There is something we all need right now, and I found a gentle reminder of it.
The other night we were on our way home from enjoying Christmas lights and a fun family day in the town of Celebration. About a mile from our home, everything went dark. There was a huge power outage in our area. The street lights weren’t lighting up the corners, and the Christmas lights on the neighboring houses weren’t festively glistening in the night. We live in the country, so one of the only things we saw giving us hints of lights were the multitude of stars in the sky. But wait there was something else.
Our home, which is usually lit with an abundance of landscape lights (as in the photo above), was just a still structure surrounded by darkness enveloped with oak, cypress, and pine trees. As we drove through the gate, there was one thing that was glowing. One thing that can be found amongst the darkness was the word JOY.
I was grateful that my man put the solar light in place to shine on the Christmas lawn decoration.
JOY.
Isn’t that what we all need during this year of change/gloom/uncertainty/darkness?
JOY.
Even in the midst of darkness, when you have Jesus Christ in your life you can have JOY. You may not be always happy (external), but JOY (internal) will come in the morning when you walk with Christ.
I want to encourage you to keep your eyes on God. Live for Him. Find true JOY in Jesus. Allow Him to change your gloom into glory.
Have JOY.
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 NIV (emphasis mine)
Blessings to you and yours,
Stephanie
Here are other journal entries on joy: https://soakinguptheson.com/new/?s=Joy
I had to include this by Natalie Grant:
She said this in the description: “I’ve loved this song from for KING & COUNTRY since it first released. We listen to it around our house all the time. But man is the message perfect for this season. I choose joy in this moment. Because joy of the Lord is our strength. It was fun to our our own spin on one of our fav songs. Hope it brings you joy tonight.” I must agree with Natalie, and I do love her spin.
