Then he challenged us to recall the joy that was present at the beginning of our connection with Jesus. He talked about how criticism and hard days of life and ministry had stolen the smiles and laughter from so many following the Lord. You could just feel the tangible connection of the men and women in the room to the words the speaker was sharing. He noted that, though we often say how thankful we are that we’re not the same people we used to be before Christ redeemed our lives, in our actual living