ADVENT 2020 EDITION | WEEK 3: JOY

These days we could all use something more than happiness which is circumstantial; that is, a state of being happy based on the idea of " what's going well" in our lives.  

If you're like me, you have a running list of " not going well things, or didn't happen or what was ", bottom line 2020 has definitely redefined "happy". 

In fact. for me I've had to seek out more...beyond being happy,  and anchor myself in JOY that finds its source in Christ, the unchangeable, all faithful, and steadfast ONE.  

2020 has proven to be a year full of changes, moving parts, brokenness,  sorrows, losses, closings, silence, sheltering place- isolation, and much more. Unfortunately,  here's where the idea of "happy normal" got shaky for many, and hopes got dashed. Because building a life on  "happy" can't hold; that concept is like building a house on the foundation of sand. When the storms of life come (2020 brought many storms), the foundation washes away. 

However, building one's life on JOY, as opposed to happiness,  is the security we all need in the chaos or in calm. The JOY I'm speaking of is one that is not circumstantial, rather it is faith-based, it doesn't depend on human doings. It flows from a deep understanding and trust that no matter what's happening in our lives, God's got our back. He is faithful and unchanging. From him, flows (in season and out of season) fullness of JOY and pleasures forevermore is at his right hand. 

When God is the source of our JOY, even in a season of much upending we still have joy and might I add HOPE,  that he'll turn all these things that are happening to benefit us one way or the other.