JOY

Looking for JOY?

"When you're looking for JOY you will always find it hiding in your GRATITUDE." (Ann Voskamp)

Now, this is one quote that will stick to me forever!  In fact, it is on my work desk, on my planner, on my phone's wallpaper! It struck me and really got me re-thinking about JOY and about GRATITUDE (shouldn't we all?).
I have to admit that I've already began to think that perhaps JOY is  an elusive emotion, even bordering on mythical. I don't even know if I have already experienced it, crossed the line that differentiates it from happiness. Happiness, yes. Glee, yes. Contentment, yes. But JOY...hmmm, have I? So, as I have learned from my mentors Carolyn Custis James and Dee Brestin, to keep on searching, and if needed, struggle with the answers, I did a sublime research on unsuspecting folks and asked them "what is joy?" The summary of all their responses, both verbal and non-verbal was that it is "more than happiness".
Ok. Even my kids (bless their heart) won't buy that, if that is how I explained JOY to them.
I have thus come to conclude that JOY must perhaps be attained by faith. And so perhaps my faith is probably not yet "up there" in terms of being able to fully grasp what it is! (Gasp!!!)
Then bam! Someone spoke, and answered my question via my Facebook lounge.
More than just being thankful, like the proverbial "Thanks", but being grateful, indebted and appreciative of what is before you! And when we are in that state of mind, coupled with remembering (see my post on REMEMBER), then and only then is there a genuine, life-transforming understanding of who you are and who God is!
Then bam! You suddenly feel this surge of feeling that is more than happiness (yeah, I told you so!) because it engulfs your spirit and your soul. You do not only then feel physically happy but your soul and spirit are one with your body in an emotion that uplifts you and transforms your whole being!

You know, I may not even come close enough yet to describing JOY, but it will be an honour for me to continue to learn about it as I experience it in this life. And one day, together, we shall face each other in the presence of our Lord and look each other in the eye, and smile because we know what is going on in us, we finally feel it - complete JOY. 

Check your gratitude meter, dear friend. JOY may just be lingering there.

(photo from Ann Voskamp's blog 'a holy experience'.)

REMEMBER

"This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end". Lamentations 3:21-22. 

Do you remember when God brought you out of the pit, lifted your heavy burdens from your shoulders, held your hand or even embraced you, spoke to your heart, carried you through troubles and walked with you through trials? 
Do you remember that He was betrayed - for you; that He was beaten and bruised beyond anyone could ever bear - for you; that he was hanged to die a gruesome death, a convict's death even though He was innocent - for you.
Do you remember that you are nothing - yet you are the apple of God's eye,
you are worthless - yet he embraced you and claimed you as His heir, you are broken - yet he is restoring you back into perfection because you are created in God's Image!
Perhaps the reason why we are where we are - hopeless, anxious, worried, fearful, envious, disheartened, drained, defeated, angry, bitter, ... is because we don't remember.
Remembering is imperative to joy, and joy can be found in gratitude. One of the greatest enemies of hope is forgetting God’s promises.
Let us learn from Jeremiah, who lived in the midst of and therefore witnessed the fall and then total devastation of beloved Jerusalem, drew his strength from his hope in Yahweh and resolved to "call to mind". This I call to mind. I will remember. #hisfierylove

01/22/15

photo by Donna Tan
donnatanimages.blogspot.com

MIRROR

Today, January 19th, America remembers the life and works of Martin Luther King Jr, while the Philippines culminated Pope Francis' 5-day papal visit. 

I am neither American nor Catholic, but I want to honor them by reposting these quotes from these two men - men whose life, words and works exemplify the Imago Dei. 

And then I kneel in prayer for all of us, who call ourselves Christians and vehemently declare to be followers of Christ, to begin to truly look within ourselves and ask "do we bear the IMAGE OF GOD in our lives, our words and our work?" 1Peter 2:1 says strip ourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Even if it is a mere speck, just a hint of these things in ourselves, we must rid ourselves of them. I pray that we will not find ourselves shooting these deadly arrows at another brother or sister in the Lord, and fall into the blasphemous sin of defaming others (because we defame the Image of God in them). James 4:11 reminds us, "Do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgement on it, There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, who is able to save and to destroy. But you - you do not have the right to judge a brother and sister in Christ." Fellow believers, I pray that we will be zealous in only one thing - to genuinely glorify God through our life, words and actions that we too may be a deserving representations of the Image of God in us. 

Thank you MLK and Pope Francis for reminding us of this.

EMBRACE

His fierce embrace. His fiery love. 

So, yeah,... 
there will be times in your life when you cannot speak out nor even speak of what is truly in your heart. 
Your heart will seem contained, your lips sealed. 
All the words the world has ever invented...
they will fall short to describe the emotion
the agony
the pain
You will wonder when it will end? 
When will comfort come? 
Who can you turn to? 
Take this wretched soul and save me from this!

Then you look to the horizon 
and suddenly the sky says it all. 
HE paints the sky for you.
HE makes a show of how beautiful this all is.
...Even to just draw out a smile from the corner of your mouth. 
Then you suddenly know. 
Then you feel His fierce embrace and His fiery love. 
Then words will become irrelevant. 
‪#‎Hisfierylove‬