Joy is finding love… even if our lives may be filled with brokenness.

Joy is finding peace… even when our lives are filled with pain.

Joy is finding hope… even when our lives are filled with poverty.

Joy is finding life… even when we are alone.

Joy is finding grace…even when we have been hurt.

Tonight, I sit alone in my room and look at these pictures and realize that these children teach me about joy.
I see their homes, I hear their stories, I watch their mothers cry. Even today I listened to a mother express her gratitude for Compassion because of all the times she has not been able to feed her children on her own.  As her tears gracefully made their way down her cheek, I found myself breaking inside as I listened to her express JOY and GRATITUDE for what has been given to her through her children.

Friends, it’s overwhelming sometimes, and I humbled by the saints that I meet along this journey in life.  When I sit in the home of a grandmother who is caring for two of her own grandchildren, and two others that have been orphaned, I am humbled by her faith, joy and trust in the God of this universe.  When I hear her proclaim joy in the midst of complete uncertainty, and in the illness of her husband, and in her own health, and in her poverty, I am simply blown away by what I cannot grasp.

And when I see their smiles…
 I see Abba.

And I pray that you….

Being rooted and established in love,

May have power,

Together

With all the saints,

To grasp how wide

And long

And high

And deep is the love of Christ, and to know this that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

And when we learn to become more like them, and cling to this knowledge, we will certainly find joy. (And guess which child wants to be a movie star?)