This Whole Idea of Joy

          The third Sunday of Advent a couple days ago was Joy. I've never really been struck by the big picture of the joy that God brings to me because I just think of joy as substantial happiness or satisfaction, and quite frankly I never feel complete satisfaction within myself.        
          On Sunday, I started off the day by going to Reality (in Carpinteria) at 7:45am for my first time. I was unsure of what to expect, but all I had heard were positive things about it. By the end, I was covered in tears and complete and utter conviction. I had never experienced any church body like this before--almost every single person in that room was either bowing down, raising their hands, or lost fully within the goodness of the Holy Spirit. Let's just say God felt very present, and I had never experienced such contentment before. Even though I was crying and repenting because of the weight of sin that I was feeling upon me, I felt pretty flippin' good. I felt forgiven and completely fulfilled with the Advent of Joy that was in me. After this, I attended Community Covenant Church and this quote stuck with me: "Christ is risen. He is truly risen...May that message find an echo in your heart and mine as well because the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the source, the reason, the basis for the inarticulate joy of our Christian lives."-Brennan Manning. After I heard this, I was completely grievous but at the same time full of clarity. "For God so loved the world that He gave up His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). Wow. God gave up His only Son for me? The question is: "Why?!" Well, simply so that we could experience this inarticulate joy that He brings to us each and every single day. Doesn't it just blow you away that we can find this everlasting joy in living as God's children? We may not realize it at first, but God brings joy to us throughout everything--our brokenness, our hopelessness, our restlessness; you name it. We need to be fully aware of joy and wake up to it more often and know & trust God with whatever we think may be blocking that substancial happiness. "There may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning." When we suffer, we experience more of Jesus; the more pain you have, the more joy you will recieve. So I'm going to stop babbling now and leave it at that. Hope you're all having blessed weeks! Break is almost here, praise God!!