The Lord has blessed me so much. I just can’t even begin to consider the ways in which He’s given me such fullness in life. Yes, I have had trials, yes some of them have been constant and overwhelming, humanly speaking. And many ask me during those times, “How do you find joy when all of these things seem to just keep pounding away at you?” Or a fellow believer, to my surprise, will say, “I just don’t see how you do it.” There’s a point here. I don’t do anything! I don’t take credit for any strength of my own in enduring the trial. I have no strength to endure the trial. It’s not by my strength that I’m able to endure and even find joy in the trial itself. It’s only by God’s strength alone, in Christ alone, through the cross, that I can find any joy, that I can obtain any strength at all. I must constantly look to the cross of Christ, where He bore my burden (my burden past, present, and future) and secured my eternal salvation. Enduring through a trial is not something I role up my sleeves and get done like I get computer work done at my job. Instead, God’s strength comes in power by the Holy Spirit, and gives me strength, appropriated through God’s grace alone, made possible through the cross. I obtain no strength on my own, but I only obtain strength through the cross of Christ. The cross is the central point of my entire life, where He not only obtained my salvation and bore my burden (eternally and temporally, right now), but the cross is also where I obtain my sanctification, healing, purification from sin.

So how do I find joy when my world is crumbling, or where does my strength come from? “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Nothing else is good when measured against the goodness of God. Only Christ is good. He is the highest standard, the highest treasure. If I do find joy in some created thing, that only gives temporal enjoyment, does it not point to the transcendent intelligence, wisdom, and pleasure that can be found only in the Creator who spoke that thing into existence, where never-ending satisaction can be found? I find joy in my relationship with Christ alone in the midst of my trials. In my times spent with Christ in Scripture, prayer, and in fellowship with other believer’s, the Holy Spirit comes in great power and upholds me by His omnipotent, mighty hand. I obtain strength from no external or internal force, but only obtain strength in the cross of Christ. Praise God for Jesus Christ, my Rock, my Savior, my Redeemer, the One who holds my head up high!