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Reach UP magazine’s cover art for this issue, Count It All Joy, is a mixed media painting created by Sally Barlow. Sally is visual artist (https://www.sallybarlowart.com), wife to her college sweetheart and mom to four beautiful children. Many of Sally’s mixed media works are inspired by God’s word and the incredible wonder of nature.
Count It All Joy is a very special work that was inspired by Sally’s incredible friend, Meggin Schiffner.
Watching Meggin battle chronic illness, Sally was continually inspired by her solid faith that allowed her to COUNT IT ALL JOY even in the midst of life’s darkest storms. Some would say “learning to dance in the rain” … a concept that goes much deeper in her life.
Meggin writes: “My ongoing desire for years now has been to be a woman of JOY in a world that doesn’t always dish out optimal circumstances. I love Jesus because He first LOVED me and He acted upon that love. “For the JOY set before Him, He endured the cross.”
Humanity reconciled to God was His JOY.
Me.
YOU.
His JOY!
Joy isn’t tried in ease, but in the storm … “We are faced with a variety of trials, but we get to choose to respond by faith to God’s Word. We command and lead our own minds from our knowledge base of the powerful, profitable, righteous and illuminating Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
“This enables us to count ALL things as Joy.
“Our conviction of His truth creates within us a calm delight – a gladness that replaces
bitterness. Joy isn’t based on feelings or circumstances, but on facts in God’s word.
Who He says we are.
What He says we have.
What He says we have to look forward to.
“Joy isn’t always accompanied with feelings. I once wished JOY felt bubbly – like ‘happy’ but sometimes it is more like assurance. In the darkest storm, JOY has a substance that ‘happy’ lacks. Joy comes from choosing to believe in God’s precious promises.
Today, I “Count It All Joy.”
