As we are looking at different passages from Psalms this month, I can’t help but spend a week on my favorite Psalm, which also happens to be one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible.

Psalm 126:1-3 says,

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.

Maybe it’s because I try to be an optimist, but I love the passages in the Bible that talk about the amazing things that God has done or is going to do. While we can definitely count on God to be with us through our trials, He is also there in our joys! Matthew 7 reminds us that God gives us the best gifts, and that God delights in doing so. God doesn’t promise that we are always going to be happy, but He rejoices with us when we are!

The joy that is present in this passage almost seems to be contagious as we read it — the captives are finally being released, the waiting is over, and Israel is restored as a nation. If returning home and being freed from captivity after years upon years isn’t reason to celebrate, I don’t know what is! God has promised to bring them through, He did, and now it was time for God’s people to celebrate! They prayed, they waited, their prayers were finally answered (in God’s perfect timing), and now they couldn’t help but laugh and sing and declare God’s glory.

Have you ever felt the same? Have you prayed and waited for something important, and then had the chance to see God come through in only a way that God could? I know I have. And again—this is what God loves to do for His children. The “no’s” that we receive when we pray are only because God knows of a higher plan, even when that is hard for us to comprehend. It pains God to see us suffer, but it makes God smile to see us rejoice.

God came through for me just this past weekend. We had Camp Healing Hearts, and I had the daunting responsibility of leading both the candlelight service and a Service of Healing for these families, most of whom are in very real places of hurt and loss. While I did not (and still don’t) feel worthy or up to that task, and was even pretty nervous about it as the weekend approached, God came through and did things that were much bigger than me. He incorporated people in to the service that I hadn’t originally planned to include, and they were on theme with the service and connected in ways that I couldn’t. He provided other volunteers to lend their talents, and in the end it was much more meaningful service than I had the ability to plan on my own. I was nervous and came to the end of my resources, but God stepped in with His and answered my prayer for help!

I encourage you to spend some time today rejoicing. Make a list of the “yesses” that you and God can celebrate, and then get to it! Thank God, laugh, sing, and tell someone else about the amazing ways that God has blessed your life!