Joy in trials

I often think on joy. Perhaps that's because it's my middle name. So when I was looking at my recent feeds in Bloglines, my eyes were immediately drawn to this post from Nancy Wilson's blog, Femina.

Here's an excerpt:

So what is joy to the chronically ill and suffering or those who are
under the burden of a heavy load? It is remembering and taking comfort
in the fact that God is good to all His children, that He is faithful,
kind, and loving. It is knowing that this earth is not our home, and
that He showers down blessings even in the midst of storms. It is
embracing the fact that He truly cares for us in these hard
circumstances, and it is believing beyond a doubt that all that happens
to us is for our good. When we remember who He is, we are reassured that
He will somehow make all things right in the end. In this is joy.

No situation is so dismal that we cannot look up through a dark sky and
still know that there is a sun coming. We believe anyhow, even when we
see no hope. We hope anyhow just because we are His children. Like the
psalmist says, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I
would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:13).

I have often said that it is seeing life through the rose-coloured glasses of God's sovereinty that keeps me going in the midst of struggle. Truly, the joy of the Lord is my strength.