A Journey of Becoming a Young Woman of Faith - #9 Woman of Faith

Be joyful always. 1st Thessalonians 5:16

I have a friend who always has a smile on her face. Rain or shine. Neither rain nor snow nor wind nor sleet keeps her from smiling. Okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration but true. She isn't perfect but I can see that she does a wonderful job being joyful. A common stereotype for Christians is constant happiness, which is clearly nearly impossible. We may not be happy always but we can be joyful always. The New Webster's Dictionary's definition of happy is: joyful, pleased, glad, content. The definition of joy is happiness, pleasure, and delight. They are obviously similar words, but they have different origins. I'm not talking as if one is from Latin and one is from Greek (though I just looked it up: happy derives from hap from Old Norse, joy derives from gaudia from Latin). I'm talking about the origin in our lives. We tend to have happiness over things of this world, stuff, money, vacations, etc. Joy is from the heart when you spend time with God, who is of the utmost importance, family, and friends. In a popular hymn, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" it does a good job of showing this. When we adore and worship God, we have deep joy.

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed,
Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, all who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began;
Father love is reigning o’er us, brother love binds man to man. 

 Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us Sunward in the triumph song of life.

I challenge you today to ask God to show you deep joy. Only God can aide you in this. Pray, worship and ask him how you can be joyful always.