“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11

Nona, do you smile all the time?” These were my granddaughter’s words to my shocked ears.

“I do when you are with me.”

The truth is, finding joy in spite of my circumstances is one of my biggest struggles. If I’m not careful, even the smallest frustration can rob me of my joy. Apparently, my granddaughter has not yet seen this side of me.

Jesus told his disciples that there is a brand of joy that is complete joy—the kind he experienced even when he knew the cross was just around the corner. Now that’s a circumstance I have never faced. This kind of joy is available to you and me as well, if we stay close to him.

My granddaughter isn’t always with me, but Jesus is. If I stay close to him, I can experience joy in spite of any circumstance that comes my way.

Every time you choose to smile genuinely even though your circumstances are less than joyful, you give evidence that the same joy Jesus experienced in spite of the cross is in you.

“Despite my circumstances, I feel inner contentment and understand my purpose in life.”

[Excerpt from Believe: 31-Day Devotional by Randy & Roxanne Frazee, pgs. 47-48.]