what is joy?
what is JOY?
well, it’s been my word for the year this year and - honestly - what a school of suffering [i mean JOY!] it’s been!
i knew at the end of last year when God laid the word JOY on my heart - i didn’t want it. 🙃 mostly because - over the years and through my deepening relationship with Him - i’ve grown to know His heart in such a way that i am reminded - almost constantly - that we cannot know the true virtue and depth of joy, the fruit of the spirit, the weight of it, without also knowing the weight + depth of suffering. how close we come to His cross. and sometimes find ourselves hanging there on it with Him!
this summer our lives got really messy in marriage. how is it that we can come together as two imperfect people and assume that all will be well forever? smooth sailing - is that what they call it? Matt + i have begun to realize that many of us within marriage never leave the harbor…we are too afraid to face ourselves + our sins + our shortcomings + our pride + eventually - we all suffer for it…to remain anchored in a place that isn’t in Him, but solely within ourselves, is to die a million deaths.
the Sacrament of marriage is meant to both expose our wounds AND help heal them.
those parts of us we have believed for too long that are unloveable, unknowable, and must remain hidden…can we truly be fully known AND fully loved?
Matt and i stand here, at the end of October, and are in absolute awe of how God uprooted our entire lives - each of us individually AND as spouses. He comes to destroy what must be destroyed in order to bring His peace. His joy. His light. His love. His RESURRECTION.
and that same power lives within each of us. i’d say that is cause for joy!
we are living in the middle of one gigantic miracle. and these miracles are miracles He desires to work in your marriage, too. He really does make all things new if you give Him permission to. it is no coincidence that Jesus’ first public miracle was at a wedding!
JOY - we are learning the depth and breadth and beauty of this fruit in our lives. and this unwavering JOY is the result of accepting His invitation to carry these crosses that are uniquely our own. and to help one another carry them, too. JOY is born from acceptance - not from resistance - but of pure, loving + trusting surrender to Him who knows EVERY part of us.
do not be afraid of your cross. it is the way. and this abounding, relentless joy will meet you along the way.
we are praying for you, your marriage, and your hearts as individuals. may we run the race, together. 🕊️🌱
SCB.