Bringing Joy Out of the Closet

Can I tell you how nice it was to be able to pick out clothes to wear today in the comfort and warmth of my room! This past September my fiancé and I, a 36 year old fiercely independent from birth, moved back into my parent’s house. We barely were able to squeeze our belongings into our space and consequently my closet ended up out in the sunroom, sheltered from the elements but not temperature. In the dim light of morning and through frigid temperatures I begrudgingly chose each days attire all winter. By the time spring rolled around, I had enough. Seeing and hearing how stressed out this clothing situation was making me, my loving fiancé came home with a surprise this week and built me a closet. (Shout out to Bryan Arnett. Thank you so much for listening and putting love to action.) Had I had that closet when I moved in, it would not be as special as it felt. Sure, I would not have gone through pain but I also would have never experienced the joy of simply picking out clothes each and every morning. 

Sometimes we take the simplest things for granted. But oh the joy of losing something then regaining it. That’s one of the many benefits of fasting, it reminds you to be grateful for the everyday things like having food or being able to eat. Maybe that’s even the point of Job. Reading that story in the Bible, it’s hard not to focus on what he lost. But maybe Job could never truly understand the blessing of what he had and the joy it brought until it was gone. How great must his joy have been when God blesses Him with even greater things than he had. Maybe if we’re honest we can see ourselves in the story of Job and find ourselves focusing on the “have not‘s”. If so, I want to encourage you today with this, try focusing on the blessing that is coming even if it’s not here yet. Faith is what moves mountains. If you need a tougher challenge, try reshaping your belief to see that God is actually good to allow us pain. Only through it do we grow immensely. Only through it do we learn gratitude for what we have before it’s gone. Only through it do we experience exceedingly great joy, the kind that will overshadow the pain one day. So let’s focus on faith believing the blessing is on its way because it’s about time to let that joy of of the closet!