JOY! by Joyce Schafer

God has been talking to me lately in a single word-Joy. It seems like everywhere I turn I see and hear this word. One of my friends gave me this advice “Don’t let conflict take away your joy in the Lord." Another friend gave me a candle with the word Joy and scripture verse from Psalms 118:24. “This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

A scripture lesson I read recently was from Philemon 1:7 “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of saints. "

Then when I mentioned to one of my SACC Write Sisters that I was writing about joy she gave me this verse by Anne Morrow Lindberg-"For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair."

The finishing touch was when our minister talked about Awe and Joy. God is truly speaking to me and I can only assume that God wants me to have Joy in my life.

It is so easy to feel joy when you are experiencing the good times, but so hard when you are sick, a loved one is dying or when there is a conflict in your life.

I have come to realize that these bad times are necessary because they bring me closer to God. I pray more, I read my Bible more, I seek counsel from my church, family and friends, and finally I am able to give my worries and problems completely to God. Only then do I experience that deep inner peace and take to heart the promise that God made in Psalms 31:5

"Weeping may go on all night; but in the morning there is Joy."