in Him…for challenging times such as this. The more we trust God in our sorrows, the more we see the visible manifestation of an invisible loving Father. In our sorrows we must open our hearts and search our landscape for joy’s footprints. Sometimes we must look backwards to find our joy identifying God’s faithfulness in other difficult times. But most times, we must look forward because that is where joy dances it’s best and holds out it’s hand to us to join the party of hope. We will never be let down or led astray when we waltz with the fruit of the Spirit called joy.
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