Joy

 When my daughter Kim was a little girl, she was a true "fountain of joy." Not just to me, but to all she came into contact with. Always smiling, happy, fun. I was constantly told how special she was, and how beautiful. I'd ask her why she was always smiling, and in her sweetness, she'd answer, "Cuz I'm a happy little girl." Joy. She was filled with it. It came from the fullness of a little heart given to Him.

The coming years were to bring many things upon her life that she didn't ask for. Things that left her tiny heart crushed, trampled, beaten down. Those things led her to dark places and terrible choices. They led her from the Source of her joy, the One who first gave it to her. I believe she spent most of her teen years and adult life seeking to find it again.

To some degree, we all know something of this. Times when we too brimmed with great joy, love, and innocence. And then those things and circumstances we never asked for came upon us. Brokenness, abandonment, abuse, and neglect. We were left broken and empty and, in our search to regain it, we made our own bad choices, helped along by the enemy of our souls, the devil. All the while in our search, He who is Joy itself is seeking us. With a heart beating with His love.

The prophet Daniel, in a time of fear and unknown, cried out to His Father and in return received this answer through the messenger angel Gabriel: "Don't be afraid, for you are deeply loved by God." That message still seeks us out. Seeks you out. You, your heart and your life are His treasures. He knows where you are, how you got there, and what it has done to you. He offers not just His love and life. He offers Himself.

What have you lost? What has been squeezed out, dried up, used up in you? His Word says, "Jesus came to seek and save (give back and restore) that which has been lost." I have seen it happen in countless lives. I have experienced it in my own. We live in a fallen world and our hearts will continue to be under assault from the enemy of our souls, but we have a Hero, a Champion who stands between us and that enemy and the world system he operates through. Jesus Christ, who with a word, puts him to flight.

The brokenness of that little, joyful girl, eventually led to alcoholism which in turn, took her life two years ago. But that is not the end of the story. Before she left this life, she returned to the One who first gave her life.....and her joy. The Lord restored what the enemy had stolen. The beautiful little girl came back to Life as she stood at the end of this passing one. In all her seeking she was finally found by the One who never stopped seeking her. Billy Graham once said that sometimes we take the long way home. Kim certainly did, but she did come home, and her joy has been made full. May we trust and believe, may you trust and believe, that He will do no less for you. And you don't have to take the long way home. Come straight to His heart. Right now.

Blessings,

Pastor O