Joy… what is it? It transcends feeling happy. It shows through. Joy beautifully overwhelms your soul with the unexplained mystery of who God is and how He shows love. Joy comes by the strength within and cannot be tapped into or put on like a winter coat. Joy is that eternal feeling of satisfaction in all situations. There is joy in pain and happiness because there is only One that provides joy.
I once had someone say to me, “One thing I have noticed about you is that you are happy. You’re not married, you don’t have a car, your job isn’t permanent, and you still live at home. And yet you are happy.” I first thought, “well, now I’m not happy after you pointed out all those things.” Then I realized that joy is displayed through me when my identity and contentment (or happiness) is not found in these things. I think that is what joy is…it’s deeper than having everything together or meeting certain standards.
Joy is knowing that Christ is the source of identity and satisfaction above all else. In that song “Soon” by Brook Fraser, the chorus says, “I will be with the One I love, with unveiled face I’ll see Him. There my soul will be satisfied, soon and very soon.” Real, deep, and lasting joy…So, to share what joy I have in my life, I feel the best way to say it is: I hope moment by moment that by the Spirit I would live from the identity in Christ I claim to be as the source of joy. That I would look at things through a lens that does not just see happiness but sees how God is at work.