I’m not eager for bad times. I truly hope I get to spend the rest of my days without hard moments, grief, sadness, stress, or pain. But I now longer fear them—and I’ve come to understand there is a joy to be experienced right in the center of that pain.
For a long time, I didn’t think it was OK to have a vent session with God. It felt disrespectful and weird. However, now I know that not only am I permitted to take all my problems to Him, but that He wants me to do this as a way of drawing closer to Him.
I don’t need to be in church to feel close to God, I’d always say to justify why I didn’t attend church much in my twenties. What I’ve learned about why that’s not true—and why I need fellowship.
When we feel joy, it should spread through us and not stop. Our joy in the Lord should explode—into a smile, into our eyes, and keep going! Our whole body should radiate that love and light! Our joy doesn’t depend on emotion—it isn’t rooted in happiness or mere feelings. We can feel joy even in our darkest, most painful hours.
Dependence can be viewed as a sign of weakness. But when it comes to our relationship with God, depending on God leads to about strength. God makes us strong with His power. As the apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”
Thinking about the Bible’s Joshua, told by God to recite his instructions day and night, reminds me of the theater scripts I’d labor over as a teen. Back then, I’d recite my lines until they were second-nature. If I got stage fright, I didn’t have to worry—all those long weeks of reciting just took over, no problem. What if I did that with the Bible, too?
I learned an important truth in an insanely busy season: I can’t worry much about my own problems and stresses if I’m too busy taking care of others. How embracing “service over self” helped me find happiness and learn to love God better.
On how spending time in nature and basking in the sunshine is teaching me to be still, have peace and joy, and know in my heart that God is in control of all things.
