True joy is not the absence of hardship, but the presence of Christ. It is formed as we abide in Him and walk with the Holy Spirit.

Joy in Unexpected Places

As I was watching the World Cup on Sunday, I found myself unexpectedly thinking about joy. Not simply because I am a millennial and the return of J. Biebs brought back a little nostalgia, although I will admit that probably contributed. What really caught my attention was hearing “Everything Hallelujah” performed on a global stage. I remember thinking, do we realize how significant that is? Hallelujah is not necessarily something everyone would recognize as worship. Depending on the version, someone may hear it simply as a beautiful melody or a familiar lyric. If you are my eight year old daughter, you may hear it as another opportunity for a TikTok dance. But the word itself carries something sacred. Hallelujah literally means “Praise the Lord.” Whether everyone listening understood the meaning or not, the name of God was being spoken and sung across a stage that millions of people around the world were watching.

I read several criticisms about the performance and the song choice, and then I came across a comment that said, “The enemy is mad, and everyone upset about his song choice is proving it.” I had to laugh a little. True dat. But underneath the humor, I found myself thinking about something much deeper. How easily we can become distracted by what we think should have happened that we completely miss what is happening right in front of us. Instead of celebrating that the name of God was being heard around the world, many conversations became focused on what song should have been chosen, what the performance should have looked like, or whether it should even be considered praise because it did not fit the way we expected worship to look.

But what if we looked at it differently?

How many millions of people heard the word hallelujah that day without knowing what it meant? How many sang along without realizing they were saying, “Praise the Lord”? How many may hear that word again someday and pause long enough to ask what it means? We may never know the answers to those questions. But perhaps we do not need to. God has never needed a moment to look the way we expect in order for Him to use it. He has always been capable of planting seeds in places we would never think to look.

And that thought has stayed with me as I have reflected on joy this week.

The world often teaches us to associate joy with circumstances. We feel joyful when something goes our way, when prayers are answered, when relationships are good, when work is going well, when our children are thriving, or when life feels peaceful. But biblical joy asks us to look deeper. Joy is not dependent upon everything around us being good because Christian joy is rooted in the goodness of God. It is not the absence of hardship. It is the presence of Christ in the middle of it.

That changes the way we see things.

Joy is not confined to the walls of a church. It can meet us in our homes, our workplaces, our friendships, our conversations, our service, our music, and even in moments we might otherwise overlook. Sometimes joy is choosing to recognize what God may be doing instead of becoming consumed by what we think should have happened. Sometimes it is trusting that His work does not have to be obvious to be significant. Sometimes it is simply being willing to celebrate a glimpse of His goodness when we see it.

The Word

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.” – Psalm 100:1

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” – Nehemiah 8:10

Covered in Glitter. Filled with Joy.

As I close out this week reflecting on joy, I keep thinking about the children I had the privilege of watching learn about God during Summer Spectacular. There were long days, late nights, tired feet, countless volunteers, and hundreds of children. By every practical measure, there were plenty of reasons to feel exhausted. And yet there was laughter. There was worship. There was excitement. There was an energy that did not seem to come from what we had left in ourselves to give.

It reminded me that joy is not always found in comfort. Sometimes joy comes when we recognize that we have been invited into something greater than ourselves. When we get a front row seat to watch children encounter Jesus, serving begins to feel less like an obligation and more like a privilege. There is something incredibly beautiful about watching a child learn that they are loved by God and then realizing that, in some small way, we were given the opportunity to help create that moment.

On the final day of Summer Spectacular, the children packed backpacks full of school supplies. Then we prayed over each one. Every backpack represented more than school supplies. It represented someone making an intentional decision to pour into a child they may never know personally. It represented generosity, service, prayer, and the willingness to show up. Watching the children receive those backpacks and seeing them covered in prayer left me with an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

Not because the week was easy. Not because I was not tired. Not because everything went perfectly.

But because God was there.

And maybe that is what I am learning about joy.

Joy does not require perfect circumstances. It does not require that every prayer has been answered or that every situation has been resolved. It does not mean we ignore the difficult things happening around us or pretend that hardship does not hurt. Joy means that even in the middle of those things, we know we are not alone. Christ is present. His goodness remains. His presence gives us something that our circumstances cannot take away.

Last week, we talked about abiding. We considered what it means to remain connected to Christ and how the fruit of the Spirit is not something we manufacture through our own strength, but something His Spirit produces within us as we remain close to Him. This week, I am beginning to see joy as another expression of that same connection. When we abide in Him, we begin to see differently. We notice things we may have overlooked before. We become more aware of His presence. We begin celebrating what He is doing instead of constantly measuring the moment against what we thought it should be.

Maybe joy is not something we have to go searching for.

Maybe joy is something we begin to recognize when we become more aware of the One who is already with us.

Perhaps there are moments of God’s goodness happening around us every day that we are too distracted, disappointed, or focused on what should have been to notice. Perhaps the invitation is not always to change our circumstances, but to change the way we see them.

Where might God be doing something, you have almost missed because it did not look the way you expected? Where might joy already be present because Christ is present? And perhaps the question I am sitting with most this week is this:

What would change if I stopped waiting for the perfect circumstances to feel joy and started looking for Jesus right where I am?

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From the archives: This reflection began as Week Three of a Fruit of the Spirit series I shared within a faith community at work. The reflections were originally shared on July 13 and July 20, 2026, and have been brought together here as one journal entry. Looking back, I can see how God was teaching me to recognize joy not only in the moments that felt joyful, but in the unexpected places where His presence was already there.