The Journey

How many journeys have you traveled in life that you had to find the Joy in your suffering? The word of God says to Count it All Joy! James 1:1-2 Consider it pure Joy as you face many trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything…. That’s the scripture that our women’s retreat was based on this year. Well, do you know the process that you have to go through in order to teach that scripture? I’ll tell you; You have to live it!! You have to experience it by going through many trials before the teaching even begins. You have to learn how to see the joy in every situation. Some of these trials come in waves, and then some of them are consisting of many trials happening all at one time and you learn how to consider them all as joyful, and as a friend recently told me, we must persevere. Perseverance is the hardest word to put into action when you’re the one going through it.

What does perseverance even look like? It looks like pressing in to the word of God harder than you ever have before. It looks like being in constant prayer, physically on your face if that’s what it requires. It looks like studying God’s word until He has revealed every single detail that you need to get through your journey. God’s word will never fail us. His promises will never be voided out of our lives, but with that said; to achieve the victory over your trial, you must persevere through whatever situation you are facing. As we talk about perseverance, I’m reminded of the study book I’m currently working on called: A Women Who Doesn’t Quit, and in this book, that is based off the story of Ruth, I am reminded of Ruth’s persevering spirit and drive as she refuses to give up on her Mother-n-Law Naomi when in fact Naomi wanted to leave her behind as she traveled back to Bethlehem. So many times, we feel like we have failed God, ourselves and others. So, we close ourselves in and shut others out. Which helps No One by the way….

During this journey of famine and losing their husbands, do you think Ruth was always joyful? There was much pain and sorrow during their journey. Naomi whose name means Pleasant changed her name to Mara, which means Bitterness, because she felt the pleasantness and joy was removed from her. As I study this book, there is a quit quitting verse for every day that encourages you not to quit whatever it is that God has called you to do, to be steadfast in whatever your situation is.  How many situations have you faced recently? For me, there have been many of them. From finances to relationships to ministry. Sometimes, it’s just believing I am capable of being used in certain areas of ministry. Other times, it’s having to sit back and trust God in the lives of my loved ones, even when things look too far gone with the human eye, and trust me when I say that I have faced situations that looked like life and death and they still do, But God!! I have friends who have recently lost husbands, talk about a trial and trying to find the joy in that situation. But God! Because they have found the joy of the Lord through their trial and their loss. I have so much admiration for them. More recently, it’s knowing that I must watch a very dear friend move hundreds of miles away after spending almost every day together. Finding the joy in that was hard, but on the other hand, knowing what God is asking of them and watching them go in obedience is also exciting. Our loss will definitely someone else’s gain. We continue to persevere and count it all joy because we know that God is in control. Even when you’re in the middle of the fire, He surrounds you and protects you from the flames. He puts the perfect people around you to hold you up when you think you’re going to fall apart. Not every outcome will look like what you thought it would, but if you are releasing and surrendering it to Christ then it will work out for His Glory and you will be filled with the peace that surpasses All understanding Phil 4:7.

 

So, fast forward to this past weekend where we held our annual women’s retreat and it was wonderful. There were so many tears and so much laughter. Through tears of sorrow and tears of joy, healing took place. We had the opportunity to watch women’s lives be transformed right in front of us. Watching and experiencing the power of God in the lives of everyone there was such a beautiful experience. It always is, but as beautiful and exciting as it was, I came out of there personally feeling very defeated. For personal reasons my heart was heavy. There were quite a few amazing testimonies at the end, and when one of the women got up and shared, out of her mouth came everything that I was experiencing. She didn’t know that, but God knew. God knew I was having a very dark moment. God knew that I was dealing with what feels to be a lifelong hurdle, but do you know that even in the darkest of the darkest hour God is shining His light.  He is the light to our darkness, He is the peace to our anxiety. He will always be the joy to our sorrow. With that said: It takes work on our part. What I mean by that is that it takes us to cry out, to hand it over to Him, to surrender, to pray, to walk out His word. Even when it hurts the most you still know that you know that All things work together for our good-Romans 8:28.

Even through all the recent pain and trials, I have embraced this retreat as a wonderful time of learning, growing, fellowship, healing and a joyous time of sweet surrender.  A time to reflect on where God is working things out in our lives, a time to appreciate one another and stand beside one another as we grow, but more importantly, it’s a time to realize that with all our trials and all our suffering, God is at the center of it and He is working it all out on our behalf. My friends are amazing and I am more than blessed to have every one of them in my life, but with that said: My answers are not found in them, they are only found in Christ. God’s word is the answer to every question, the joy to every sorrow, and the victory to every trial. We count it all joy because we know that through the testing of our faith comes victory, but it takes us to persevere through the tough times. To stay pressed in to His word, to pray at all times.  We know that God turns every negative into a positive. We know that the Joy of the Lord is our strength and we know that His joy abounds. Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

We all have our own journeys in life to travel, and in those journeys that feel like we are failing, we have to learn how to allow the Joy of the Lord to overshadow the sorrow, the pain and the feeling of defeat, because we know that the word of God says through the testing of our faith and perseverance we will lack nothing. So, my hope for us all who are in Christ Jesus, is that we continuously look for the joy in our journeys, because we know that in Christ is Victory. We know that although some of our journeys may lead us to times of sorrow, Joy Comes in The Morning.