Go out with joy

As I was praying this morning, and studying the scriptures, I remembered that going out with joy is one of the most powerful testimonies to the love of God. Some people just seem to have joy and a hope, even if circumstances are crummy.

It reminds me of the famous passage in the Prophet Isaiah chapter 55 (which I wrote some about last year). Verse 12 says,

• "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
  
• the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
  
• and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

How is it to go out in the joy of the Lord and be so contagious that the trees of the fields and the mountains will even catch the joy? Obviously it's poetic, but what better way to speak of the fellowship with God than to display joy and hope as you go along?

Where I live, everyone around me says, "As-Salamu Alaykum" which basically means "Peace be upon you" in Arabic--a beautiful greeting. I also long for a joy to be among us all through knowing the very character and nature of God and how he extends his hand in love and calls us each by name (John 10:3)!

As-Salamu Alaykum!