“I was in the wilderness, but by no means dry, because there’s always a well of living water bubbling up. Circumstances don’t dictate my joy. The joy bubbles over, no matter what.” Karla Fay Tucker
Joyfully she hummed songs of worship softly as she lied on the death bed. She was fastened to this bed, not by sickness, physical disability or any medical condition. Waiting for the lethal injection, she whispered her last prayer “Lord Jesus, help them to find my vein.” During her fourteen years of imprisonment on the death row, Karla Faye Tucker gave her life to Jesus, became a worldwide evangelist for Christ, and to her credit inspired the birth of many prison ministries and the establishment of Faith Based Dorms in many prisons in USA.
Though chains bound her hands and legs, heavy mesh, steel doors, gates, and guards separated her from life, she lived the meaning of life. The Warden, the chaplain and some guards when they had been beaten down by stress would retreat to her cell for new cells of energy they received constantly through the disarming love and unbridled, contagious joy of Karla.
“Yet my joy level was beyond registering on any scale. That kept me going…” (Karla Fay Tucker). The main theme of the letter Paul wrote from the prison to the Philippian church is JOY. Who would be a better counsellor of the storm of life than Paul who passed through the press of many incarcerations, shipwrecks, starvation, and other deadly persecutions? “Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.” (Philippians 3:1). “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again–rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).
Jesus said “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). In these last days there is no other sustaining source of joy than the promises of God. Please maintain your edge by getting into His words and also embrace this last exhortation of Karla Faye Tucker “Grab onto the hope that Jesus gives. Keep your head up. Pray for His joy, that undergirding joy.”
We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy! – 1 John 1:3-4
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. –John 16:24
The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete – John 3:29