chasing joy | write 31 days – Page 3

Category: chasing joy | write 31 days (page 3 of 3)

chasing joy | kept

October 2, 2015 / mel

type-delete, type-delete, i just can’t get the words to flow today. rather than force them i think instead i’ll just leave you with the words that penetrated my heart and brought great comfort and peace, the joy of being kept by the One who holds the keys*.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.

-psalm 121

*revelation 1:18

chasing joy | through discouragement

October 1, 2015 / mel

I have given way to discouragement, dark discouragement far too much in the past. Now I know rather better and thoroughly agree with the assertion, ‘all discouragement is of the devil.’

-J.O. Fraser from the book Mountain Rain

I too have given way to discouragement far too much in the past. when discouragement tempts, the answer it always offers is to quit. and the accusations that partner with it are often not all that far off. “see where prayer gets you-why bother? it will just be another rejection, betrayal, disappointment, why even try?”

at it’s very core, i find discouragement to be the wondering; “is God even there, is He paying attention? does He even care? is He powerful enough for this?”

‘discouragement is to be resisted just like sin,’ he continued. ‘To give way to the one is just as bad and weakens us as much as to give way to the other. God has wonderfully sustained me through this trial, and to Him be all praise when i say that not for one instant has it disturbed my peace or radiant faith in the risen and ascended Lord.’

-J.O. Fraser from the book Mountain Rain

the thing is, i don’t resist by rebuking the discouragement. i resist by rebuking the discourag-er.

i hold the situation honestly before me; “this is mighty discouraging…”

and hold the truth honestly before me as well. “...but God; His eye is on the sparrow. He has named the stars and not one of them is missing. to Him who is able…able to keep me from falling, able to accomplish His purpose, able to do immeasurably more.”

sometimes He wonderfully sustains me by bringing to mind the very ‘but’ that i need for the battle. when this happens, when He stoops down and gives me courage to go on, discouragement does not overtake me. peace returns and with it

a depth of joy in the experience of an attentive and loving Father.

other times i have to wield my sword and fight. scouring His word searching out the truth of who He is, choosing to go on anyway as an act of defiant faith that Jesus is in fact who He says He is. taking Him at His word, peace returns and with it

a depth of joy in the fact of an attentive and loving Father.

i cannot say with J.O. Fraser that my “peace or radiant faith in the risen and ascended Lord” is never disturbed. but i can say that the length of the disturbance is getting shorter and shorter, and for that i rejoice.

to draw further in: much of the book of Isaiah, Matthew 6, Sara Hagerty’s adoration instagram

chasing joy | write 31 days

September 30, 2015 / mel

Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. -Jesus

reading of a joy that could not be taken intrigued me. i wondered, is He talking about heaven, or will seeing Him alive again give these guys this un-take-able joy? will no one be able to take it from them even while left living out their days here on earth?

a few days later i got my answer…

They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

what kind of joy is it that a flogging can not remove it? that they could feel the terror and excruciating pain and yet rejoice all at the same time? because i don’t believe it is an either/or situation here. i think it is something completely other. the light shines in the darkness, the darkness cannot not overcome it, yet, it still remains in contrast to it. Jesus says there is a joy that cannot be taken-no matter how dark things get. this is something i want. it is something i’ve been seeking to understand and take hold of ever since i sat there in awe at these verses coupled together in just such a way. if it’s a joy that cannot be taken, then it’s source must be different than the things that are bringing me joy today. these things that could be gone tomorrow. i know the Sunday School answer is that its source is Jesus. but what does this mean, how does this change my afternoon?

i named this blog; chasing joy. naming a blog is a hard thing to do, for how does one capture the main theme of their writing? i didn’t know, but i had perceived a theme permeating my everyday. a chasing after a joy that neither the wonderful and amazing nor the dry and weary and dark things could smother. that fullness of joy found in the very Presence of the One who’s Life is the Light of men.

so i named the blog and i started writing. but i never really connected the dots between the one and the other. October welcomes in the 31 days writing challenge, which is such a hard and meaningful exercise for me. the point is to focus in and go deeper into one topic. this year i’ll be diving deeper into this mysterious Joy i’ve been chasing after, the joy my Captain has been guiding my path towards all along. to see all the posts in the series, click here: