How can there be joy in the midst of tough news? How can joy jumps happen when the body just physically cannot jump? Are you kidding me? Laughter in such pain? I hear these comments often. And my heart literally aches from the difficult journey some of my dear friends are facing right now. I remember that feeling…..like the wind was just knocked out of me. I call it “elevator grief.” When an elevator goes down fast and your stomach stays on the top floor. That feeling in your gut that leaves you breathless. I have felt it much this past year. What I have learned more than ever through this season is that Joy comes in all different packages. It’s not always an ecstatic jump or cartwheel, belly laughter, or happy dances around the house. I have found that sometimes the biggest moments of joy are in the quiet. Sometimes God reminds me of my “busyness” and shows me that in the stillness many miracles are waiting.
How many times did my Mom and I quote Psalms 46:10 together: “Be still and know that I am God” I can remember on one of her worst days, I sat by her bedside wiping tears. I remember her looking at me saying “Lisa, be still….know God is God….and He’s got this. Find your joy in the stillness.” What Mom? no cartwheels or joy jumps? Yes that’s right. Joy in the stillness. I have found it there often lately. When I don’t have the answers, when life doesn’t make sense, when pain is palpable, and I simply can’t fix it. Stillness can. It reminds me God has been there all the time, it’s me who was moving too fast to realize it. I am resting in that place now as I stand with friends who are facing some very tough journeys.
As I sit in my prayer chair, praying for these needs, with a heavy heart it doesn’t take long in the stillness of that moment for that amazing joy to come onto the scene. No jumping or cartwheels, just that deep knowing God has this. There’s no joy like it. I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and realize this is better than any cartwheel out there. Resting is sometimes harder than the race. But I realize more and more those resting times are what catapult us victoriously through the finish line in a way that sprinting never could.