I still have joy

I still have joy after all the things I've been through I still have joy. What a song of victory to all who sing it. This song is often in my spirit because no matter what I go through the joy of the Lord is my strength. Joy is much deeper than happiness. Things are usually going well in your life when you are happy. Happiness involves some kind of "happening" or "event" to make you happy. But not with joy. All hell can be breaking loose around you and you can still have joy. The Book of James says in James 1:2 to "count it all joy when you fall into various trials." How in the world am I supposed to count it all joy when everything around me is falling apart? The answer is by faith. If you continue to read this passage of scripture you will find vs. 3 "knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." Oh no, not patience! Why do we need patience in a trial? We need it so we won't go off the deep end. Our enemy, the devil, wants us to lose all hope of coming out of our situation. We can't give up before the battle starts. A lot of us see the battle approaching and surrender to the pressure of it. We can't afford to lose the fight before we even get started. God will bring us through victoriously every time. But we must stand and have joy while we go through. Trouble and difficulties are tools used to refine and purify our faith. We don't like this method of refining but we will eventually come out as pure gold. God wants us to be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Arriving at the destination of perfection and completion in God is done through trusting God. Trusting God requires trusting His Word. The Word says to "count it all joy" and that is what we have to do. It won't be easy but we have to know the reward is greater than the battle. COUNT IT ALL JOY BECAUSE THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH!!!! Just a thought.....