Joy

My word for the year is joy. I know that kind of sounds strange to have a word for the year, but I heard about it on a podcast and thought I would try it out. The idea is that instead of coming up with a billion resolutions that you will more than likely end up abandoning, you ask God what He wants to shift and change, what your theme for the year is. Before I even heard of this concept at the end of last year, I felt like I was hearing a theme of joy being spoken by the Lord for my 2018. I even questioned if joy was really supposed to be my word, but stopped when I asked the Lord for a verse for the year and my Bible opened to Isaiah 35:10. He made it clear; my word is joy.

With the year I have had, that has been hard to believe. When I started 2018, I believed that joy sounded like the perfect word. Who doesn't want more joy? I also thought that joy would be a great fit for the things I believed were coming my way in this year. But, this year did not follow my plan. I'll be honest, this was not a bad year at all. It has been a year filled with a lot of beautiful and wonderful things. It has also been a year that challenged my faith to its core, and ultimately a lot of the heartbreak I experienced was because life did not go as I thought it would. For over half this year, I placed my focus on what I thought should be happening and the joy I thought I should be having. And, as I am sure you can guess, there was not much joy to be found in that place. I kept telling myself that maybe when I was given the word joy, it was because I was meant to learn joy in every situation, but there still did not seem to be much joy. Happiness, sure, but joy, nope.

Until, the past few weeks. You see, the past few weeks, God has been working hard on helping me shift my perspective, off of my plan and on to Him. That doesn't mean I have stopped planning, because, let's be real, I highly doubt I will ever stop planning, but He has invited me to plan with Him, walk with Him, do life with Him. Funny thing is these past few weeks have been filled with more joy than I could have ever imagined. It has not just been little bits here or there; it has been overflowing, abundant joy. This morning as I was getting ready, I was thinking about all the joy that has appeared and how grateful I am to just be enjoying it, and I realized that joy really is supposed to be my word. Then, the thought hit me, What if joy is not about the moments and things that we think are supposed to bring us joy, but instead it is about being present and grateful with where the Lord has me right now? When I heard the word joy originally, I thought that it made sense because of the things that I believed would be happening in this year, but then those things did not happen, and I had spent my whole year waiting to hang all of my joy on those things. But, what if I lived instead with open hands waiting for the Lord to fill them with joy in His love and joy in doing life with Him? As Stasi Eldredge says, "Joy is our birthright." What if, joy is meant to be found when we stop looking for it and trying to create it? I realized this morning, that the joy of the past few weeks has been not dependent upon my circumstances, but instead it has been dependent upon the Lord, His provision, goodness, and whimsy.

The last few weeks have been chaotic, busy, strange, and beautiful. I have watched as the Lord has met my needs in ways I could not expect. All I have done is sit back and laugh at the beauty. We still have a few more weeks left in this year. I don't know what these coming weeks will look like, but I expect joy, abundant joy.

and the redeemed of the Lord will return
and come to Zion with singing,
crowned with unending joy.
Joy and gladness will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee.

Isaiah 35:10