Rejoice

I have been squashing my joy, toning down my happy, and stuffing my hope deep down where no one (including me) could find it. I got stuck in a muck pile of shame. My thoughts were not about good things, they were about how I needed to be ashamed of who I am and what I have done wrong. Somewhere along the line, I began to take the truth that we are desperate sinners, saved only by Christ to also mean that I couldn’t let any of those positive emotions surface. My brain seized hold of the idea that I don’t deserve His grace, mercy, and love and warped it to mean that I cannot rejoice in the fact that He gave them to me anyway. Yes, I am a sinner. I have messed up in big, nasty, ugly ways. No, I do not deserve all that Christ offers. All of that is true, but it is not the end of the truth. There are more truths, good ones, reasons to rejoice!

Repentance is good but accepting forgiveness is better. Thanking Him for who He is and what He has done does not require punishing myself over and over and over again. God has given me what I do not deserve. I am a new person. I am loved in ways so enormous that I cannot fully understand them. The good news is that I do not have to fully understand them to believe it. I not only have His permission to feel joy, I am commanded to do so. “

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12 NIV

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4 NIV

I am going to do just that, I am going to feel joy. I am going to marvel at His creation and be grateful that He is a phenomenal artist. I am going to laugh when I hear something funny. I am going to celebrate the people that He created and love them bunches. I am going to think on those things that are good, lovely, and excellent. I am going to enjoy what the Creator has so lovingly given to me because He didn’t give it to me to hide away. 

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16 NIV