Joy and Sorrow

Have you heard the news?!

Have you heard the extraordinary, unbelievable, too-good-to-be-true news?! 

My 12th book is coming out on November 3! 

What?!!!

Only God … only God … only God!

I have known since I was a little girl that I loved words and that I wanted to be a writer. 

When I read the childhood classics of Little House in the Big Woods … I wanted to be the Laura Ingalls Wilder of my generation.

As I devoured the Anne of Green Gables’ series … I wanted to be the next Lucy Maud Montgomery.

And when I read Little Women … of course it was Louise May Alcott who became my heroine and role model.

It took years … decades actually … and many tries and countless failures before a door opened for me in the publishing industry.

But now, I can humbly and gratefully say that I get to write books that will hopefully disciple and encourage a generation.

So, in every blog post for the next month, I will be giving you a tantalizing taste of my new book, “Vibrant ~ Developing a Deep and Abiding Joy for All Seasons”. 

I hope this tiny literary hors d’oeuvres that I offer to you will whet your appetite for more of Vibrant!

I pray, as I prepare this nutritious morsel for you weekly during the month of October, you will be compelled to buy a copy for every one on your Christmas list!

So, dig in, my friend! Savor this sweet taste of “Vibrant!”

Joy and Sorrow

The unlikely combination of joy and sorrow is a theme from the earliest pages of Scripture. The miraculous blend of joy and sorrow in the life of a believer is a potent recipe for the possibility of living a vibrant life. You may think that stirring joy into sorrow is much like adding oil to water, but it is absolutely not so. Sorrow and joy are a perfect match—a match made in heaven! 

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever. —Psalm 30:11–12

There are some people who know with certainty that joy comes after sorrow, but I am one of those audacious yet humble folks who know with certainty that joy comes with sorrow. Joy and sorrow are not mutually exclusive; they are holy twins. 

We often don’t believe that joy and sorrow are simultaneously possible because we don’t know what true joy is. Joy is the presence of God. Joy is the atmosphere that surrounds the throne room of the Father. Sorrows do not exclude the presence of God, which is the very reason why joy and sorrow are a perfect fit for one another. Your sorrow requires the joy of the Lord to refine it, cope with it, and then to move beyond it. 

Joy is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ. —William Vander Hoven 

We mistakenly believe that experiencing an earthly sorrow is the reason why we are unable to live with a vibrant faith or a vibrant peace. We presume that sorrow is the one ingredient that causes us to live a barren life, or to wander along the dry sands of the desert. However, when a person is bold enough to mix even a teaspoon of joy into a cup of sorrow, a miracle begins to happen! And when this bold person begins to add joy in greater degrees to their sorrow? Why, the results are nothing short of astounding! 

Life is renewed and hope is restored where joy and sorrow meet. Strength is found and peace is discovered as joy and sorrow are stirred together. A vibrant life is possible, my friend, when you choose to greatly rejoice even while being distressed by various trials. 

I will turn their mourning into joy. —Jeremiah 31:13

Anguish is turned into joy when a large dose of rejoicing is splashed upon the dry sands of sorrow. Mourning becomes a miracle when a man or a woman begins to sing in spite of their human pain. It was the advice of Peter to a people group deeply grieving and it is his advice to you today. 

The Angels and Me 

I have always deeply longed to have a beautiful voice. I have taken voice lessons from time to time, but my voice has never developed in the manner that I wish it would. While it is true that I can carry a tune and even sing harmony with the best of them, I have more of a choir voice than a solo voice. 

I have developed a few vocal heroines over the years. I have always wished that I could sing like Sandi Patty, Celine Dion, or Barbra Streisand in her prime. When I was young, I always wanted to sing like Karen Carpenter. How I wish I had been given the pipes of Renee Fleming! The truth is, I would have been satisfied with just a tenth of any one of their vocal gifts. 

However, I am fully assured that I do have a voice and I have been given a song to sing. 

I have discovered that the most beautiful song that has ever been given to me was given to me in the valley. There is no angel that can sing the song that I have learned in the valley. The voice lessons that I have been given in the wilderness have honed my voice and refined my song until it has become a symphony of praise. 

 And I alone sing it. 

I believe that anyone can sing on the mountaintop of life, but when the Father leads us through the valley, it is for the rare experience of learning to sing the song of His heart. 

Anyone can sing the song of celebration, and I will sing that song as well. 

However, the song that is taught in the wilderness has a rich quality that no other song has. 

Let’s read some words that Peter wrote two centuries ago: 

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. —1 Peter 1:10–12

The angels long to sing the chorus that you and I learn during our days of suffering. The angels gasp when you and I break out into song this side of heaven. What a humbling yet thrilling realization! I was born to sing so that the angels could listen to my song, a song that they will never be able to sing. 

While it is painfully true that I may never sing like Sandi, or Celine, or Barbra, or Renee, or even like Karen, it is at the same time gloriously true that the angels wish that they could sing like me.

Thanks for listening to my heart this week.  As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me.  And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!