Trading Anxiety for JOY
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalms 51:12 NIV
Our college son came home for a visit one evening a couple weeks ago, and was catching us up on his classes and assignments. He was disgruntled about the fruits of the spirit assignment he got, since the fruit he picked (not by choice but by chance) was patience. Haha! We laughed together…our son has to be one of the most impatient people I know. And he knows it too. So funny! We all started talking about which fruit each of us would probably end up with, and I said no doubt for me in this season would be JOY. I have spent most of my days lately pretty sad, and having to dig deep to keep moving forward. It has been an uphill battle, with so much rolling downhill on the way up. So how do we live each day through the ongoing, seemingly never-ending, struggle and find Joy again?
When life is filled with anxiety, fear, depression, sorrow, and hardship, and you are waiting for the end to hurry along and breakthrough to happen….count it all Joy. Seriously?! That’s what the Bible says. Easier said than done. Right?! How!? We can fix our eyes upon Jesus. We can choose to remember the fellowship with God that we started with. We can reflect back on the day we first came to know Jesus as our savior. We are taught in James 1:2–4 to consider it pure joy when we go through trials. It’s through trials that our faith is tested, and persevering through it will bring us to a place of maturity and completion, better off than we were before the trial.
“Consider it pure JOY, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2–4 NIV
No matter what you are going through, He is there with you. He cares and wants nothing more than a close relationship with you. When we go through trials, we find ourselves more dependent on God than ever and hyper focused on our need for Him. We realize how much we really do need Him and how hopeless life was before Him. We can persevere and choose JOY in the hardest of seasons, humbling our hearts to be more Christ minded. It’s all for our good! He won’t waste it! We can persevere! We will lack nothing in the end…..We can accomplish this JOY through gratitude, praising others, putting on the armor of God, reading, meditating on, and speaking His word, praying, resisting the devil, and standing firm on His word. He tells us to persevere because the reward is great. As grandma always said, this too shall pass……..
Thank you Father for the lessons we learn in the valleys and as we hike uphill in life. Thank you for your love and for reminding us through your living Word, to count our trials joy as you use them to mold our hearts into more loving and lovable followers of Jesus. Help us to keep our eyes on Jesus through it all. Amen.
Illustrations by Haley Punjak
Edited by Rachel Harmening