JOY!

Isaiah 61:10 - "I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!  For He has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness.  I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels."

In the months of February and March both my brother and my sister started their new lives, taking on new roles, as a husband and a wife.  What a thrilling time as my mom and dad prepared for not just one wedding, but two!  Both Don and Nancy married wonderful, Godly people and I am so thankful to add another brother and another sister to my life! 

After watching and participating in a lot of planning for these weddings,  it was hard not to also concentrate on the beauty of God's design for marriage.  But more so it was hard not to find myself lost in excitement knowing that marriage is God's example of His love for His Bride! 

I wanted to use this picture as a visual of Isaiah 61:10.  White is used as a symbol of purity, of a life washed of sin, of holiness, righteousness.  All of those things are given to us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour.  He washes us white as snow and in Christ we become the righteousness of God (2 Cor.5:21).  This picture reminds me of the joy we possess as we walk from death into life through Christ Jesus.  Just as a bride wears a beautiful garment on her wedding day, the person who turns to walk in the newness of life through Jesus'  blood puts on a new garment -- clean, white, pure, beautiful!  The day we decide to follow Jesus is our proverbial wedding day.  He ushers you to His banqueting house to celebrate over you and lavish His love over you.  The Word tells us that He is "the Mighty One...He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing"(Zephaniah 3:17).  That sounds like something to celebrate, something that gives us a reason to be full of joy!  That sounds like the precious love of a bridegroom as he cradles his new bride into his arms.  Although we live in a world that has allowed the enemy to convince us differently of marriage, the Truth of God's Word still remains the same...marriage was and will always be an institution of the Master Designer.  The joy that can come from a relationship with Christ should be evident on our faces, with all the excited anticipation and the expectation of a life filled with happiness just as a bride on her wedding day!