Jesus brings joy beyond the circumstances we face.   ~~~   Do you know you are loved? Even if you don’t get chocolate, jewelry, flowers, cologne, dinner out or even a card at some point this week, YOU are deeply loved by God and He is creating something beautiful in your life. It’s true. That may be the last thing you want to hear today, but the truth is, the most beautiful gift you could receive is knowing your worth, your beauty and your purpose are found FULLY in the one who created you, loves you and knows you best. God adores you. No other love compares. Seriously. I adore my husband. I’ve loved him and he’s loved me now for well over thirty years. I’m thankful to God and blessed by that love, but God loves me more and my heart first belongs to God. The same for my husband. As our hearts have drawn closer to God over the years, our hearts have come closer to one another. It’s a beautiful design and a deep love. All the things we think we want when it comes to love, can ultimately only be found when we first know we are loved by God. Everything else flows from that love. We receive it from God and then we give our heart back to God. It’s a beautiful reaction to being loved. We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) If you are in a season of waiting or maybe your heart has suffered loss or been broken, I want you to know God sees where you are and what you’re walking through. You don’t walk it alone. God is with you. He is near your hurting heart and working through your circumstance to create something beautiful. Knowing He is working FOR your good, (Romans 8:28) you can choose joy (James 1:2-4) even in the most difficult season or trial. Psalm 31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. God knows the deepest desires of our heart. He also knows the idols we place above Him. When we seek Him first, the rest will fall into place in the most beautiful design. It’s difficult to imagine something beautiful in a season of trial or longing. Still, as we reflect His love through it, beauty shines for the world to see. Coming through this winter we’ve been hit with some harsh conditions. Arctic blasts brought record breaking low temperatures and lots of ice and snow. The icy cold of winter, while it can bring many challenges, also brought beauty I had never seen. Ice pillars formed in the night sky. These ice or light pillars are an atmospheric optical phenomenon which look like vertical beams of light. They’re beautiful! The effect is created by the reflection of light from tiny ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Ever heard of ice brellas or ice bells? Me either! Apparently these can form around trees in lakes or rivers during a hard freeze. It looks like an ice skirt around the bottom of a tree. Unexpected beauty formed in the cold of winter. Even the harshest conditions of our lives or the coldest seasons of waiting can display something beautiful when our heart reflects the love of the Lord. Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Jesus brings joy beyond our circumstances. Whatever conditions we face in this life, He shines something unexpected through it as we trust Him with it. We grow as a result with deep roots and our lives become a display of His splendor, even in the winters of life. That’s the truth. REST in the love of Christ. Something new and beautiful will form as a result. I’m Lori Cline.