Earlier this week, Michelle and I went shopping. We went to a lovely shop in town that has very elegant home decor for sale, but sadly, this shop is going out of business. We love this shop and thought maybe we could find some bargains.
As we were looking around, we spotted a wooden sign that said, “JOY.” This sign also had a nativity hidden inside the O. I fell in love! However, the “Y” was broken, and the tag said $35, and I said to Michelle that I wouldn’t pay that for a broken sign. She asked what I would pay for it, and I flippantly spouted off an answer. I said I’d pay $5. We ran into a store worker, and Michelle asked about the broken sign and how much they were asking for it as it was broken, and the answer was astonishingly $5. So, you know what I went home with!
The next day, with a little help and a little wood glue, the sign was repaired! Honestly, you can’t even see where it had been broken unless you know where to look for the damage.
I also mentioned to Michelle this week that I hadn’t written my blog post yet, and we usually get those posted on Tuesday. Michelle said, “Why don’t you write about your broken joy?” So, here I am. It was a pretty cool thing that happened as I really loved the sign, and it was EXACTLY what I wanted to pay for it. But what can I learn from the experience?
So, I decided to use Google to see how many times “joy” is mentioned in scripture, and there are a lot of varying answers out there. I did find that it does depend on the version of the Bible, but some answers said over a hundred times and some said over two hundred hundred times! Then I Googled the words “broken joy,” not knowing what I’d get. The results mentioned things like “sorrow” and “brokenheartedness,” and I guess that if my joy is broken, then I would be sorrowful or brokenhearted.
I looked at some of the verses that mention joy, and they are amazing! These verses remind us to give joy and to rejoice, and they are very uplifting. Then I looked at some of the verses that mention sorrow, and in a way, I find them even more comforting. They show me how my God will heal me and restore me and wipe away my tears; he will bind up my wounds and save me. Wow–that’s pretty cool! My God loves me so much, he wants me to be whole again! In the Message version, it says this in Jeremiah 17:14: “God, pick up the pieces. Put me back together again. You are my praise!” So, even when I’m broken or my joy is broken, God can fix me! This is a blessing! God can fix my broken joy if I just ask! Thank you, Lord!
Here's a picture of my joy sign. Can you see where it was broken? I bet you can't!
Thank you, friends, for reading!
Love,
Julie
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