When we suffer, one of the things we hunger for the most is the feeling of joy. We long to experience happiness, to laugh, to feel lighthearted, to feel comforted, to feel hope, to look forward to the future with delight rather than dread. But suffering is not conducive to joy. Suffering is one of the challenges on the journey of life that makes joy very hard to find.

This was true for me when I was in and out of the hospital, fighting my battle against cancer. I felt fear, anxiety, f... (continued)

In his book, Turning Toward Joy, David Jeremiah quotes what he calls a prescription for unhappiness. "Follow this prescription faithfully for two weeks," he promises, "and I guarantee you unhappiness!"

• Make little things bother you; don't just let them, make them.
• Lose your perspective on things, and keep it lost. Don't put first things first.
• Get yourself a good worry—one about which you cannot do anything but worry.
• Be a perfectionist: condemn yours... (continued)

If joy is a promised gift from God, then it was one that for most of my life was either hidden from me or that I hadn’t yet learned to open. And I’ve met countless others who have felt just as I did. The journey of discovering true joy was, for me, long and difficult. I share it with you in the hope that it might make your journey of discovering joy less of an obstacle course than mine was. I share it as a way of offering hope to those who believe that joy is an unattainable gift.

It... (continued)

For Charlie Wedemeyer, who for 18 years has fought a physically debilitating battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease, living in joy has been part gift and part choice. During the early years, the battle robbed Charlie of joy. At one point, he told his wife Lucy that he would rather be dead than to live as he was. Her response was that she would rather have him as he was than not to have him at all. When Lucy expressed that love for him, she gave Charlie a precious gift that prompted him to make a co... (continued)

The sage advice of her two young daughters helped Carita Girman maintain her perspective during a recent battle with recurrent ovarian cancer. Following one particularly exhausting dose of chemotherapy, three-year-old Maria advised, "If that doctor tries to give you that awful medicine again, spit at him. If that doesn't work, bite him. And if that doesn't work, say 'Na na na na na' and stick out your tongue!"

Of course, Carita's daughters weren't the only ones with a healthy perspec... (continued)

 Joys are all around us. Like gifts under the Christmas tree, they sit expectantly, waiting to be opened. Placed like breadcrumbs by a loving Father, they mark the way home to the place where joy reigns forever. Joys are sweet promises of the coming fulfillment for every ache and longing in our hearts.

But in the frantic pace of life, under the crushing weight of a soul in pain, the gift of joy can seem a distant memory. Remember when everything around us beckoned our discovery? ... (continued)