Life Is Hard but God Is GoodSample

Happiness and joy are two peas in a pod. And yet they aren't. Being happy is experiencing the emotion of happiness but being joyful—it’smore than an emotion.

Joy is both a noun and a verb. It means to experience delight from a source or to display glad feelings. It is more than a "doing" or action verb. It is "being."

In other words, joy surfaces when you possess joy, when it is part of who you are. And if you know Jesus, you know joy. The question then becomes: How well do you know Jesus and how well do you experience the joy that comes from Him?

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

Life is hard, but God is good. The ability to choose each day to love God, give thanks, and feel the joy in our hearts as He lives in us is available. But it does require a little practice. We have opportunities each day to choose to be joyful. I've discovered that a joyful heart often begins with giving thanks.

To see God in the midst of suffering is challenging for us as humans. But the glorious thing about our God—we don’t have to physically see Him to believe in Him. Faith brings the ultimate joy our hearts crave through a restored relationship with God. It is more precious than gold!

We can expectantly be joyful because our God is good and makes all things good. Whatever He does will be beautiful and wonderful because of who He is! When our circumstances make it difficult to see God's work with human eyes, we can still rejoice for the living hope Christ has given us through the power of His resurrection.

If you’re struggling to see God in your situation today, that doesn’t mean He is not working. It means your vision is limited because of your humanity. This is where faith ushers in joy.

PERSONAL PRAYER PROMPT:

Jesus, open my eyes to see your glory right where I am now.

Thanks for joining me today. See you tomorrow for Day 2!