Advent with Pressed Olives: Day 15

🅦🅔🅔🅚 🅣🅗🅡🅔🅔 🎉 𝕛 𝕠 𝕪

Once I started thinking about Joy I realized it’s a lot more complicated than I originally thought. Joy isn’t a feeling. Joy is a result.

📖 John 15:11 [NLT] “𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚢 𝚓𝚘𝚢. 𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚕𝚘𝚠!”

I have basically lived my entire life without realizing God 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 us to have joy. I know the Bible says it in so many places so it should be obvious, but who I thought God is has morphed and changed much more recently (especially the last year!).

God doesn’t want us to just go through bad things and be tortured by the fact that we HAVE to feel joy amidst adversity. I really thought that was who God was for a very long time and it makes me sad knowing a lot of my lack of confidence comes from the fact that I was so afraid of God. It wasn’t fear as the Bible explains we should fear Him, but literal stress over whether I’d actually go to heaven even though I loved Jesus and was baptized. I constantly questioned if I was enough for Him. I thought God didn’t like me (or anyone, truthfully) and I’m not quite sure why I didn’t stop and think more about it until I was an adult.

Joy is one of those things that I’ve thought about incorrectly, too. I always thought joy was just another word for happiness. I thought it meant living life as though things were good and peachy keen, and I didn’t know how to get to that place. While we can feel joy, it’s not simply a feeling.

As I was thinking about the word, I happened upon an article that really shook my understanding of Joy and caused me to feel a little shattered (in a good way). Here’s what it said:

“𝙹𝚘𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛, 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚢, 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍. 𝚂𝚘 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚎 𝚓𝚘𝚢—𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙶𝚘𝚍’𝚜 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜—𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚊 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗’𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜…𝚃𝚛𝚞𝚎 𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙶𝚘𝚍 𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗. 𝙸𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚊 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗’𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚟𝚊𝚕𝚞𝚎𝚜; 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙶𝚘𝚍 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚟𝚊𝚕𝚞𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎.”

Worldly joy looks like a good feeling when you get away with something you shouldn’t have. Worldly joy makes us worse. Worldly joy is weak and fleeting. Worldly joy can make us sick.

The type of joy God wants for us, that joy is in our heart. That joy makes us better. That joy is a spiritual joy and it 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 us.

When we are called to be joyous in all circumstances, that doesn’t mean being happy. It means doing things the way God wants us to in those hard situations, and being rewarded with supernatural Joy from Him in return. That Joy comes from glorifying Him. I’ll be first to raise my hand and say this comes with difficulty to me, but once I recognized joy and happiness aren’t the same, I felt a sense of freedom. Isn’t it funny how such a simple frame of thought can change our perspective drastically?

Joy is a reward when we lean on Him over our own understanding.

Joy follows when we say “Your will be done!”

Joy is what keeps us afloat after we give Him our financial troubles, or our impossible diagnosis, or our broken marriage, or our troubled relationships, or our significant loss, or our traumatic past.

Joy is the condition of our heart when we do His will in difficulty, and it’s the fuel that keeps us going regardless of if things are good or not.

This season is hard for a lot of people. While we all face strife and difficulties, some are facing those things without the love and support of friends or family. A lot of our world struggles, and Christmas is a reminder to them of how alone they believe they are. But, Joy is contagious. Joy sets an example. When we face hardship, Joy isn’t just for us. Joy is for those around us who are watching; for those who maybe don’t understand God, or maybe don’t believe in Him at all.

While love is the most influential way to witness, Joy comes second as an example to others that we are strong, resilient, and can get through hard things. We don’t have to be happy all the time, but next time you’re down, remember that Joy is a choice that God promises to us when we follow His way over our own. 🖤

(p.s. peep my husband, Alex, who was very excited to make candles with me. He placed all the wicks and was very proud of his work. 🥰)