Surprised by Joy is the title of a book by C.S. Lewis in which he describes his journey from atheism to faith in Jesus Christ. Without any specific connection to the book other than the title, this phrase came to mind as I reflected upon my evening's activities because
joy is the only suitable word to describe what I felt. A stunning, overpowering, and yes,
surprising joy. It wasn't that the circumstances didn't merit joy, but I just didn't expect to be so inundated by this welcome emotion. So, what brought about this state of joy, you might ask? I recently began renting a room in the home of a couple who six months before had opened their home to a woman who had just gotten out of a drug rehab program. This woman has struggled with a drug and alcohol addiction all her life. That is, up until six months ago. Tonight, celebrating her six months of sobriety, her church family and numerous other individuals who have poured into her life, gathered to lavish her with love and encouragement and to give glory to God for His great work in her life. Amidst food and joyful fellowship, various individuals shared words of encouragement, Scriptures, and testimonies of how this woman's journey had impacted their own lives. And I was overcome with joy. The kind that brings tears to your eyes and a surge of longing in your heart for something that you can't even describe, because in that moment you know you are experiencing but a taste of something that is still yet to come. These friends had fought with this woman. They had agonized over her. They had loved her consistently, even when doing so disrupted the normalcy of their lives. This woman had endured abuse, homelessness, and a lifelong enslavement to drugs and alcohol. But tonight, surrounded by a group of people of all ages and from diverse backgrounds, but brought together by the life of one woman and the reality of one God, we celebrated. I think that the reason this night brought so much joy is because it was a concentrated dose of what should daily permeate our lives--celebration for the deliverance that God brings and has brought through Jesus Christ, and the outpouring of love of God's people on one another. This joy is what Heaven will be filled with, and perhaps, after God has made all things new, this joy will no longer come as a surprise. Rather than breaking through as clean air in the midst of pollution, pure, untainted joy will be the very air we breathe. I will treasure the memory of this night, but I have come away with a greater longing for what John Bunyan called the "Celestial City," and a desire for God's people to mirror on this earth the reality of the perfect unity, love, and joy that we will one day experience around the throne of the Lamb.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:22-25
