How Do We Find True Joy?

I was sitting on my bed asking myself, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ I had been so sad the entire week, and it was beginning to weigh on me. Finally, I cried out to God. I asked Him to reveal to me why I was making myself so miserable.

That week I was in a state of confusion, and I felt like I couldn’t do anything right. I felt numb and helpless.

Have you been in a state like this? Chances are, you have.

You aren’t alone.

Often times, hearing that other people struggle and suffer is a source of comfort. Not because I like it when other people suffer, but because I know that there are other people around me struggling with the same things.

We need to be more vulnerable. We need to share our struggles. When we share our struggles, we can encourage each other and use each other’s experience to help encourage and lift each other up.

I was home schooled up until fifth grade. Working alone on my school work was hard because I had no motivation. When I made the transition from homeschooling to going to a private school with other students around me, I slowly began to care more and more about school. Knowing I had classmates doing the same work as me, served as comfort because I knew that I wasn’t alone. I knew that if they could do it, I could do it too.

My friend Serena (left) and I (right).

In the same way, we need each other in life. To share experiences with. To exhort and admonish.

Adam knew he was missing something when he was first created from dust. God, knowing He was going to make a companion for Adam all along, formed the love of Adam’s life out of his own rib.

We are not meant to tackle life alone.

Relationships and community are a need in our life.

While I was on my bed crying out to the Lord, I realized I had been pushing relationships away. That I had been neglecting the blessings God has graciously provided for me.

A sacrificial relationship with Jesus Christ is what provides joy in my life.

When I don’t constantly seek out Christ’s Word, I don’t communicate with Him, and when I don’t communicate with Him I lose my hope in God and begin to trust in the things of this world to save me (like myself).

Things of this world can never save us, but Christ can.

He wants us, we need Him. Cling to Him.

Praise Him through the storm. He is faithful and just.

Many times, when we lose focus on God, He uses the trials and sufferings we get ourselves into because of pride and selfish desires to humble us and show us that we need God.

We will fail, but Christ is enough for us. That’s why we get back up and keep trying.

That night I was crying out to God, He revealed Himself to me and humbled me because of my failure to engage in a relationship with Him. Soon after, I thanked Him for humbling me, and I prayed that He would forgive me for my pride.

Life isn’t easy and, as human beings, we often forget who we are and what we deserve (death).

Never give up and never cease to give thanks to God for the hope He has provided for us.