Count it ALL Joy

Count it ALL joy. James 1:2 You may find it difficult to believe you can find joy in ALL things. In the good moments? Joy comes naturally. But what about grief? Your darkest days when you can't seem to find your way and your circumstances have robbed the very air from your lungs.

.....count THOSE moments to be among those mountain - top moments?

Here is where I believe we've missed it.
We base our joy on emotions.
Emotions are fickle at best and attach themselves to any situation no matter how fleeting.
Living an emotional existence is a roller coaster ride and there is no stable foundation for your Faith to stand on.
JOY ---true JOY---(not happiness) is not connected to the MOMENT. It's not connected to circumstances. It's not some pie in the sky, fairy tale idea that everything is as it should be. Joy is connected to the PURPOSE, MEANING AND FINISHED WORK.
If you can look beyond the moment. Even those mountain top moments.....
You see God painting a bigger picture.
In the end?
We see evidence on display that He's at work. In all of it.
Bringing it all together for your good and HIS glory.
This is that SAME joy referred to in Hebrews 12:2....who for the JOY set before Him-----*ENDURED* the cross.

The joy in front of us is the PURPOSE, MEANING and FINISHED WORK that He's bringing about. That JOY breathes HOPE into our spirits....and gives us the ability to ENDURE.
We can endure the struggles and the heartache, find our way through the darkness because there is a joy that waits for those who hold on.
Don't give up before the dawn.
Consider it JOY, my friends....because celebration not only comes in the deliverance but it comes when you're willing to see God at work even in the darkness.
Make no mistake, friends. God is always at work.
And when you can find Him in the middle of your mess and for the JOY set in front of you endure whatever you might be facing then you can rejoice in even THIS because you know the HOPE of knowing He WILL bring you out.