In Season: Joy

I remember so vividly walking down that long pathway covered in burlap. I remember feeling the presence of the Lord all around me as friends and family sang “Oh, How He Loves Us.” 

I remember the look on Husband’s face as he prepared to make me his own. I remember overwhelmed with joy. So much joy that I thought my hear would burst open. 

That’s the easy part right? Feeling joy when everything in life seems to be going your way. When the evidence of all your prayers heard and His faithfulness counted is right before your eyes. 

But what about when you wreck your car, need surgery, have your pipes freeze and bust, lose your precious grandfather, can’t seem to conceive the child you've been so deeply longing for? What then? Because that’s what our first year of marriage looked like. 

The joy is all around me in pregnancy announcements, gender reveals, baby showers, and happy birthdays. It seems I can’t escape it. But how do I have joy in this season? This season that leaves me hoping and praying and trying and crying in a cycle that never seems to end?

You see the title of this series is so fitting, so encouraging, and so often convicting. As children of God, homes of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit should not be circumstantial. Let’s face it…. sometimes we let joy be. 

When I turn to Scripture I find SO many passages on joy. It talks about the joy of the Lord being our strength, the joy in the fullness of His presence and even the joy that we should find knowing the benefits of our struggles. 

But the verse on joy that I love so much is this one:

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor the fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on high places.

Habbakuk 3:17-19 ESV

Some days I feel like Habakuk did. Some days I feel like nothing is going my way. Some days it seems that the same God who provided that heroic groom has forgotten my prayers for a baby. But I know He hasn’t. I know His goodness or His love or His faithfulness hasn’t changed. 

That fuels that joy deep inside of me. It’s what gives me smiles that come out of nowhere. Excitement in the midst of pain. Comfort in those intimate moments with Him. Thankfulness even when He says No. 

I take JOY in the God of my salvation. 

I take joy in that He created me. Loved me. Chose me. Died for me. Redeemed me. Saved me. 

I take joy in that He uses me. Grows me. Molds me. Comforts me. Holds me. Speaks to me. Loves on me. 

I take joy in that He will come and take me to Heaven where I will spend eternity in the joy of His presence. 

That’s the undercurrent of my joy that keeps pulling me back in over and over and over again. 

The God of my salvation.

I look around and I count my blessings and I of course find joy in them. My sweet husband. My house, friends, family, church. I even see the blessing in the trials I’m currently experiencing. The growth, the ministry, the friendships, the closeness. 

But more than all of that, my deep joy comes from the salvation of the Lord. 

Several months ago, when we had just hit the year mark in infertility, God used that verse from Habakuk in my life greatly. I wrote a post about it and I decided to fill in my own struggles where Habakuk had placed his…. 

“Though my womb may not be filled and I have no child to call my own, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” 

I don’t know what you’re dealing with today. Maybe you have a tough diagnosis, a rebellious child, a dying family member, or an endless job search. Whatever situation seems hopeless in your life is not enough to keep you from joy.  So go ahead, take out a pen, open the notes section and declare it. 

Fill in your struggles just as I did, just as Habakuk did and declare that today you are taking JOY in the Lord.

It might not look like dancing and shouting but it comes in praising Him, trusting Him, and counting on His faithfulness. 

Jeremiah 17:8 says 

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when the heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and its not anxious in the year of drought for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

I pray that you and I will be those trees. Those trees bearing fruit no matter the season because our roots (trust) are deep in Christ. 

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Brandy lives in Delaware with her outdoor-loving husband and her 100lb doggie. You can visit her at  A Sweet Aroma where she tells stories of laughter, marriage, Jesus, and the struggle to have a baby.

And- an exciting update-- Brandy and her husband just found out that they are expecting a little one!! 

She adds- "In the midst of all this JOY we are experiencing, the true JOY comes in seeing the faithfulness of our God and His goodness and His presence that was with us through it all." Amen! Facebook | Bloglovin | Pinterest  

Thank you for sharing with us, Brandy!

Stay tuned for the rest of our study in the Fruit of the Spirit! 

You can follow along by liking my my page on Facebook, or by checking out the In Season Pinterest board! 

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What would your Habbukuk 3:17 verse look like?

"Even if  [your unfulfilled request] doesn't happen, I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation."

I'd love to read your Habukkuk verse- leave it in the comments! 

This post is linked up with Grace and Truth!