Day 15: Happy Joy

I grew up with the lie that

I was not allowed to be

HAPPY, 

because

every time I was HAPPY

I was picked apart until

HAPPY was so longer.

This lie followed me throughout life

so that

I became my own worst enemy.

Every time I was HAPPY,

I would have to jeopardize it ,

because I believed the lie.

But then I found JOY

“YOU turned my wailing into dancing;

you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy"  

(Psalm 30:11)

GOD gave me PERMISSION

to live beyond HAPPY,

by filling me with HIS JOY.

Oh how JOY overrides HAPPY,

because JOY is in the heart

and HAPPY is based on circumstances.

"Though you have not seen HIM, you love HIM; and though you do not even see HIM now, you believe and trust in HIM and you greatly rejoice and delight with inexpressible and glorious joy, receiving as the result [the outcome,

the consummation] of your faith, the salvation of your soul" (I Peter 1:8-9)

MY JOY & YOUR JOY

is not based on circumstances,

as circumstances come and go,

forever changing.

JOY is FOREVER.

JOY is NOW.

Because

JOY IS JESUS,

even when

I may not be HAPPY

in those times

when what I want to

HAPPEN is not HAPPENING

or when I want

what is HAPPENING to UNHAPPEN.

I am HAPPY,

because I have JOY.

  Jesus

  Only

 You.

JESUS is enough

in HAPPY times

and in UNHAPPY times.

I love the HAPPY times,

and I don't love the UNHAPPY times,

as both come and go.

But JESUS is here to stay.

Whenever I start getting buried beneath

the overwhelming pain, hurt and sadness

of some of LIFE HAPPENINGS,

that strive to make me

 BELIEVE

the lie that I am not allowed to be HAPPY,

I feel a gentle tap on my shoulder reminding me to

LOOK UP

to the ONE who

is my JOY

in every moment.

HIS Indescribable JOY.

Oh no one can steal my JOY, because no one can steal

JESUS from me~

"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. MY FATHER, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my FATHER'S hand. I and the FATHER are one” (John 10:28-30)

PERMISSION TO BE HAPPY~

"Happy are the people whose GOD is the LORD!" 

(Psalm 144:15)

PERMISSION TO BE JOYFUL

even when things aren't going the way I want them to go

because

JESUS will always be JESUS

and

GOD will always be GOD~

"Do not grieve, for the JOY of the LORD is your strength"

(Nehemiah 8:10).

NOW is the time to

BE JOYFUL,

because

JESUS IS NOW,

therefore,

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (Romans 12:12).

Because

"I've got a heart overflowing 'cause I've been restored.

There ain't nothing gonna steal my JOY.

No, there ain't nothing gonna steal my JOY"

(from "Old Church Choir", listen below)