Over the last year or so, God has transformed the way I understand joy and experience joy in my day to day life. Like most people, the joy I experienced was limited to how well things were going in my life. And I measured how well things were going in my life by how much progress I had made in achieving my own personal goals and obtaining my desires.
A while back, I stumbled upon this definition of joy as explained by Kay Warren: “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.” This got the wheels turning. God was speaking to my heart. Joy wasn’t to be found in the details of life or the particular situations, but rather in the assurance of a God who is in control and is worthy of my trust and confidence.
That changes everything.
My circumstances may change from favorable to unpleasant, but that doesn’t mean that my joy has to waver. My joy can be constant because the God in whom my joy is found is constant and unchanging. Are you following me?
I am realizing more and more everyday that my heart is a fickle mistress and I hardly know what I want or what would be good for me. If things don’t happen the way I expected, who’s to say that the God who knows me fully doesn’t have a better plan in store? I am learning that the storms of this life are no match for my Savior, the one whom even the winds and the waves obey.
There is one more thing I am learning. As Hannah Brencher mentions in her blog post “Drop the Mic and Go Find Sarah,” “God doesn’t orchestrate accidents.” God is not caught off guard or shocked by your particular set of circumstances. No one is capable of throwing a curve ball at God. He knows everything. Seasons can be long and difficult, but nothing we go through is without purpose. There are lessons to learn, there is joy to be found, there is transformation taking place, even in the things that the enemy tries to use to destroy us.
True joy isn’t something that just happens to you. True joy is a choice that you make. It’s a choice to live life to the fullest, no matter what life looks like in the particular moment that you’re in. It’s a choice to believe in hope at all costs and it’s a choice to trust that tomorrow will be brighter than today.
