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Written on August 12, 2010 by emily

Hello again. Yes, I know it’s been more than eight months since I’ve been around. Sometime in January I even popped in to say hello and promised to write more soon…and then you were met with silence. Well…not only silence, but a hilarious message. “Hey, we’re in Maintenance Mode. Check back in 60 minutes!” Sixty minutes turned into many months. I’m a little embarrassed, but I’m also chuckling about the irony. My apologies to those of you who have been checking back. Hopefully I don’t disappoint this time. I’m ready to write, so write I shall.

Life is different, and I am different now. I’m experiencing and processing many things in many areas of my life–all are connected and with similar themes, but I’ve learned that I’m equally big-picture and small details. I see some of the overarching reasons we’re in the season of life we’re in, and I see the subtlest details and nuances that play a part in the process. In the past, I’ve been shy about opening myself in the most transparent ways…not really because I mind that people know my business, but more because I’m afraid that people can’t handle or won’t want to handle how overwhelming my business is. I feel like my heart is oversized to begin with, and it’s full…so full that it’s gushing out like a geyser. What is gushing out? Not blood, thankfully. That would be gross and tragic. It’s gushing out love, passion, joy, creativity, hopes, fears, longings, strategies, connections…see there it goes again. That list could go on a while.

So after months of being on the fence about continuing with Joy Arising, I’ve decided not to continue, and not to quit, but to start over. I’m aching and striving for a supremely honest life before God, and it is my foremost goal to have the most abundant, joyful, Spirit-filled, and selfless life possible. I want it for myself and my husband, and for my children. I want for them a spiritual heritage that is undeniable and immovable because its foundation is laid by the Master Craftsman. And so I open myself, without reservation, to share about God’s shaping of my heart and perspective, to share about my daily struggles and victories, and to share my devotional life and chronicle my personal journey toward the absolute fullness of God’s plans for me. I will not forget where I’ve come from. I will not forget the kindness of my Lord. I will not hide my little light under a bushel. I’m in the business of cultivating joy, which is much like a garden flower. You must prepare the ground, plant the seed, water it appropriately and guard it from harsh weather. You must tend the soil around it and the plant itself as it grows…but when it flowers…oh when it flowers. You will have a blossom that stays in joyful bloom in the company of the Joy-Giver for all of time.

John 15:1-11    ¹“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ²“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. ³“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. ⁷“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. ⁹“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.¹⁰“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.¹¹“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”

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