Joy of the Lord

W R I T T E N B Y Y O L A N D A M A G I D A

Ȋ'RQRWJULHYHIRUWKHMR\RIWKH/RUG is your strength.” 1HKHPLDK I hear this scripture being used in my Christian circles a lot. It’s often said by a leader encouraging the congregation GXULQJ D GLɝFXOW SHULRG RU VHDVRQ A seasoned Christian who is going through a trying time would often use this statement when asked about how they are doing. I must confess, when I was a young Christian, I was often confused when I heard a person responding with “ WKHMR\RIWKH/RUGLVP\ VWUHQJWKKDOOHOXMDK” but nothing in their countenance or body language spoke RIMR\ΖKDYHVDLGLWDFRXSOHRI WLPHV myself, often with little understanding or no personal revelation as to what those words really mean. This of course, was until the words became alive and active, performing what they were originally intended to do. $OORZPHWRPDNHDVLGHWUDFNFRQIHVVLRQ 7KHUH LV D VWUHQJWK ȴQGHU WHVW WKDW we were asked to take as individuals to assess our areas of strengths and potential areas of improvement (they are not called weaknesses anymore) as a CBN South Africa team. Out of my WRS ȴYH VWUHQJWKV IRXU RI WKHP DUH LQ the thinking realm (strategic, ideation, intellection and context). I’m the person who spends a lot of time in her head. If you want us to quickly become best friends, share your thoughts, ideas or concepts about God, human behaviour, MXVWLFH SROLWLFV UHOLJLRQ KDLU HWF ZLWK me. You can skip the small talk and get ULJKW LQWR WKH GHHS VWX΍ 7KDWȇV PH LQ a nutshell. Now, with all of that being VDLG P\ ȴIWK VWUHQJWK LV empathy. Empathy is a beautiful quality to have. It allows you to walk in another person’s shoes without the other person having to explain what they feel. It’s the highest form of experiencing oneness with another person whilst being two separate individuals. Sharing of experiences without words, whether it EH MR\ RU VRUURZ ΖWȇV EHDXWLIXO EXW LWȇV something I struggle with. It clashes completely with my need to think and reason to the point where I shut it down when it gets too much. I developed the skill of avoidance. Then in comes God, in all the mess, wanting to make himself known. What people don’t tell you is that you don’t get to pick and choose how he reveals and makes himself known to you.

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Three years after I had accepted Jesus Christ into my life, praying and singing beautiful songs like “ let what breaks your heart break mine,” I started to experience what felt like God’s heart regarding situations and people. It was the weirdest thing to my mind, but a delight to my spirit. In its simplest form, when God was happy with someone I VSRNHWRΖIHOWDQLPPHQVHMR\DQGSULGH wash over me. When that individual speaks, everything they say feels like a melody or song. I began to love hearing people pray. On the other side of the coin, I picked up RQ+LVJULHIDQGVRUURZRYHUDVLWXDWLRQ or a person. In my experience, it felt like death. The pain and grief is intense. All you want to do is get rid of it quickly. This was quite traumatic for me as I was young, insecure and an inexperienced Christian who has never seen such gifting modelled in a church setting. My brain couldn’t comprehend what was going on, so I buried it. It was only a few years down the line when a good and mature friend of mine in Christ caught me weeping uncontrollably over a person whom we KDG MXVW SUD\HG IRU Ζ FRXOGQȇW OLIW WKH burden and I was angry at myself for not keeping emotions inside. She said something wise and it put everything LQWR SHUVSHFWLYH Ȋ+H KDV JLYHQ \RX WKH burden, Yolanda, through prayer you FDXJKW +LV KHDUW DQG DUH GLVSOD\LQJ LW you now need to pray that he lifts the EXUGHQDQGUHSODFHVLWZLWKMR\ȋ When God gave these words to Nehemiah to comfort the returned exiles, they were worshiping, praying and reading the Law of Moses. They had MXVWFRPSOHWHG WKHZDOO WKH\VKRXOGEH celebrating but instead they were caught up in grief and were weeping. Why? I would like to think the praying and worshiping allowed them to catch the heart of God. The reading of the Law, the realisation of sin committed, acknowledgement of God’s heartache DQG WKH GHOD\ LQ WKH IXOȴOPHQW RI WKH desires he has had for his people. It is this connection to the grief that facilitated repentance. It was hearts turning back to *RG WKDW ZDV VLJQLȴFDQW SHUKDSV HYHQ more than the wall rebuilt. It’s in this space of grief that Nehemiah VD\V ȊȐ'R QRW JULHYH IRU WKH MR\ RI WKH /RUG LV \RXU VWUHQJWKȋ +LV -R\ +LV perspective on matters will give you strength when the burden of grief becomes too much... because the story LVQRWȴQLVKHG\HW+LV-R\DQGGHOLJKWLQ KXPDQLW\DQGWKHIXOȴOPHQWRI+LVSODQV for us (which are good) is our strength!