season 2//episode 3 //a fruitful life//How can I have joy when life is hard?

Hello friends, and welcome back to the Fullness of Joy. I loved getting to share last week’s conversation with Dr. Jennie Armstrong with you, so if you haven’t gotten to listen to that yet, please do! It was so encouraging for me personally, and I know it will be for you too.

This summer we are learning about the Fruit of the Spirit. This is found in Galatians 5, where Paul says in verses 22-23, ““But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”‭NLT‬‬

The Holy Spirit is often a confusing part of the Trinity. Many people are uncomfortable with Him because they just don’t know Him very well. Perhaps you have been taught things that aren’t true about Him, or maybe you have never been taught about Him at all. Wherever you are in your understanding of and relationship with the Holy Spirit, just know that He is a person! He is a being, and a full member of the Trinity—we have God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When Jesus left this earth and ascended into heaven, He gave the disciples the Holy Spirit as a parting gift. The Spirit enabled them to minister to others and continue to walk with Jesus, even as He was no longer physically with them.

So often we believe that the life we have been called to live is impossible. We believe that obedience is impossible because oftentimes, we are thinking about how to obey in our own strength. And yes, walking with Christ is surely impossible—that is, if we try to do it on our own. But life with Christ in obedience to His will is completely possible when we are walking in the Spirit. This is much easier said than done and is a lifelong process. But praise be to God who has not left us alone in this—we have Him to be our guide, teacher, and comforter.

The reason why I am so passionate about the fruit of the Spirit is because for most of my life, I had the appearance of godliness but lived a life devoid of the Spirit. That sounds like a bunch of Christianese, but hear me out—I was doing a lot of good things for the Lord, but I wasn’t truly walking with Him. As a self-proclaimed grammar nerd, I know that the words “for” and “with” are prepositions. They are somewhat like connecting words that change the meaning of a phrase even when surrounded by the same words in a sentence. For instance, if you were doing something for a friend, it feels completely different than if you are doing something with a friend, right? That was my relationship with the Lord for many years. There were many seasons and situations I look back on where I was doing so much for Him that I didn’t understand how to be with Him. I am getting a little ahead of myself, and I am going to share more of my story with you in the episodes to come in this series. I pray it will encourage your heart.

But this week, we are looking at joy. The fruit of the Spirit is not something that is special for “super Christians.” The Word is very clear that when we are in Christ, His Holy Spirit gives us these fruits that allow us to shine the light of Christ to others. We can have joy no matter what the circumstances because of Christ.

If you don’t know already, the apostle Paul was a persecutor of Christians before he came to know Christ. He was a famous Jew named Saul, and he knew all of the right religious things to say and do. However, when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, everything changed. This account is recorded in the book of Acts.

Upon coming to Christ, he was met by a man named Ananias who laid hands on him in order to restore his sight after being blinded on the road to Damascus. After spending some time learning from other disciples, Paul was ready to live on mission for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Throughout the book of Acts after Paul is converted to Christ, we see him experience many different hardships that would threaten to steal his joy. The Pauline epistles are the books of the Bible that were originally written as letters from Paul to believers in various cities.

The book of Philippians is known as the book of joy. But the craziest thing about it is that Paul wrote the book of Philippians from inside a jail cell. Not exactly a situation in which one would be dancing for joy, right? Yet Paul shows us how it is possible to rejoice in even the darkest of situations. It is believed that many of the letters Paul wrote to encourage believers were written from a jail cell.

I remember attending youth camp years ago, so excited to get away from the suburbs and be in nature. Each night after our large group sessions, we would walk back to the cabin. The night sky was an inky black, so dark that it was hard to see your hand in front of you. My friends and I huddled close together, walking slowly by the path of the flashlight.

The summer of 2021 was like a season full of those dark nights. It felt like we were wandering around in the dark as our family walked through trial after trial. It was exhausting. Each night, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow due to the physical and mental exhaustion of a long day. But when I inevitably awoke in the middle of the night, I found that my heart was heavy with fear and anxiety as unbidden thoughts raced through my mind.

What if this next season is still really hard?

Is God ever going to deliver us from this season? Does He see us? Does He care?

Will we have enough money to be able to afford ________?

Why did I say _________ today? What do other people think of me?

On and on the thoughts would go, taking on a life of their own. The difficult thing about both nighttime and night seasons is that it’s so hard to remember what God has done in the seasons of light. The circumstances can sometimes threaten to overtake everything I’ve learned.

In Matthew 14:22–33, the disciples were in the midst of a dark and stormy night. They were terrified as they saw Jesus walking toward them on the water, but Peter called out to him, saying, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” (14:28). Peter took a literal leap of faith and began to walk on water, but when he looked at the wind and the waves, his fear overtook him and he began to sink. Jesus didn’t scold him or look at him with disappointment. Instead, Jesus “immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” (14:31).

Just as Jesus reached out his arm to Peter, know that He reaches down to you in the depths of your sorrows, helping you remember that your doubts are nothing compared to His might and strength. When our eyes are on the difficulties of our circumstances, we sink under the waves of discouragement as we struggle to see the goodness of God amid unrelenting adversity. The anxious thoughts that plague us can seem louder in the middle of the night. In the dark, they threaten to drown us with doubt and fear.

Rooting ourselves in Scripture is our surest way of enduring in seasons of suffering. Starting the morning off in the Word is what will keep us afloat during the stormy night seasons. Making the choice to put the Word before the demands of this world will ground our hearts and minds by bringing our thoughts back to Jesus. When we look to the truth of God’s Word, we see our suffering in light of eternity, recognizing that He has a sovereign plan that is immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).

God did not intend for us to walk through life alone. In His gracious kindness, He offers us the gift of community. But how often do we want to do it all on our own? Much of my anxiety often stems from the mistaken thought that I have to do everything by myself.

In the midst of anxiety, depression, and discouragement that threatens to consume your heart and mind, asking for help can seem overwhelming too. It can be hard to let someone into the storm of your life and ask them to be a calming presence by supporting you. But Jesus told the disciples in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Furthermore, Paul encourages us to “bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ…as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:2,10).

Friend, you do not have to believe the lie that you are all alone in your circumstances. You do not have to live isolated by all-consuming fear and anxiety.

Remember, we have been made free in Christ (Gal. 5:1). Our heavenly Father is for us, not against us. (Rom. 8:31). We are not meant to save ourselves. There is only one Savior—Christ the Lord! So when you feel completely consumed by hopelessness due to unfortunate and excruciating circumstances, know that there is a God who loves you who offers his hand to you. He is your refuge, strength, and help in trouble (Ps. 46:1). His Word is available to encourage your heart any time of day or night. And He gives you others to walk alongside you, helping you look to the light in even the darkest of night seasons.

In October of last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Montana to speak at a retreat for foster moms. It was such a beautiful experience to get to be with over 100 women who had answered the call to foster and welcome children from hard places into their homes. I was struck by the beautiful way the Holy Spirit wove together the themes of all the speaker’s talks. There were a handful of women who spoke at the conference, and on the last day, a woman named Jacqueline spoke about the account of Paul and Silas when they were in prison in Acts 16. They decided to worship God in spite of the circumstances, and as they lifted their voices to heaven, the jail cell was shaken and the jailer came to know Christ because of the miracle he witnessed. Verses 25-34 of Acts 16 say this:

Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God. - ‭‭Acts 16‬:‭25‬-‭34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jacqueline made these points about joy. She said:

Joy is more a state of being than an emotion. It is a choice.
Community strengthens joy.
Joy impacts those around us.
Joy is found in the light of God’s face and our salvation.

So you see, friends, joy is not about everything going our way. On the contrary, joy is found in the midst of everyday life with everyday problems. It is a deep well of confidence that God is good, no matter what the circumstances of our lives may say.

So what does the joy of the Lord practically look like?

It can be as simple as choosing to see the good in the midst of the hard.

Perhaps you start a gratitude journal or tell a friend 3 things you’re thankful for.

Or maybe you decide to take a daily walk and pray for some or all of the time.

The joy of the Lord does not deny the presence of our problems, but rather diminishes their power by giving honor and glory to the One who is able to carry us through.

Friend, how can you choose joy this week? I pray you are able to see the Lord more clearly in whatever your circumstances are. He is ready and willing to meet you where you are.

I’ll talk to you next week, friends.

SHOW NOTES:

Scripture:

Need encouragement in your journey to find joy? Check out my book Choosing Contentment: A Four Week Guide to Dropping Comparison and Embracing Gratitude.

Looking for a message of hope in a world that feels weary? Check out my book An Overwhelming Hope: How the Spirit Brings Peace to Our Storms.