Uncommon Joy.

Uncommon Joy - 36"x36", Acrylic on canvas, Elise Ehrenholz ©2024.

Imagine if you will, a desert, and you've been there a very long time. It has become your normal, for as long as you can remember. This desert has been a desolate place where there is very little water and very little shelter. You've been exposed to the natural elements and they have beaten you down. Your skin and clothes are dirty and tattered. Unexpected storms have kicked up sand, painfully blasting your face and eyes. Unexpected experiences, things you never wanted or thought would ever happen appeared at your door. There have been scorpions and vipers too, but you've come out victorious, alas, it was not without a cost to you. You are tired and for good reason. You don't fight that long without being that kind of tired. You battled. It almost took you out. To top it all off so many days have seemed the same. Day in, day out, all the same routines, and you get up again and again like a dutiful soldier. You thought it would be something new by now, so many times it seemed like that day was the day to breakthrough and your journey through the wilderness would be complete. Hope rose in your heart and then it was delayed over and over again. How can you keep going? It's the end of another long day roaming in the desert, and in the twilight you see something in the distance. You walk closer and in the light of the lamp-posts that line the path that has somehow materialized beneath your feet, that vague shape in the distance becomes something you recognize. It's a carousel and it's playing a song from your childhood. How it resonates with you, instantly bringing you to tears. Light emanating from the structure is bouncing off the tiny mirrors and gold that abound in its design into the darkness that is all around. You look down and you see tiny orbs of light on your feet and on your clothes. You have begun to sparkle just being near it. You choose to walk closer, up the stairs, onto the carousel platform. There is sheer delight and wonder in your heart. You look around and notice there is no one else here. You can see by the worn antique linoleum that many people have walked this way before, but where are they? It doesn't worry you, surely they are safe. The carousel starts to move and so you choose a well-dressed animal to ride. You hold onto the bridle and take it all in. The delight of the carousel makes you forget that you are in the middle of a desert, in the middle of nowhere, and your feelings of lack and weakness disappear. Your eyes have become bright and you realize you are smiling, your heart fully alive because in the midst of this expanse of a desert you have found uncommon joy. It fills you up. A sense of sustenance washes over you and you begin to feel stronger, better, hopeful. The desert hasn't changed, it's still the same but you are different, in your spirit something miraculous has happened. You notice in that twilight sky some hot air balloons and they are coming closer. You realize that the carousel is a kind of beacon for them, to help them to know where to land so they can pick people up. And you realize that they are coming to rescue you. You realize that your time here is short and in such a little while they will land and it will be your turn. It will be your turn to go up. You are going to make it. You have a hope that will not fail. 

I sent my friend a photo of this completed work and she said she hoped that it was a design of real place. Now that's a thought. Wouldn't you love to take all your dearest people to a place like this carousel that shone in the utter darkness and sang the deepest most beautiful song to your souls? I would. I would love to go this place in real life too if it existed like it does in my imagination. It would be wondrous. We would all race to see who would get there first even though there would be a carousel animal for everyone. Me and my friend would hold hands and skip together like small little girls. I can see it now. I had some things written in a notebook that I'm not going to write here because they just seem unnecessary. This is the heart of it all. Sooner or later we see how challenging life can be. We will all go through wilderness seasons. We don't all go through the same things. One look at the news will show you that there are those who are getting their unfair share. I don't understand why. This is what I know though. No matter what trial you are enduring or what may come, Jesus is there to help you to get through it. He in Himself without anyone to help Him is enough. He can meet you in the darkest of circumstances. The darkest of places. He can undergird you like no body's business. He can help you get through, for He is a hope that does not fail. He doesn't fail despite personal weaknesses or the failing of the world. He is a constant hope that transcends everything. That is what the carousel in the painting reflects. Jesus is our uncommon joy. Being in God's presence revives us in a way that this world cannot hope to. God stands alone in being our ultimate joy bringer and He is no stranger to the desert. He knows how to deal with it and He knows all our details, nothing escapes Him. Nothing. And He loves us in such a way that keeps breaking me down. He is so good. People, He is SO good. It's my deepest prayer that you know that for yourself because we all need to get to that place. Are you struggling? Can I encourage you to take some time today to sequester yourself with God? Tell Jesus that you need Him. He will come in if you open the door to your heart. Just ask Him. He will show up every time. 

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." - Nehemiah 8:10

"For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you." - Isaiah 41:13

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." - John 3:16, 17.

"If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."Romans 10:9-10

"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." - John 6:29

Keep stretching your hands out to God dear hearts. Pour your heart out like a waterfall to Him. The road has surely been rough, but we are mighty in Him. Praise you Jesus. You did it all.

©2024 Elise Ehrenholz