Do you see a difference between joy and happy? Are feeling joyful and feeling happy the same thing? Can you be joyful in something yet not be happy? These are questions I’ve asked myself several times over these past two years while living in Kenya. Some days God blesses me with a clearer understanding yet other days satan really clouds the issue for me.
I do not believe being happy and being joyful are the same thing. They can occur at the same time, but they don’t necessarily have to. From my own personal experience I can say at times I’ve been unhappy with my current circumstances and when I begin to dwell on that unhappiness is when I ask God for clarification on joy vs happiness. Over the past few days He has reminded me of my purpose, which can be found in my favorite verse Micah 6:8 “what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” And also through the commandment Jesus gave us, found in Matthew 22 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.“ I can do all those things, through God’s strength not my own, whether I am happy or not.
Am I happy being away from my family, friends, community? No, but that doesn’t mean I stop seeking His will for my life. It doesn’t mean that my day to day living is anything less than a chance to walk humbly with God, whether that be through expressing the ministry through the blog, giving the kids deworming medication or balancing the food budget for C4KK. Those everyday, living life things give me joy because I know first and foremost I am serving the Almighty God and secondly, I’m serving in a way and place God wants me to.
If the joy I experience this side of Heaven (no matter how sporadic it is) is any indication of the joy I’ll experience in Heaven then for those days of clarity I am thankful and blessed.