Now, I am not at all sure where Steve Harvey is spiritually,
and I am not saying he is one way or the other. He does speak of himself as a
religious man, and he did so in the interview, but this is not to point out
that he may be a Christian or that he isn’t. He said something during the
interview that brought tears to my eyes. I immediately thought of so many
people that I have come in contact with in life that could benefit from the words
that he had said at that moment. I immediately grabbed for my phone so that I
could write down what he had said, and since then I felt like God brought it to
my memory numerous times. I have known that I was supposed to sit down and
write what God spoke to me through this, but have just not had the time until
now. So now I am sitting at work, off the clock of course, with some time on
my hands, so now I will write.

In his interview Steve said this, “Having fun and having joy
is completely different. Fun is something that you have to go out and do. You
have to go to Vegas, you have to do this, and you have to do that. Joy is
completely different. Joy us waking up being completely okay with who you are,
just the way you are.”

What a powerful statement made by Mr. Harvey. I remember
looking at Chad and saying how powerful I thought those words are. I sat there
in silence for a few moments thinking about what he had said, and thinking out
loud I said, “I would add one thing to those words, and that would be that joy
is waking up knowing WHOSE you are.”

I have mentored so many young girls, and have come in
contact with so many who have said they don’t want to be a
Christian because they want to have fun, and in having fun they’re happy. I
have always told them that it’s this false sense of happiness, they are trying
to have “fun” so that they don’t have to face the realities of the life that
they have at home, or the hurt that they hold within. The only way they feel
like they can ever be happy is to go out and have fun. But just like Harvey
said, fun is something that you have to do, you have to do this to have fun and
be happy. Having fun is what makes you happy.

I believe that is the biggest lie of the enemy. The enemy
wants you to be so focused on having to earn your happiness that you miss the
true joy that can be found in the Lord. Joy isn’t something you have to work
for, it’s not something you have to try and keep. True joy is found in the
presence of the Lord, and no matter what, no one can take that from you. Not
only that, but there is such a difference in having joy. You have never
experienced the extent of happiness that you can have in life until you have experienced
the joy that God has to offer you. The best thing is that even when you feel
like everything is falling apart around you, you can still have joy. As long as
you know that God is in control of every circumstance – you can always find joy
and comfort in that. If the enemy gets us so focused on having to work for our
happiness, then he can keep us from experiencing the fullness of joy that God
intended us to have.

Joy is being able to wake up and say, I know things aren’t
going the way I would have hoped, I know that things are hard in life, but I
know who I am and I know who I belong to therefore I have joy that surpasses
all understanding. Joy is something that overflows inside of you beyond
anything that you can understand. The joy that you have in the Lord truly does
go beyond anything else that you can experience.

Rest in God’s presence today and allow Him to fill your life
with a joy that would be unable to be contained.