Phillipians 4:4-7

ESV

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We can rejoice because 

The Lord is here.

         We can make our requests known to God.

His peace protects not just our hearts, but our minds as well

                                    

God knows!

After the previous post, I opened up ksbj.org (an awesome radio station in Houston) to find that one of its pages is dedicated to JOY!  :)

I also found this on the site:

Waiting and Joy

Waiting on God. 

Psalm 118:14 says "Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."  Of course, there are many more verses about waiting.

We have been in Texas since June 8, 2014.  It is December 6, 2015.  It has been one year and six months since we left Hungary. We will return when we have the finances in place to return.  But this post isn't about money.  It's about waiting.

The reason for waiting varies.  Sometimes you know how long you have to wait. Most of the time you don't.   In all cases, it's HARD! 

But the Lord is with us on the journey.  We say that His timing is perfect.  But we certainly don't like His timing when we are in the midst of waiting. 

I have been told by a friend that she is praying for us to find JOY during this time.  And I have been wondering how I do that when I am longing to be somewhere else.  I pray and ask God to give me joy.  But many days I don't FEEL it. 

I know what I am truly asking for: I want my circumstances to bring me joy.  And that, as you know, will not always happen.  

And just this morning at church, the focus was on joy.  And the Holy Spirit has prompted me to repeat Psalm 118:24.  It is a well-known verse.  "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

For the simple fact that the day was made by the Lord is a cause for rejoicing! 

So, the Holy Spirit has finally gotten through to me.  I need to CHOOSE joy, no matter what.  Jesus is the foundation of my joy, not where I am at, who I know, or how much money I have. 

I have God, who is joyfully worth waiting for!