“Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33

“Things are going okay, I guess,” my girlfriend said. “But sometimes I wonder, what’s the point?!”

It made me do some hard thinking about what it means to be happy in life, and how that goes along with our call to be joyful. How would you describe the difference between happiness and joy?

No doubt joy has a more long-term quality to it – a looking beyond the present circumstances for what endures, whether in good tiems or in hard times.

Certainly, everyone wants to be happy in the moments. And we can be grateful for the variety of happiness poured into our lives. But joy, whether we are suffering or content, can spring only from a foundation deeper than life’s events. Our joy is anchored in our relationship with the Eternal One.

He promised us tribulation in life. ~ CMW

~from “A Cup of Comfort Devotional for Women” by James Stuart Bell & Carol McLean Wilde