joy joy joy joy down in my heart. -Psalty
"The Joy of the Lord is my strength." Nehimiah 8:10
We don't need strength for things that are easy. If it were easy, we'd be happy, noy joyful. if it were easy, we wouldn't need to rely on the Lord for joy.
And thats the funny thing about joy....it's usually a synynoym for happiness, when in actuality, it covers the oppositie forum of happiness, as well as underlies and amplifies happiness.
I always thought it was weird that Paul would write the "book of joy", Phillipians, (my favorite book) in jail! Of all places! Jail! This week, God totally floored me with this God-moment. It only makes sence that God would use Paul, that Paul's situation was ideal for optimum insight and writing about Joy. Happiness is fleeting and Joy is everlasting.
C.S. Lewis, my favorite author of all time wrote a book as an epilogue to his wife, Joy Gresham's death called A Grief Observed. He explores the pains of loosing the tanglible joy he had in Joy and wrestles with anger and resentment. His autobiography, Surprised By Joy discusses the way that hearships like this one along with many others in his life, came to strengthen his joy when he had relied on joy as his strength.
We don't need strength for things that are easy. If it were easy, we'd be happy, noy joyful. if it were easy, we wouldn't need to rely on the Lord for joy.
And thats the funny thing about joy....it's usually a synynoym for happiness, when in actuality, it covers the oppositie forum of happiness, as well as underlies and amplifies happiness.
I always thought it was weird that Paul would write the "book of joy", Phillipians, (my favorite book) in jail! Of all places! Jail! This week, God totally floored me with this God-moment. It only makes sence that God would use Paul, that Paul's situation was ideal for optimum insight and writing about Joy. Happiness is fleeting and Joy is everlasting.
C.S. Lewis, my favorite author of all time wrote a book as an epilogue to his wife, Joy Gresham's death called A Grief Observed. He explores the pains of loosing the tanglible joy he had in Joy and wrestles with anger and resentment. His autobiography, Surprised By Joy discusses the way that hearships like this one along with many others in his life, came to strengthen his joy when he had relied on joy as his strength.