Stasi Eldredge - Defiant Joy: Taking Hold of Hope, Beauty, and Life in a Hurting World

Contents

Also by Stasi Eldredge

Captivating

Love and War

Becoming Myself

Free to Be Me

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2018 by Stasi Eldredge

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Epub Edition September 2018 9781400208708

ISBN 978-1-4002-0869-2 (TP)

ISBN 978-1-4002-0870-8 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Eldredge, Stasi, author.

Title: Defiant joy : taking hold of hope, beauty, and life in a hurting world / Stasi Eldredge.

Description: Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 2018.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018015732 | ISBN 9781400208692

Subjects: LCSH: Joy--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Classification: LCC BV4647.J68 E43 2018 | DDC 248.8/6--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018015732

Printed in the United States of America

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For Jesus,

the fount and future of all joy.

Its all for You.

And those the LORD has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

ISAIAH 35:10

W hy Defiant Joy? Why not read a book simply on joy? The answer is an easy one. In this world where we find ourselves living, having joy often feels both crazy and out of reach. Thats why the title of this book includes the word defiant. Defiant means to stand against the tide. It means to go against the flow, even when the flow is composed of a strong current of despair and difficulty.

To have joy in the midst of sorrowor the current news feedcan seem impossible. And all on our own, it is impossible. But just as the angel Gabriel said after making his outlandish proclamation to Mary that she, a virgin, would give birth to the Savior of the world, Nothing will be impossible with God (Luke 1:37 NASB).

Joy is meant to be ours, a joy that is defiant in the face of this broken world. Our hearts are to echo the heartbeat of our joyous God. Now, this isnt about skipping around in the garden singing, Im so happy in Jesus every day. This is about being present to whatever may be coming our way and, in the midst of both the goodness and the grief, knowing joy.

Believing that sorrow and loss do not have the final word takes defiance. It requires a strength of spirit that must be nurtured. It means engaging our lives fully but interpreting them by the highlight of heaven. Denying the truth of reality is not the answer; being fully present to it is.

The invitation from God to rejoice, again I say rejoice comes to us in the middle of our lowest lows as well as our highest highs. How do we do that? Lets find out together.

Joy is the serious business of Heaven.

C. S. LEWIS

I t is a quiet morning. The house is empty save for our two resigned dogsresigned because they sense this master will not be taking them on a walk anytime soon. They know it from my slow movements, which cause their natural exuberance to dim. This morning, I will not allow myself to be baited by their soft, desire-filled eyes. Sorry, guys. The bed is just too cozy, and its my day off.

Suddenly the quiet is broken as my youngest golden, Maisie, still a puppy by every standard, dashes from my bedside and begins to bark indignantly. I can guess the reason. It is the bark she uses to alert all within earshot that some neighboring cow has trespassed onto her property. Looking out my bedroom window, I see a confused little black bovine, backside still raw with the telltale signs of a too-new brand, wandering along our side of the fence. Our offended dog will let this calf, separated from her lumbering mother, know her mistake. There will be no reunions on Maisies front porch.

In the peace that returns after Maisie calms down, having barked the calf on her way, I notice the air smells of smoke. It is the height of summer now: fire season. There is a fire burning somewhere close. Too close.

The smell of smoke used to be one I liked. It is reminiscent of campfires and conversations, marshmallows when I was young. Now, though, I am too closely acquainted with forest fires. Weve lived through three fires since moving to Colorado, but the Waldo Canyon fire that swept through Colorado in 2012, burning 347 homes and swallowing 18,000 acres of gorgeous forest, had come the closest. The hungry flames came within twenty feet of our house. The courageous firefighters and Vandenberg Air Force Base Hot Shots gave it up for lost, taking their stand across our street against the raging inferno. We evacuated in speed, shock, and tears, and for long minutes we did not know if we would live or die, swallowed up by flames ourselves. No. I no longer find the fragrance of smoke comforting.