Joyful Longing

"The sentiment of a Christian's heart should be that of joyful longing."

My genius roommate Emily said this tonight, and it really struck a cord- joyful for the circumstances the Lord has placed us in today and longing for the promise of the Lord that this world is not all there is- that we have a hope that is not yet seen- and for that our hearts long. So the challenges of today are not without joy or hope but rather are seasoned with an increased longing for Christ and delight in knowing we are being refined.

See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another. Isaiah 48:10

So our trials and testing are reminders that we are the Lord's, that he is refining us for a purpose- for his glory and our good- which in his grace he has created to be inextricable. What a blessed assurance that we are our beloveds and he is ours! That we would be disciplined as a father disciplines a child- for the purpose of benefiting the child- not for the purpose of assuaging the father's anger.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight; angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest; I in my Savior am happy and blest, watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love.