Joy

So since I have been back in Flagstaff my nights have consisted of long conversations and catching up with my roommates that I haven't seen in 6 months.

The other night my roommate Alida and I were talking and we stumbled upon the subject of joy.
We both have some big decisions that will be made in the near future, and depending on the outcome of these decisions it will be a pretty big step of faith with our relationship with God.

As we were talking about these issues and trying to calm each other down and not think of the worst we realized that God calls us to have joy.
Joy does not always mean happiness though.

We have to choose to be joyful even in hard situations. As the song says,

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

We have to praise God in the good and the hard times, we have to find the joy. The joy that we are alive, the joy that we get to spend eternity with him, the joy that we get to have a relationship with him, the joy that he has met all of our needs. There are so many things in this beautiful life to find joy in, even when the hard times come we need to choose to say "Lord Blessed be your name!"

My friend Elysha recently came back from Haiti, she had gone over to help with orphans who were victims of the earthquake. One of the things she had told me was that they people there were so full of joy. They are so happy to be alive and to have Jesus that is all that they needed. Even though they had lost their homes, their families and their friends, they were still so joyful because they were alive and they had the love of Jesus.

If the people of Haiti can find joy in times of hardship and suffering, we Americans can definitely find joy!