By Alison Feinauer

“For you will go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55:12) NASB

Joy, you say. How can I have joy in the midst of chaos, brokenness, pain, disappointment, rejection, and long-suffering?  I’ll tell you how.  The secret, like my devotion said this morning, is being content in all circumstances.

Joy only comes from knowing deep sorrow, from knowing the grave that we were rescued from.  We can have joy because we’ve been rescued and redeemed.

I went for a run yesterday morning and was by my son’s school. I ran around it seven times, praying for that place: for it to be a place that he grows, for the teachers, for the broken families, for the abused kids, for energy for the teachers, and for protection around it.

It felt great.  It felt like I went to war on his behalf, like I had had an effect on the Kingdom.

The Lord quickly told me to stay faithful in the little things.  The things I can feel as mundane and routine and maybe sometimes boring… mom life or wife life, work life or laundry life, church life or family/friend life.  It’s contentment that He’s teaching me, asking me to find joy in the little things.

You too can feel joy and choose His joy be your strength.

So today, what are your joys? What is the Lord asking you to keep praying for? To find contentment in your circumstance?  To believe in what is unseen, not what is seen?

Let Him restore your hope and fill you with the joy that only comes from seeking and seeing His face.

Father, I’m asking you for joy unspeakable in each of our lives.  We come to You asking You to remove the burdens that we are trying to carry on our own, teach us to trust You, and fill us with Your contentment.  Not mediocrity, not complacency, but contentment, trust and resting in You.  Amen.