Growing up I always loved walking around the house singing the songs I heard sung by our choir. One of these songs was “I get joy when I think about what He’s done for me”. Whenever I heard this song I would just smile, start singing, and just be full of happiness. I thought I had a full understanding of what it meant to be joyful. I thought that life would always be full of happy and joyous moments. What I didn’t realize as a child, was that there would be times when life’s circumstances would hit me like a ton of bricks, and that retaining or living in that joy would be strained.
As I grew in age, wisdom and understanding of whom God was and what was made available to me as His child; I began to understand how to identify the great things God was doing in my life and remain joyful. But I also found that real joy doesn’t only come through happy moments in life, but real joy can also be experienced in the midst of hard trials.
How is that possible? You can you experience real joy in the midst of trials when you have a true understanding of God’s purpose and plan for you, and that nothing that happens can change God’s course of action for you. The Lord assures us in His Word in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV) Talk about a reason to be joyful!!! God has a plan for your life!! That should be reassuring for every child of God that no matter what you face or go through, no matter how hard the trial; your life isn’t something that just happened. It’s all been planned by the Almighty God! If that isn’t assuring enough His Word also teaches in Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (NIV) This knowledge should produce great joy!! As we continue on this journey let’s determine to find joy in everything we go through knowing God has a plan, is in control, and that as long as we’re in His hands things will always be alright!
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