No matter what you are going through, you CAN have joy. God wants you to have His joy – it’s something that He promised you. And, not just a little bit, but the kind of joy that overflows.
On a recent episode of Your Hope-Filled Perspective Podcast, I interviewed Suzie Eller about Biblical joy. She has experienced one trial after another. What she learned was that while we may not always be able to “choose joy,” we can choose the SOURCE of our joy. In that podcast, we discussed some truths that may change everything you thought you knew about joy. You can listen to the episode here: Biblical Joy: Finding, Keeping, and Living in God’s Joy – Episode 102. In this post, she’s giving away a free copy of her latest book. Read to the end for your chance to enter the giveaway.
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Are you experiencing circumstances that make you wonder what happened to your joy? I don’t know what you’re struggling with. You may be in that phase of life where you are surrounded by dirty diapers. Maybe you’re a parent of teens wondering what inhabited their body and will they ever appreciate you as their parent? Maybe you are recently widowed or divorced and feeling alone and lonely. Maybe you are going through financial stresses. Maybe you have a prodigal child. Maybe you’re a caregiver for an ill spouse or parent.
I don’t know what you are personally going through, but I can tell you I’ve been through several of those scenarios I just listed. I have journeyed through the muck and the mire, and I have experienced that dark night of the soul when I honestly didn’t even know what joy was.
I remember thinking, “God, I don’t know if I’ve ever really experienced joy. It just seems like a nice word in a Christmas carol.” It made me angry.
You can experience His joy, the kind that overflows
If that’s you today, I want you to continue reading. You CAN experience His joy. That’s what He wants for you. He says, in John 15:11, “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”
God wants you to have His joy. Not just a little bit. Not just the crumbs or the leftovers from other people’s joy. He wants you to have overflowing joy.
You might be thinking, “That’s all well and good for you, but how do you know that for me?”
I know that’s true for you because that’s His promise. It’s something He offers you. Claim that joy as your own. God promises that His Word will not go out and return void until it accomplishes what it was intended to accomplish.
I remember laying in a sick bed, dying, so depressed, and convinced that I was joy-immune. I’d look at other people and see their joy but believed I must just be one of those people who would never experience joy.
Now that I’m on the other side of that time in my life, I frequently have people comment that, “You’re just so full of joy.”
Complete joy
Prior to Covid, I had an opportunity to teach a large group of women and the opportunity to preach to a church congregation. Both events filled me with such joy. Sharing about what God has done in my life is one of the most joyful things I’ve ever been blessed to do. When preaching to the congregation, I sensed God speak into my heart, “Now I have made your joy complete.”
For me, there is no greater joy than preaching and teaching about Jesus. As I was sharing my testimony of what God had done in my life, my joy was full! It was complete! I was loving it! And it was then that I sensed God whisper, “I have made your joy complete. So back in those days, Michelle, when you thought you were joy-immune, that was a lie from the pit of hell.”
Joy comes in the morning
I don’t know what your circumstance is, but if you are believing, as I once did, that you are joy-immune, that is a lie. When I was in that dark place, convinced that I would never experience His joy, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Psalm 30:5, “Although weeping may last for a night, joy comes in the morning.”
I reminded God of that verse frequently (not that God needed reminding, but I reminded Him nonetheless), “God, you promised joy would come in the morning!”
I can tell you from experience, sometimes the night lasts a long time. My joy didn’t come the next day or the next week. Sometimes the night might last a week, or a month, or a year. Sometimes that dark night of the soul can feel like its going on for a long time but it will come to an end, and He promises that joy will come.
I love the little word will. When God uses the word will in Scripture, I get excited, because that’s a promise. I remind God of His promises, and I remind the enemy of God’s promises. God said, “joy will come in the morning.” So I remind God, “You promised joy would come, so I’m believing it, and I’m clinging to it, and I’m trusting you for it.”
Expect God’s joy
Regardless of whatever you are going through right now, you can and you will experience His joy. Look to God expecting it will come. When the enemy whispers that that isn’t true for you, you tell him to shut up because he is a liar. God’s truth stands because it is a promise, and He has never yet broken a promise.
I hope this encourages you. I have been there, and now I know that there is nothing better than His joy.
Because of Him, #HopePrevails!
Book Giveaway!
In conjunction with the podcast interview Biblical Joy: Finding, Keeping, and Living in God’s Joy – Episode 102, Suzie Eller is giving away a free copy of her book, Joy Keeper: 6 Truths that Change Everything You Thought You Knew About Joy.
Leave a comment below sharing with us one thing you learned about experiencing God’s joy and you will be entered into the contest.
You could also share this blog post on Facebook or Twitter then comment here to tell us where you shared it and you’ll also be entered into the drawing.
The winner will be selected at random and announced next Wednesday, April 14, 2021, here on this post. Continental United States only.
Hope Prevails Book and Hope Prevails Bible Study {hope for overcoming depression} ~ Find out more about experiencing God’s joy in Hope Prevails.
Available through book retailers!
Hope Prevails: Insights From a Doctor’s Personal Journey Through Depression and the companion Hope Prevails Bible Study help the reader understand how depression comes to be, recover their joy, reclaim their peace, and re-establish their true identity, while knowing their worth, remembering their secure destiny, and being confident that nothing separates them from God’s love.
“It’s very likely that you or a loved one has experienced the effects of depression: profound sadness, lack of energy, loss of joy. You may have found yourself wishing for the honest counsel of a wise woman or a close friend, even a special therapist. Someone who would understand what you are going through without you having to find the words. Someone who has a special kind of wisdom and guidance to share. Through Hope Prevails, Dr. Bengtson relates to the reader as a caring friend while providing professional insights formed by years of education, training, and experience as a neuropsychologist. In Hope Prevails, Dr. Bengtson attends to the spiritual aspects of healing from depression and interprets frequently used depression treatment techniques within the context of a close relationship with God. Dr. Bengtson sprinkles personal knowing alongside professional knowledge to deliver sound teachings and recommendations from the perspective of a “helper” who has had her own battles against depression, has grabbed hold of God’s promises and realized joy in Him. She delivers inspired love and understanding of her own and through that shows God’s love for those who are in despair. She is that friend, maybe not one you know personally, but one whose words can comfort and guide you just as powerfully toward a fulfilled relationship with God, the Healer.”
Laura Patke, Psy.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Amen, Michelle, I love this blog!!! I know so many who think joy will never come and I know that it will for it has come for me so many times and I truly believe I walk in joy every day. My heart is filled with Father’s joy and His love. People wonder that I smile a lot and seem to be so positive, well, I had my dark night of the soul and several times over my long lifetime but the Lord’s promises are true and amen, JOY DOES come in the morning and you can walk and live with the joy of the Lord as your strength. Thank you for always sharing truth and your heart with us!!! Love and blessings to you!!
Joy is available to all of us, but not everyone seeks it or receives it.
Joy is what kept afloat after my sister took her life, after we lost my 40 year old nephew to what was undiagnosed, going through the battle my dad was going through as he fought cancer and dementia, and my battle fighting for him with family and trying so hard to get care in his home, and then when his fight was finally over in 2016, our family probate battle began. And we are still dealing with it. Joy I discovered isn’t something I needed to wait for, it was God’s protection for me As I struggled. His Joy is my strength, my protection, my sanity, my source of peace. I have to say when God told me “I’ve got this, I am with you, lean into me deeply and fully” (which little miss independently was anxious to try and figure things out on my own) but when God reassured in my heart and my mind daily (still does) that Joy has never left your sight, I just tend to walk in a fog alot of times and just in a daze as well, His Joy is my boat that keeps me afloat and not floundering in the midst of a dark raging sea, or those days that I just can’t see land, He is my “No Matter What” Father!
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Missy, I love what you said: Joy “was God’s protection for me as I struggled.” That is proof that we can still experience joy during the hard times.
Encouraging words! This is a great verse to use, because it acknowledges that we do go through hard times. God doesn’t sweep our pain under the rug, but says that our “darkness” will not last forever.
Thank you for this encouragement. I know finding joy is especially a struggle when you are stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted. Those words have pretty much described my life for the past year. I think that being in that place has kept me to busy to seek joy, but I want to chase after it now!
Thank you for these encouraging words. I much rather have God’s joy than anything else the world could give me.
Thank you for reminding us to hold fast against hope to the absolute certainty that morning will come and with it joy will come.
Thank you for reminding us that although the dark night may be long and seemingly endless, it will end and our God is with us in the darkness and will bring us through the night to see the morning.
We need not believe in the coming of the joy but we must never forget to trust the source of all joy — our good and gracious Heavenly Father because of what His Son and out Savior has done for us and His Holy Spirit does within us.
We may not always be able to “choose joy” but we can choose to stay focused on the One who is the source of joy and then His joy does come. Amazing and great is His desire for us to experience joy.
A lifetime of family of origin problems, financial loss, a prodigal daughter still gone from our lives the past 14 years and pandemic loneliness has drained my joy bucket. In spite of the ongoing time of weeping in the night, I’m seeking God given joy and starting to see and grab a little sparkle in every day. Soaking in God’s word, focusing on gratitude for my many blessings and taking one hour and day at a time are helping … along with the new life of Spring after a long Winter. I’m praying for joy to overshadow the sorrow.
Thank you. I learned that God makes something out of nothing because of Jesus. God will use my pain so others know His love. God is faithful and so good to us . I learned to always keep my focus on Jesus. He is the King. Thank you. We are a blessed people to serve the living King so others can know freedom too. Praise the Lord.
Joy is an intangible but concrete experience that is necessary in order to be victorious in our trials and difficulties in life. I’m reminded that James 1:2 says, “Count is all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces faith.” The word “if” is not used, but “when” you encounter trials. Joy is the essential ingredient that will sustain your faith which increases patience. May we make it a practice of encountering joy despite our circumstances by praising the Lord and giving thanks for all He has given to us. An attitude of gratitude produces a joyful spirit. Thank you for your words of wisdom,
This gives me so much hope.
I have been waiting for my joy and motivation to come back for 13 years now. I was badly injured to the point of death and have had 27 major surgeries since. I was forced to medically retire and now live on disability alone. My wife abandoned me afterwards and my kids all took her side and have nothing to do with me anymore. I have prayed for restoration of our family but the only thing i got was divorce papers. Jesus gives me his peace but i have no joy. I am in severe chronic pain and am depressed. I don’t and can’t do some of the things that used to give me great joy. I am alone and lonely, depressed and the only hope i have is making it into heaven.
I read this and my heart sank. I’m so sorry you’re going through all of this. I understand and am lifting you up to the One who knows and is able to intervene and help. God bless you!
I tweeted both of the comments on Twitter. Also, I have learned that joy never depends on my circumstances but in trusting in God’s word.
I love this message and I sure enjoyed the podcast with Suzie Eller too. I would love to have her book. I continue daily to look for and expect God’s joy. It does come each morning for GREAT is His faithfulness and even though my heart has been burdened a lot because of our world situation and all the evil that is happening to our children I know that the Lord is in control and will bring good out of the evil in this world. thank you for sharing this message and for the podcast with Suzie Eller. I will share this blog on FB.
Joy seems like the last thing my family is experiencing right now. the thought of it was a surprise!
I used to think joy and happiness were the same. But they aren’t. Joy comes from God and is one of his free gifts. Joy is not dependent on us or our circumstances. I have felt joy during hard trials. And during times of ease. Or like you said, when you do something you love to do, like preaching.
Amen. I am learning that joy is a mental view/ “lenses” to see life. I want so badly for joy to equal happiness. I know that is wrong. Gods joy is not situational.
Cathy, you are the book winner! Congratulations! Be on the lookout for an email. 🙂
The dark night of the soul..as tough as things are right now with the pandemic and what’s happening in this world, nothing compared to a time in my life that went on for years of deep darkness. I clinged to the the thought and promise of heaven.
Jesus sustained me through that and although life is still difficult, just knowing His track record as a promise keeper brings a smile to my face and joy to my heart. Your blogs are so encouraging. Thank you for sharing your life and your wisdom with us, Dr B! God bless you!
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Joy has been my word since heartache struck in 2014. I was in that deep hole you seemed to be in, Michelle. But God’s Word is living and sharper than a two-edged sword, and He lifted me out of it in His timing. I too am a survivor because of God’s love and promises…Joy always comes in the morning if you look for it, regardless of circumstances. It may not be what you are expecting, but if we keep Him very close it will change us hour by hour, day by day. I’m changed and continue to look forward to new changes. JOY…I love that word. It starts with the letter of our Savior, Jesus❤️✝️
It is so encouraging to know that we can have a joy that goes deeper than our circumstances.