The boys and I were driving down the road as we heard, “trust in the Lord and be happy and He will give you the desires of your heart,” coming from the radio. George looked at me and said, “yep, we all need a little joy.” I have always understood the trust part but have not pondered the happy part that goes along with the trust part. As I continued to dwell on trust and happiness, I heard the Lord speak, “fight for it.”
Joy, three little letters that make a ginormous impact in the way we live. It’s a word we must choose, a word we must make space for and a word that requires a little fight from us. Joy is like wearing a $100 bill on your back, in a city. It is something so easily stolen from us, almost like we are saying, “come and get it” and then the robber of joy comes in many different forms. It comes in distractions, unforeseen events, sleeplessness, hunger, kids, jobs, money, chores, relationships, weather, changing of seasons, disappointments, loss, and then the real big one, for no reason at all. It come as a bummer kind of feeling that seems to linger when we least expect it to.
Fight for happiness! Today, I feel prompted to remind us all, even myself to fight for joy and this is one way we can start. Proverbs 16:20 says, “..whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he. The Lord continually shows us that happiness is an outcome of our trust in Him. When we have doubt in the goodness of God and His faithfulness, this can be a stealer of joy. Today is a good day to think upon our faith and ask for increase in trust. I know that with our mouth we can declare we trust in God, but it must be in our hearts as well. When we meditate on the word of God, this can awaken faith in us and strengthen our trust in Him. I do feel this to be on the heart of Our Father and as we fight for joy means we must dive into His word! There is joy in His presence, there is joy in His Written Word and there is joy in the increase of our faith. It seems almost sad that we have to fight for happiness, but fighting only means we do not settle for anything less and make a constant effort to find joy in our everyday lives.
Psalms 37:3 says, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” Since being on our new land, I have had to walk around it a few times to get acquainted with it. I find new things in the soil, new rocks that I have started to line the driveway with and little creatures, that I have crossed paths with. The more we have been here “dwelling” on this land, the more connected to it I have become. In our pursuit of fighting for joy, dwell with God, spend time with Him, get to know Him and grow in trust. As we do this, we farm faithfulness and the fruit of that is, joy.
Emily Rodewald 