“Is there a way to find lasting joy? Is there a way to hold onto joy in the midst of sorrow, pain, discouragement or loss?”

When Bill and I got married in the early 1980’s, his parents paid for us to have a honeymoon on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. I was young and adventurous, but I had never been anywhere. The time I had spend outside my home state could be counted in hours, and never more than one state away. Like Lucy in the movie, “While You Were Sleeping,” I had saved up and bought a passport, and carried it with me, but there were no stamps in it.

I still remember the feeling of stepping onto that 747 jet. I remember the feeling of being served my first real airline meal, and best of all, I remember arriving in Hawaii.

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We stepped off the plane and the air was warm, humid and fragrant. While in the taxi it began to rain and we rolled down the windows. It was all so magical.

As we walked up to the condo, little geckos went running to the left and right, parting the way for us all the way up to our door.

That night, as we went to bed, we saw a gecko climbing the wall. I knew nothing about these little lizards, so it was a little scary and a little romantic as it sang us to sleep with it’s unique chirping. Every night was the same, our singing gecko came out and chirped us to sleep and by the end of the week I was totally in love with it (though thankful it stayed up high on the wall).

I never NEVER thought I would be a “lizard” person, but these little mo’o bring me a lot of momentary joy. Their colors are inspiring, their antics entertaining and their usefulness (eating cockroaches and ants) are endearing!

But the moment I walk away, I forget that joy and it is gone. I’m back into the everyday mundane or even difficult issues of life.

Joy can feel so fleeting can’t it?

Is there a way to find lasting joy? Is there a way to hold onto joy in the midst of sorrow, pain, discouragement or loss?

I believe there is, but it takes some work on our part. At the end of Philippians, the apostle Paul says in his letter “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” Philippians 4.4 NLT

But how Paul? How do I stay joyful as my body deteriorates with illness and pain? How do I rejoice when I am lonely and isolated? How do I rejoice when I have been betrayed? How do I rejoice when I’ve lost my job and the bills are adding up? How do I rejoice as I have to say goodbye to a loved one?

There is something important that all of these situations (and any other you have thought of) have in common. The difficulty and stress of our circumstances has stolen peace from our lives.

In the next couple of verses, Paul answers our questions.

First:

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 NLT

I am a problem solver. And too often I look first to my own skills of solving problems instead of taking my requests to God. When my ways fail, I am definitely not at peace, and I am certainly not filled with Joy.

Second:

“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” Philippians 4:8

Problems easily take over my thoughts, and my thoughts lead my emotions into places where there is no joy.

Like walking away from the colorful friendly gecko, the trials of this life keep us from… no, they STEAL, our ability to always be full of joy.

Prayer, and our thought life, are the shields we can put up to remain joyful through pain and struggles. Each “ouch” can be lifted up in prayer. Each hurtful word or action that echoes in our our head can be replaced with something that is true (“God always keeps His promises to me”) We can think about things that are honorable, right and pure (“I will not retaliate”), or something lovely ("I’m going to go out and smell the flowers in my garden") or something admirable (“I’m going to stop right now and do something that serves someone else”), and anything you know to be true about God is something excellent and worthy of praise to think about!

It may be hard, but it is not impossible to experience joy in the midst of our difficult times. And did you notice that last option of doing something admirable? You and and I are not the only ones out there having a really hard time. In fact there are many invisible, relationally isolated people and YOU can be one who encourages them!

Be creative! Use my ideas on the resources page to springboard your own idea! Or maybe you don’t have that kind of energy and you’d like to buy one of the products I make. If so, please know these are sold at a price that only covers shipping and some of the material cost. But I welcome you to take any of my ideas, tweak it and make it your own!

Prayer, our thought life, and our actions will return joy to our hearts even in the hardest of times. May you experience Joy today, no matter what this day holds for you.