Praise be to the Lord,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.
I
have the joy, joy, joy...down in my heart.
I remember singing that chorus at church camp, my
favorite place in the summers of my youth. Surrounded by friends who believed
in Jesus, exploring nature, meeting together at the campfire to sing and pray,
filled our souls with joy. Not happiness—but pure joy, the deep satisfying
feeling that everything is going to be okay. And it bubbled over. The joy I
discovered overflowed and tumbled onto other people. And their joy splashed all
over me. When I came home, the delight I tucked into my heart carried me
through my days. No matter what happened at school, or wherever I was, Jesus'
joy bubbled.
As an adult, I'm more conscientious of the joy I
find in Jesus. Sometimes rejoicing is a struggle. On those days, I tap into his
word and cry out in prayer to reassure myself everything will be okay. It's
hard to experience joy when the world is so out of whack. But Jesus always
comes through. As I trust in him for wisdom and mercy, he splashes me with joy.
I love Jesus and he loves me back. I sing that same little chorus today that I
sang at camp. I have Jesus' joy down in my heart, and I praise him because that
joy carries me through the hard stuff, the frustrating things, the opinions,
the anger, and the unkindness we are seeing in the world.
Even on days when my joy is more like a grain of sand that a solid rock, I'm thankful I have a glimmer of hope.
Let the joy of Jesus overflow like a fountain of
love.