Hanging On By A Thread

Dear Beloved,

Are you hanging on by a thread? This year has been a roller coaster to say the least. There's people passing away, illness, relationships being challenged, stress on all sides, and the list goes on. Maybe you had high hopes for this year and then BAM, 2020 had other plans. I'm honestly at the point where I'm tired of hearing news. Whether it's the world news about covid or news in my personal life that's bringing shock. I just need a 6 month break from hearing any new information about anything! Well, except good things (naturally, lol). Am I the only one?

Well, taking a few steps back from my temper tantrum, today I thought about joy. I thought about how similar joy is to the sun. When you have it, it's always there. With the sun, as long as the earth is in rotation, it will always be there. However, some days we can't see the sun and may not even feel it because the clouds are covering it up. I feel that's how joy is. When God gives us this precious gift, sometimes it's shining bright to the point that others can see and feel it, but other times it's more behind the scenes and we can't really detect it's presence. The latter can happen when unexpected circumstances and life twists overtake the forecast of our lives. It feels cold and rainy, and may even look darker, but similar to the sun, God's joy is STILL there. The sun never goes away and neither does His joy. Once you have it, it keeps you anchored through the clouds and when (not if) the sky clears, your joy will shine again. 

There was a time I was helping a friend of mine move. It was a warm, sunny day. We packed everything up from her first apartment into our cars, it was a lot of boxes and clothes on hangers. On the 30 minute drive to her new place, the clouds came out of no where. It started to rain lightly, then it started to DOWN POUR! As I drove, all I thought was: how is this going to work?! Today is her last day in the old apartment. It's thundering and pouring. And we're going to be soaked, not to mention all of her things if we attempt to unload these cars. I had no idea what the outcome was going to be, but I continued to drive behind her to the new place. I KID YOU NOT. When we were five minutes away, the rain literally cleared and stopped! Not only that, but the sun came out shining like nothing even happened! That was a huge spiritual lesson for me. When we saw the weather take an unexpected turn with no hope in sight, we would've had every reason to turn around and quit the mission. However, my friend kept driving and I followed. If we had quit or gave up, we would've never seen how God was going to clear sky for us on the other side and meet us with the sun. Through the rain, the sun was behind the clouds the ENTIRE TIME. 

I pray through all of the clouds of 2020, you're encouraged to not give up, but to KEEP DRIVING. Rest in the fact that God's joy is your anchor behind the clouds and you WILL see and feel it shine again. If you don't have God's joy, you can receive it through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Your relationship starts when you ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin, then he will send you the Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart. The Holy Spirit will bring a number of gifts and one of them will be joy. I pray today that the joy of Christ which is ever present, even behind the clouds, will increase your hope. 

May your hope be in Jesus Christ,

Anreka

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