True joy AND happiness.....

After the amazing responses I received from yesterday's entry, I thought it best to answer some of my own questions and see what ya'll think. I think Heather hit the nail on the head with her comments yesterday...happiness IS a feeling AND a choice, but JOY is the fruit of a life soaked in the Holy Spirit. Joy is longer-lasting and does not waver based on our circumstances....unless we allow our circumstances to stunt our growth and debilitate us from what God has. What God has for us is always good and always peaceful though we may struggle in the midst of it...that's called "building character" :).

I chose this picture today as a result of pondering the last time I felt totally joyful and at peace....it was when Tim and I were in the Dominican Republic hanging with the kids and telling them about the love and acceptance of Jesus Christ. It wasn't always with words (as our Spanish stunk!), but even silly acts like this one of painting over 100 kids in the street with face paint, created such a giant vat of love that I was humbled and fully enjoying myself, God, the kids, and the back ache I had from bending over for 5 hours! The street smelled like someone had put every open septic tank within view, the kids smelled almost as bad, most of them had strange health issues and crowded over us, pushing and shoving to be next in line....but the joy on their faces, their intense desire to teach me as much Spanish as they could using the little English they knew, and the care and concern they had for each other convicted me....they taught me more about Jesus than I could ever display to them. That's joy.

Even though I am not there, the experience has certainly impacted my view of grace, joy and peace. Snippets of the Dominican are found in everyday life with the kids here in our group home, with the people we come into contact with daily, with every menial task we do....it just takes "Holy Spirit sunglasses" to recognize Him and the incredible gifts he gives. Cool. We are so blessed! Thanks for the comments, guys!