Sun after rain; joy after pain…
Above are words of hope that can be uplifting for us today. I heard them while driving a few days ago and jotted them down later to share with you. But they don’t hold the whole story for us.
At the end of this devotion will be the song that they came from for you to listen to. The lyrics of that melody fed me that day, may they help you in some way as well.
I look for joy, I seek it out constantly. This is not just happiness I want to find but I want to see and know the deep intrinsic joy that only our God provides to us. I want to witness it in others; I want to see someone know that joy for the first time because I have experienced that joy and I want others to know it as well! It is not something to just hold to yourself. It is meant to be shared!
The scripture verse below is a good one to take a look at the joy God provides for us if we but believe.
Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy
and peace as you trust in him, so that you
may overflow with hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Overflow, in this case, it is a wonderful joyous thing. It is not an overflowing pot on the stove that leaves a discouraging mess or an overflowing river that leaves destruction. No. For just look at all the good that comes with this trust and its overflow – hope, joy and the power of the Holy Spirit that resides right here within us every day all the way. How comforting!
So let’s be uplifted today and go forth with the knowledge that if we but believe, we can change what our own lives might hold and be today and in the days ahead but also the lives of others whom we know and those whom we may meet. Let the power of the Holy Spirit loose in you and pray for it to work outwardly in you. Do you like that juxtaposition of ‘out’wardly and the next word ‘in’? Me too! Even seeming opposites can bring all things to beauty if the one who reigns is present with us. God is just that good!
Choose joy…share love….endlessly.
~Shauna Weil
A devotion provided by the Devotion Ministry of Goodrich UMC