Your Cross & Joy

For the joy set before Me, I endured the cross. I gazed past sin’s burden and price, and saw you. I saw you free, reconciled to the Father, and smiling back at Me; not only you but countless others who would also accept Me. You were the joy set before Me. And now, dear one, you face a cross of your own. Learn of Me. Look past the cross towards your joy. And that, precious one, is Me, smiling in delight upon you. I am your joy! Look to Me as you endure, knowing that I am on the other side with resurrecting power. Understand the lesson of the seed, and allow yourself to be broken and die that multiplication can occur. Your cross is a fruit-bearing tree.

Heb. 12:2-3, “Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.” HCSB