Joy in the Midst
Joy in the Midst
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” 2nd Corinthians 1:3
When life is tough it can be easy to forget about joy. The last few months have been tough in our household.
When leaving the hospital the other night, while speaking to my hubby, I told him, “I haven’t written my devotion for this week and not sure if it is going to happen because I am struggling with joy.”
As I thought about this, I remembered joy is not a feeling dependent on my circumstances like happiness. Patheos.com says this about joy, “Joy isn’t like happiness which is based upon happenings or whether things are going well or not. No, joy remains even amidst the suffering.”
How can joy remain amidst suffering? It is because joy is from Jesus. A pastor once said, “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life…”
This doesn’t mean we will never hurt or struggle.
My trip back to the hospital was tough, but God was in control of the details. Let me share with you the text I sent my husband: ‘God took care of me, because it hit me hard when I got here…being first time back since Dad died. I thought I was telling Mom’s nurse that I beat the transport from the free standing ER to the hospital, however, I was actually talking to the hospital chaplain. She sat and talked with me. She said she knew exactly who Dad was and that he had a tremendous effect on the whole chaplain team at the hospital’.
The hospital chaplain, you here at Salem Fields, my bible study group, and my radio family, have prayed, brought food, and sat with us at the hospital. Your ‘being Jesus with skin on’ has shown us that we can still have 'Joy even amidst the suffering'.
Dear God, thank you for being in control of all the details of my life and for Jesus. Amen
Written by Dawn Whitmore
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” 2nd Corinthians 1:3
When life is tough it can be easy to forget about joy. The last few months have been tough in our household.
When leaving the hospital the other night, while speaking to my hubby, I told him, “I haven’t written my devotion for this week and not sure if it is going to happen because I am struggling with joy.”
As I thought about this, I remembered joy is not a feeling dependent on my circumstances like happiness. Patheos.com says this about joy, “Joy isn’t like happiness which is based upon happenings or whether things are going well or not. No, joy remains even amidst the suffering.”
How can joy remain amidst suffering? It is because joy is from Jesus. A pastor once said, “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life…”
This doesn’t mean we will never hurt or struggle.
My trip back to the hospital was tough, but God was in control of the details. Let me share with you the text I sent my husband: ‘God took care of me, because it hit me hard when I got here…being first time back since Dad died. I thought I was telling Mom’s nurse that I beat the transport from the free standing ER to the hospital, however, I was actually talking to the hospital chaplain. She sat and talked with me. She said she knew exactly who Dad was and that he had a tremendous effect on the whole chaplain team at the hospital’.
The hospital chaplain, you here at Salem Fields, my bible study group, and my radio family, have prayed, brought food, and sat with us at the hospital. Your ‘being Jesus with skin on’ has shown us that we can still have 'Joy even amidst the suffering'.
Dear God, thank you for being in control of all the details of my life and for Jesus. Amen
Written by Dawn Whitmore
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