Surprised by Joy...

life happens... have you ever felt that when it seems that you have it all figured out, and you started mapping your life, making plans, smiling at what it seems to be an incredible future waiting ahead of you to walk into everlasting happiness... life happens. something changes in the pictures, some things are simply not the same, people changes... you changed.

the simple questions of life that you were so certain less than a week ago have turned into the most complicated and hidden mysteries, you start looking around and the green valleys somehow turned into a grey, cold, dark, and lonely labyrinth.

desperation arises, confusion and doubt begin to crawl around a corner getting ready to jump on you like a spider monkey... suddenly you see the starting line and the race is on... you run run run with all of your might, but you haven't moved yet, behind the line you still can see yourself...

life happens.

you look around and you see Job, who was a righteous man, just, fearer of the Lord, who had done no wrong... being hit by disgrace, loosing his material wealth, his family, his health, even his friends turned their back on him with judgment and condemnation.

In the same path we can also see Abraham, the friend of the almighty God, the father of the Faith, the one who without seeing obeyed the command of the Lord leaving everything behind just to follow Him... yes we can see Abraham, walking slowly, dragging his weary steps... he is going up a mountain with his son, the promised one, the joy of his earth, the one of who is supposed to be a blessings to all nations... the one who he is getting ready to kill.

It doesn't really make sense does it? when it seems that for no apparent reason and with no prior notification God decides to change everything around you, leaving you with nothing but pain, and a 10000 pieces puzzle still unresolved... or maybe it does...

All through history we can see that God seems to choose ordinary people to do extraordinary things; as long as they are willing to believe and to obey... if you are willing to let everything aside, your family, name, position, reputation, friends, relationships, status quo, pride, your self... to follow him with reckless abandon.

we must come to the realization that we truly begin to live for Him when hearing that tender, sweet, and gentle voice early in the morning whisper into our sprits “I am yours and you are Mine” is all we need and all we long for... When we would go unto the uttermost parts of the earth to carry His message regardless of what would it take not for an other reason that to please Him... our Beloved.

Job on the midst of the chaos that hit his life, even when his own wife was telling him to curse God and die, simply lifted up his eyes to the heavens and a statement that was more than just a well constructed phrase came out of his lips... the essence of a soul completely lost in love with its creator saying “my love... you give and you take away... blessed be your name!”

Abraham reached the top of his mountain with the only thing that he asked the Lord for... He had already left everything behind, family, name, fame, reputation, wealth, all that the Lord asked of him, he did or gave... but still one more thing was pending... But Abraham did not hesitated; he lifted up the knife and was about to kill his only beloved son... the measure of his love for God was that he loved Him beyond measure...

But God.

But God who can do exceedingly and abundantly more than what we think, who can give to us even what we are afraid to ask for, He the one whose plans are plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future... He won’t ever leave us hanging or empty handed...

In the life of Job we find this two statements at the end of this book:

“After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before”

“The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first”

At the moment we chose to leave everything behind to follow him, answering to His call with obedience, following carefully his steps and direction; we begin to see what it means to be an ambassador of the King of the universe... His favor, goodness, and grace overflowing in every single aspect of our lives...

And that is something of which I am being able to testify today one more time... after what I thought was going to be a long journey of pain and desolation, I find myself once again in the embrace of my Love like C.S. Lewis said about his own life experience “surprised by Joy”.