Choking On Joy

I am gifted by God to help people face their grief. I have helped people face grief that was bigger than they are. Yet my challenge is helping people to face the joy that comes when the grief matures. I have lost more people to joy choking than I have to grief.

I believe that JOY is the air of heaven. It is pure and natural to our human state. We long for the lazy and soul numbing state of happiness, yet we are called to prepare for a complete state of JOY.

God has shown me that grief is what prepares us for JOY so I can surmise that our problem with joy choking has to be with not letting grief have its way with us. We edit grief.

Grief is a gift from God, it is His breath in us that reveals to us that what has happened is wrong and out of place in His world. It is a gentle invitation to share His heart, His pain, His love. The tears and groans are whispers from His Spirit in our hearts binding us together. Thus if we embrace the grief and let it have its way with us, we will be ready for the JOY.

Make a focused effort to release the grief in your heart to be expressed, especially with others. Do not edit or touch the grief, learn to express it in safe environments and appropriately.

The same is true of JOY. There are key places where the JOY of our heart is to be released. JOY is the fragrance of our heart that enthralls the LORD to us. It is the beauty of our heart.