IS THERE NO JOY?

My prayer list is long---and I am privileged to be asked to pray--but I am hearing whispering in my ear---

"There is NO joy!"


A precious baby---is taken in a moment--leaving his heart broken parents and family submerged in grief


The grief endured when loosing a precious young woman FAR too early

A mother with a disabled son--she must now watch him fight a deadly cancer

Broken families--with children reeling in the wake

Tragic accidents leaving grieving spouses encapsulated in loneliness

The slow disappearance of a spouse attacked by Alzheimer's while physically present

Illness of the mind---leaving parents at a loss as to how to advocate and unmuddle the confusion

Those who are alone and lonely--facing the world with no one by their side--some raising children

Poverty all around me-the homeless on the side of the street two blocks away

Children who are struggling with learning

and the list goes on and on--

And all the while--the whispering in my ear  "There is no joy"

And then I am reminded as I look out at a beautiful blue sky---there is joy--in each and every day---but heart ache also comes our way--sometimes more than we can bear.

Then I am reminded---"There is Joy in Jesus."  The real and true joy---it all comes from Him.  There is no explanation for most of the other--and it is sometimes unbearable and at a minimum severely painful---THEN I LEAN in---and look to Him---the only true and complete joy.

"Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock."

Isaiah 26:4