Let's light the candle of joy - Advent three
This week's theme for Advent is Joy! Good news of great Joy! This past Sunday, my church choir presented their Christmas musical "All Is Well" and the last song was "Joy To The World - Unspeakable Joy!" by Chris Tomlin. It's just such a fun song and makes me smile every time I sing it.
The word unspeakable means "not able to be expressed in words". Don't you know that’s how the shepherds must have felt the night that the angel showed up on their hillside. And the angel said to them…
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ”
Why would an angel come to a group of shepherds? Shepherds were considered by the Pharisees and scribes to be unclean and not respected citizens. But God doesn't always use the most respected, highly educated, polished people. Moses was a shepherd before God called him to deliver His people from the Egyptian ruler Pharoah. Moses also had a speech impediment. King David was a shepherd boy before God anointed him to be King of Israel.
Can you imagine when the shepherds got to the manger and saw the baby Jesus that they were filled with "unspeakable" joy. A joy that could not be expressed except to stand in awe in the presence of the Lord. Are you struggling to have joy in your life this Christmas? Look back at Luke 2:10.
What is the first words that the angel spoke. "Fear not"! Did you know that the words "fear not" is written in the Bible 365 times? I haven't checked them all but I've read that means there is a different verse for every day of the year! I don’t think that that is a mistake.
Isn't that awesome! Have you ever wondered why we’re told not to fear? The reason is that Jesus is our Deliverer, our Comforter, our Great Shepherd. True joy can only be found in the Lord.
You can find joy in a job promotion, a raise in pay, an expensive Christmas gift like jewelry, a new car or home...just about anything. But unfortunately that "joy" only last for awhile. But true "joy" from the Lord last forever. It's not always an easy path to take but God never said that a life with Him would be. Just remember that Jesus definitely didn’t have an easy life. He was despised, spat on and beaten. He was then crucified for you and for me!
This “good news” was not just for the shepherds but to "all the people". Once again, that includes you and me! I pray that you will be filled with the "joy of the Lord" during this holiday season.
For this bible journaling page, I created a template which can be found in the FREEBIES tab above or just click this link. I cut all the pieces out from the template and used watercolor to paint each one. I cut the stars and the manger from hymnal paper. For the straw, I cut strips of copy paper and made slits (do this part after you paint and it has dried)! I tried to use hymnal paper for the straw but it just kept tearing. Scrapbook paper would work as well. For baby Jesus and the swaddling clothes I used copy paper again. I the outlined each piece with a Faber Castel Pitt Pen in black.
Once I had all my pieces, I glued them down. I added the words “hope, love and JOY” because I wanted to remember Advent One and Two! God definitely brings us good news of hope, love and joy! I simply used letter stickers that I’ve had in a stash forever.
Several tips to adding letter stickers to your Bible journaling page:
Start with the last letter and work your way backwards to the first letter. This way you can be sure that you have enough room for the whole word.
Write your word on a piece of scrap paper so that you can be sure you don’t misspell!
After everything was glued down and outlined, I decided to add a few white splatters. The easiest way to do this is to add water to your acrylic paint so that it’s the consistency of milk. Load your brush with paint. Then with the opposite hand hold a paint brush or pencil and gently tap. Note: you will get paint splatters everywhere so be sure and protect the things that you don’t want paint on.
I know that there are many who find this holiday difficult because of personal reasons like: a lost loved one, being alone, depression, family conflicts, etc. I encourage you to reach out to those that you know are hurting this season and to pray during this Advent season for people who need to remember “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”.