Faith to Start Your Week: What is Joy?

I finally understand what joy really is. I thought I did before, but I was wrong. I used to think that joy was the spiritual form of happiness and if I was truly joyful, I would be happy about everything that happened. That made verses like this hard:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds... James 1:2 NIV
I could I possibly be happy when bad things happen? When my dad gets a devastating diagnosis? When someone snubs me? When someone is hurtful to someone I love? How can I possibly feel happy? You know what? I can't. I cannot be feel happy, but I can be joyful.

You see, I have the joy is not a synonym of happy. Joy is a deep understanding within your soul that everything is going to work out for your greater good and for the glory of God. My suffering is not in vain, it has a purpose and value. I look to the future with anticipation of how God is going to use me and the situations he has put me in. Am I happy about everything? I would be lying to say I was. but my heart is full of joy.