Having trouble moving forward? Has your faith faltered? Maybe your day seems to hold you captive. Everything is gray. How is there fog in the room? In your mind? Swirling around your thoughts? It doesn’t make any sense. Outside there is light, vibrant flowers, and a fresh, green carpet underfoot. An upward glance exposes a perfect sky. Pillowy clouds. Then… day fades to dusk. Conversations slow to barely recognizable murmurs. Now, a glowing ball behind the trees, illuminates the path. Where does it lead? To night. This night, full of shadows…full of questions. The fear you can’t quite explain is not a normal fear, but that of a widening gap steadily separating you from the familiar. It separates you from the norm, from the status quo, from the life you’ve known for decades. Suddenly the thought comes! Where is that joy you used to sing about as a child? It escapes you. What? When? How? Haven’t you memorized scripture after scripture in your past? Haven’t you sung for years about that joy? Haven’t you taken a kind of strange pride in always being happy? Yet, that same joy eludes you. The smile is rarely found, now-and seldom seen. What now? Where do you turn? What’s your favorite “sunny day” quote? Does it lift your sagging spirits? What’s your go-to encouraging verse? Does it give you peace in the midst of this strange storm…in uncharted waters? Wait! Be still. He hears you. He knows. Can you feel the warmth of His love? If you close your eyes, even in the night of this dark place-you can still picture the sun. The golden glow, the gentle breeze, the birdsong breaking the stillness, and the drone of lazy bees in the perfect pops of color. Swirling butterflies. Squirrels racing. Bluejays chasing. Find the day when you look for the Son. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.” Our joy is there. The very knowing makes us strong! The enemy would have us believe it has gone, and we have lost strength. He would have us convinced the smile can never be truth, the life can never be an example for good, and the joy can no longer be ours. But…he is a liar.
A thief. He comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Our God has come that we might have life! Not a foggy, moonlit, weak, whisper of a life. NO. He came that we might have LIFE, and that we might have it abundantly!! It’s time to take it back. Get yours. Get your life. You had it once.
It’s still yours! Put your mind back on Christ, and reclaim your joy! Find your strength. Let Him lift the weight of this world. Let Him carry us through our tough days. Let Him clear the fog from those unclear minds, and mornings. He gives us our joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. Is your life on hold? Have faith! Let this verse be a “wait-lifter!”