On my birthday, at the behest of a few friends, we did a game of sorts, aptly called The Birthday Questions. Just as you may suspect, it involves questions; some about the last year as well as the year to come. Then, at the end, everyone goes around and says something they appreciate about the birthday person. I was so honored and astounded that so many of my friends and family cited my joy!
It was astounding because as I've admitted previously, I'd recently come to the realization that the eminence of joy I'd been characterized by throughout my life was lacking. And I felt it, but I'd realized this only after recently feeling the Lord restoring me to that joy and feeling familiar to myself again. It's such a part of my identity that to feel as though I'd lacked its poignancy, makes its return all the more relieving. And the mention again by others of its prominence all the more honoring and profound!
It is all to God's glory! It's my knowledge of and experience with Him...I can't explain otherwise why I'm this way; I can't even really explain it to begin! I just know if I didn't know the Lord, - if I didn't have the hope that I do, there's no way I would know such a joy; exude any joy at all.
And I hope to live that better than I have in the past. Not take it for granted. I hope that it doesn't just stand out to people, but help them understand who God is. See an aspect of Him often lost in the muck. Because if you ask me why, I can't explain it further than it's because of what I know to be true.
