By Rev. Jarrett Britton Washington, Columnist
The truth of this life is God desires your joy and happiness. Every day, I encounter people in and out of the body of Christ who are sad, sullied, and stressed. Even during this holiday season, there are some people who are lost in their absolute mind by their lack. However, the bible reminds us when the people of God were brought back from their captive places it was like a dream. What’s in a dream? I have found dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind. The euphoric experience of our dreams is played out in the reality of our God. This particular season of our lives is greater confirmation that dreams certainly do come true.
Declare with me, God wants to heal you. God wants to see you successful. God wants to see you excel in your faith and life. All of this and so much more directly relate to your dreams, which ultimately illustrate your happiness. The scripture teaches that after the people of God felt as if life were a dream, they were immediately filled with laughter and their tongues with singing (Psalm 126:2). I believe that once you have gone from here to there—from captivity to freedom—or even from a nightmare to a dream, your life ought to mirror the happiness God has brought.
Today, I wish to remind you there is a road to happiness that is important to our stability and overall spiritual growth. Believers ought to be happy in everything. Even when it seems like life is stacked against you, you ought to be happy. The psalmist reminds us those who sow in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 126:5). Take an inventory of everything that recently caused you to cry. Think about all the people or situations that hurt you. Release them into your place of joy, which I consider the garden of your destiny. Realize what did not kill you has only made you stronger. Rest on the word of God; and most of all, dream those dreams that brought deliverance.
The Reverend Jarrett Britton Washington, M.Div., MACE, is the Pastor of Hopewell African Methodist Episcopal Church in Hemingway, South Carolina. He is a graduate of Turner Theological Seminary at the ITC in Atlanta, Georgia, with both the Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Christian Education degrees. Currently, he serves as the Co-Editor of The Voice of Mission Magazine and Layout Artist for the Missionary Magazine. He is married to Deronda C. Washington and is the father of one daughter, Braylen Jael.
