defiant joy

For quite a long time now, I’ve pondered what joy really means. How do you experience the full gamut of human emotions, while still choosing joy? A loved one said to me recently, that to truly know joy, we also need to allow ourselves to feel the grief, and pain that life can sometimes bring. It’s in the contrast that we can truly grasp the essence of what joy truly is. Joy through tears. Defiant joy.

I am thankful for the hope and joy that I have in Christ, that carries me through the darkest valleys as well as over the beautiful mountain peaks. Because of this hope, I can choose a joy that goes deeper than any circumstance.

Our family celebrated with a very special couple last week. They held fast to joy even through tears and changes, and although their wedding was nothing like any of us ever could have anticipated prior to lockdown, it was so incredibly beautiful and God-honouring: a testimony to their love for Him and for each other. Through our video-linked screens, we stood with them in our wedding finery, we cheered and celebrated them (complete with an emphatic, “ew yuck” from my girls at the moment of their kiss, of course!) and we toasted to a love that will last a lifetime.

The joy of seeing the love in their gaze is something I’ll never forget. And while, for all the world, I would have loved to hug this newly married couple on their wedding day, for now: this is enough. This is joy. Seeing their shared love set the foundation of their marriage, for life. Because when it boils down to it, that’s exactly what a wedding is all about. And I know that eventually, when we do share those hugs, they’ll be extra ‘specially tight, and extra ‘specially long.

That’s defiant joy!

Kristy x

Not sure what this is all about? Learn more about Soul Graces here.