Joy

Last night I was reading the books that I've been reading daily for lent, and when I read the chapter for the day from Reliving The Passion by Walter Wangerin Jr., it really helped me get out of the "bad moment" that I was having during the last post.
The chapter started with this verse:
JOHN 16:20-22
"Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world.
So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you."
(I made the last part bold 'cause I really liked it)
The chapter was about how, during those three days that Jesus was dead, the disciples were crushed, they thought it was all over, and everything was ruined. So then, when they saw Jesus again, they experienced true joy.
Walter wrote "It is the experience of genuine grief that prepares for joy."
And "Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can't stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope--and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must for those who depend upon it) disappoint us."

I don't know if that all made sense...but it really encouraged me and gave me a lot of hope for all those who are suffering in this world and so I wanted to share it with you...

Have a great Sunday!

Love,

Whitney