Just the other day, I was taking my 9 month old Golden Retriever puppy out for her morning walk. Of course, the thought of sleeping in and having a slow morning was a little more desirable to me at that moment. However, my sweet little puppy finds so much excitement whenever we go out for our daily walk.
As we strolled along the streets of our neighborhood, she found such great delight in front yard sprinklers, a leaf blowing in the wind, a neighbor walking past with a furry friend for her to sniff and the occasional squirrel burying acorns in the park.
Seeing my girl happy brought me so much joy. As we walked along, I began to ponder what it meant to have true joy in my heart and to live my life from a place where joy is abundant. I think we all want that. To feel joy even in all of the stress of day-to-day living.
Can we have joy in our everyday circumstances?
For many years now, one of my favorite scriptures has been the ending sentence of Nehemiah 8:10, “….the joy of the Lord is your strength.” In this particular verse, the Israelites were mourning because Nehemiah had just read to them God’s law, which made them realize how many times they had failed the Lord. It grieved them deeply. They mourned aloud. Nehemiah instructed them to stop mourning and said, “the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
The beautiful reality of this scripture is that joy comes from our security in the character of God. Joy is birthed from our confidence in His almighty abilities and our gratitude for His love, forgiveness and saving grace. This means that we can have joy in all circumstances! Yes, in all circumstances!
Dictionary.com describes the word joy as this:
joy
/joi/
Joy is an emotion of intense delight, well-being, and happiness. While happiness is usually fleeting and dependent on outside circumstances, joy is often viewed as a deeper, more enduring state of contentment that comes from within. A resilient state of mind tied to personal values, gratitude, and a sense of deeper meaning—it can often persist even during difficult times.
As I walked my giant, 70 pound puppy-doggy down the sidewalk – weaving through the streets of our little town – my heart filled with gratitude at all the joy that encompassed my life. I could feel the warm sunshine on my face. I could smell the fresh blooms of all the spring flowers, and I could see my puppy bouncing along in her own little world of happiness. All of these things brought me great joy.
As we made the loop back onto our own street, and our morning walk was over, the realities of the day began to settle in. We all have struggles, heaviness to carry during the day, and stressful situations to get through. But….for those of us who have a relationship with Jesus, we know He is our strength, peace, provider, redeemer and friend. I opened my front door and we went inside to face the day that awaited us. A day that the Lord had made. A day that would offer many opportunities to choose joy, feel joy and live it out.
God has a plan and He can be fully trusted. Our confidence in Him should produce so much joy, despite our circumstances.
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your righthand are pleasures forevermore.” – Psalm 16:11
When we go through the hard times in life we can still rejoice and live from a place of a joyful heart.
Dear friends, as we all know, there will always be something in life to be upset about. We all suffer from uncontrollable circumstances. We all experience feelings and emotions that are heavy, hard and painful. There will always be the dream for more, a hope of desires fulfilled and a wait for goals achieved. Yet, even so, it would be a huge discredit to the gift of today (and the Gift-Giver of today) to postpone our joy until the checklist is fulfilled. It would be a shame to not cast our heavy burdens onto the Lord and allow His joy to sustain us (Psalm 55:22).
Whatever you are going through, He sees. He knows. He cares.
He is our hope. He is our strength.
He is our joy!
“Rejoice always;” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16
So, can we find joy in the everyday? Yes!
The Joy of the Lord is our strength!
Be blessed friends!
~ Stephanie
For His Glory, By His Grace 