December 2 -
I'm so grateful that God doesn't really care if I'm happy or not.  Of course, God wants us to be full.  "Full" of what?  Full of grace, full of faith, full of love, full of obedience, full of peace?  Yes, all of those.  What he spoke to me about most recently though was being full of joy.

You see, I was meeting with my pastor several months ago and he commented that I needed to be joyful about where I am, not wishing my life was different.  In my flesh, I wanted to say, "What??"  You have no idea about my life and all that I have going on.  I left somewhat annoyed and not really sure exactly what he meant.

God continued to stir my heart as that comment kept coming to my mind throughout the day for several days. I just couldn't get my head around the idea that I could be filled with joy when there was so much chaos around me.  Relationships were hard, work was not what I wanted it to be, my parenting left a lot to be desired and even ministry work was frustrating.

It was during one of my quiet times with the Lord several weeks later that I heard a clear response to my confusion about being joyful.  Joy is internal and is what is happening IN you, who you are in Christ.  Happiness is external and is based on what is happening to you at a particular time.  It was very clear that we can be both unhappy and joy-filled at the same time. Of course there are other combinations of these. Happy and joy-filled, unhappy and joy-less, and even happy but joy-less. What my pastor said made so much sense in that moment. I definitely could be filled with joy even when I was unhappy with the chaos around me.

During this season of advent, it is important that we know the fullness of joy that comes from God living in us.  If you are waiting for the moment when you feel happy to be joy-filled, you may be waiting a long time, like me.  Don't wait - ask God right now to fill you with His joy in abundance.