At my grandpa’s funeral this past week, I found myself at a table with a distant cousin, catching up on our lives. She is a dear woman who makes every person truly feel important, sharing much wisdom in her words. So when she asked me two questions, I took them seriously…but I also have to admit, they took me by surprise.
“Do you have a family?” she asked.
Sitting in the midst of all our extended family, what kind of question was that? Yes? No? Is she asking if I’m married? I went the married route and told her no, I’m single. She solemnly nodded her head, but her next question was one I wasn’t expecting.
“What brings you joy?” she asked, looking deep into my eyes.
First of all, I was thinking how odd it was that we went from being single to asking if I had joy, as if marriage was the only thing in this world that could convey joy to a heart. Now, that’s not to say I don’t want to be married, or that marriage doesn’t hold a special joy all its own. But as I quickly scanned my soul, I knew that it wasn’t people or hobbies or circumstances that brought me joy. Here we were at my grandpa’s funeral, and although the grief was heavy, it wasn’t taking my abiding joy away from me. As I searched my heart, I found my quiet joy still there, burning in the dark. I smiled as I formulated my response.
“Honestly, this may sound like a really cheesy answer…but I’m Adonai’s daughter, and that brings me all the joy in the world. It’s not people or circumstances or hobbies. Knowing that I am so loved by Him, that He’s always there for me, knowing that I belong to Him…that brings me joy. That changes everything.”
My cousin nodded her head again, saying that it was good. It was a good answer, a good thing.
The thing is, my cousin wasn’t off-base in the order she asked her questions. So many girls think that a relationship, a marriage, a house full of children, will be the only things that will bring them joy. They spend their lives in bitterness and complaining, wishing that people or circumstances would finally change so that they can feel happy. They allow circumstances and people to define their happiness, and as a result, find that they never measure up.
The truth is, we have abundant life through Yeshua—He is the One Who has given us joy and meaning and purpose, and as such, no one else can take that away…because they didn’t give it to us in the first place. No other voice can define us, unless we choose to give that person or circumstance authority in our lives. When we know who we are as daughters of Adonai, we can truly know the fullness of joy we have in Him.
You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Psalm 16:1 NASB
Where does your joy come from, friend? What brings you the most joy—the kind that goes deep down, forever abiding in your soul? A girls’ night out, your favorite movie, or a relationship won’t give that kind of joy to you. Happiness, maybe. But everlasting joy?
Find Adonai’s joy, the joy that is meant to be eternal.
With Love from Victoria 