Finding Joy

This past week, Arnie and I have been making summer plans. Awesome summer plans. How can we make plans when our phone might ring? you might ask... well we refuse to waste our lives, we refuse to put them on hold, we refuse to sit around being sad and depressed!!! Nope, there is way too much life to live to sit around waiting! Yes, we are still waiting for the call... but until the day our phone rings, we will live out our lives to the fullest.

I've been learning about joy. You know, the kind of joy that is unexplainable, the kind that is from Jesus. I was thinking that this joy can not only be available for people who have their act together. If Jesus came to save everyone, it has to be available to those who are broken, needy and desperate. Jesus didn't come for the healthy, but for the sick. This means that His joy must be accessible to the down-hearted, depressed and lonely. How this relates to me: For the past while I've been walking around waiting, crying and obsessing over "the call". Somehow in my mind, I could think of nothing more joyful then to see the face of my child. But if that is true, then I'd have to believe that Jesus' joy can't be available to me while I wait, while I feel incomplete, while my heart hurts. And that is wrong. I've had days where my arms feel so empty, where my heart is longing and I can't see past my situation, BUT I've also had days where my heart is so full, where my desires are met with Jesus, where the joy he gives me is more than enough. I am learning to find joy in the midst of despair.
Paul says this in Philippians:

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.


How true is this! What a good God we have, his joy, hope, peace and love are not conditional, they are available to everyone not matter your situation. What a great hope we share!