Joy on the Journey
“Joy is the serious business of Heaven” C.S. Lewis.
The “Pearls of Great Joy”blog is a holding place for stories that overflow from rivers of living water. Joy flows freely and unpredictable; it splashes over and around random encounters which come alive and grow into divine appointments. Each blogpost was, for me, like finding “a pearl of great price”, like finding the “Pearl of Great Price” over and over again! (Matthew 13:45) I string each new pearl with all the others that I found along the way. Stringing these ‘pearls’ is the purpose of my blog. What joy it to be on mission, with my pocket full of pearls and pen in hand, sharing the journey of joy with the world and then gather the stories to glorify Him!
Jesus is the Pearl of Great Price and I am in Him. Covered by Him, I am in the Pearl of great price, the little insignificant grain of sand which is covered by the precious nacre; I am covered by grace. “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” (2 Timothy 1:9) It is from rivers of endless grace that my stories flow.
Nothing I’ve encountered on this journey has robbed me of my joy; trials and afflictions have only enhanced it. To find these pearls has cost me everything.
A great cost. Much pain. Many sorrows, but…
“…as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy:
a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing,
were it to gush forth.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.
Where does all the joy come from, this joy that’s “enough to set a kingdom laughing were it to gush forth”? The source of all joy is Jesus. As a little girl, I met Him and at that moment, I breathed in the significance of joy and my journey had begun. I remember as if it were yesterday.
A little girl, alone under a tree, in the heat of a Texas summer, His voice was whispering to my heart, “I will be your Shepherd and you will be My sheep”. (Psalm 23) I looked up. Glistening though the trees that day were rays of sunlight, like streams of heaven, like glistening threads upon which I would spend the rest of my life stringing pearls.
The heavens declared the glory to me of Jesus, Jesus the Good Shepherd. As I follow the Good Shepherd, goodness and mercy follow me. I invite you to join the journey of joy.
