Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

So what is the difference between happiness and joy?

hap·pi·ness [hap-ee-nis]

noun
1.
the quality or state of being happy.
joy [joi]

noun
1.
the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.
This doesn’t really tell us much, does it?
Well, happiness is fleeting. We can be happy when we’re at the store and we find a shirt that fits just right, but that happiness often disappears when we see the price tag. We can be happy when someone gives us a gift, but when that gift breaks, when it no longer fits, we’re unhappy. When we meet a new friend, we’re happy. But that fades away after a while. You don’t stay eternally happy and smiley.
Joy, on the other hand, can last. Joy is something you can have in your heart that is beyond compare or comprehension. When a loved one dies in the Lord, we are sad and we grieve, but at the same time we have joy in the knowledge that they’re in Heaven with Jesus and we’ll see them again one day. When a friend moves to another country, we miss them, but we have joy because we got the chance to be with them, even if for a shorter while than we would like.
Joy is hard to feel sometimes. Hard to have. Because when all these bad things happen, when you don’t know how anything’s ever going to work out right again, and you can’t see the sun, everything looks hopeless. You don’t know what you can have joy in. But there is always something.
Joy in the knowledge that Jesus loves you.
Joy in the fact that you’re on your way to Heaven.
Joy in the fact that God is always with you.
Joy in the Lord’s promises.
Joy in the fact that God does nothing without a purpose. Your life has meaning.
I know it’s hard to remember these things, and even harder to find joy in them sometimes, but if you have Jesus, you can have true joy that lasts, persists, endures forever, even during the darkest times.

Job, Broken Pieces, and Sandpaper

My dear friends,

You are overwhelmed.You feel you are surrounded by sharp rocks that cut you, stab you whenever you move. But in reality they are only scratching you. God is there to provide a shield for you. The rocks won’t kill you. God says He never gives us trials that we cannot bear. He might let the rocks scratch you, and yes, it hurts, but He won’t let them kill you. He won’t let them hurt you beyond what you can take. God is giving you so much to handle because He knows exactly how very strong you are. It might not feel so, but it’s the truth.
It’s an honor that God knows you can handle so much.

James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:12
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

He knows exactly how much you can handle, and He allows you to go through trials and tribulations-but not more than you can take. You are not going to drown. You have God. It is hard, and you feel weak, yes, but you CAN get through this. Your Heavenly Father is ready and willing to take you into His arms and carry you. He won’t completely relieve your pain, but He will help you through it.

James 5:10-11
Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Remember what happened to Job?
Job was a rich and blessed man; a friend of God.
The devil didn’t like this, and he came to God and asked if he could torment Job (imagine that! God is so powerful that even the most evil being in the world has to ask His permission!). The devil wanted Job to deny God. But God knew how strong Job was, and so he said yes to Satan.
Satan took everything Job had. And Job, sitting naked in the mud, scratching his sores with a broken shard of pottery, utterly destitute, weary, and in indescribable pain, only praised God.
God knew exactly how much Job could handle, and Job knew that whatever happened, however bad he felt, it was God’s will.

And look what came of it!

Job 42:10-17
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

I can’t stress this enough. God knows exactly how much you can handle. He may push you until you break, but He will always be there to put you back together again.

Psalm 37:39-40
The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

Psalm 40:1-5
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.

Brothers and sisters, I can’t claim to know what you’re going through, and I know that-I don’t pretend to understand. But I also know that God is there for you. If and when you break, He is there to pick up the pieces and put them back together again. He hears the cries of His children, and no matter how silent He is, He never turns His back on you. He lets you go through rough times to shape you into who He wants you to be.

It’s like sandpaper. Oh, how it must hurt for a block of rough, splintered wood to be sanded, but in the end, it is smooth, beautiful, the sharp edges gone.

The unspeakably hard things you’re going through are like God’s sandpaper. We are imperfect, fallen humans, and God must reshape us into what He wants us to be. It’s usually impossible to see for us small people, but there is a reason you break. You are in God’s hands. He catches the pieces and puts them back together again; He molds and sands you into who He wants you to be.