Life-Sustaining Joy
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24
If I want to really know Jesus and his life-sustaining joy, it’ll mean sharing in his sufferings. No one is naturally inclined to want that, but affliction pushes you down that hard road to Calvary. And when you’re there, holding fast to the cross, you begin to taste the robust joy that carried your Savior all the way through his ‘own’ suffering. And that joy? It’s the sort of sweet agony you’d never wish away. That strange mix-and-mingling of joy and sadness is an affirmation of your union with Christ, a kind of litmus test, telling you that the joy you are experiencing in your affliction is not frivolous; it’s profound evidence that you are becoming like Christ in his death.
That’s what I say, “Joni, keep dying to yourself and you’ll taste the happiness of heaven.”
Living Joyfully with Dystonia
Listen as Abigail shares her story with the help of her communication device, and encourages anyone who is feeling alone, left behind, or hopeless, that you are not alone. Because even when life doesn’t make sense, God has a plan and you have a purpose.