Create your own permission slip for joy. Write three words: Accept. Adapt. Depend. Carry this permission slip with you. Tell your friends you’re working on becoming more content, more joyful. Take a nap. Live with a messy house for a time. Order takeout. File an extension on your taxes. Stare out the window. Linger in the company of a friend. Breathe in the fullness of life. Use those words to fight back with joy.

Habakkuk’s rejoicing does not center on circumstances; it’s founded on God’s intent and ability to save. Rejoicing is not a prescription as much as a gateway to possibility.

I had been searching for joy in the relatively good times of life, now I had to find joy amidst darkness and agony.

God sits enthroned, ready to listen, to help.

Prayer might not change things, but it will change my perspective of things. Prayer might not change the past, but inevitably, it changes the present.

When we fight back with joy, we embrace a reality that is more real than what we’re enduring and we awaken to the deepest reality of our identity as beloved, joyful children of God.

Joy asks “What if God?” and declares “But if not!

Joy would not deny the hardship, but would choose to acknowledge and face it no matter what the outcome.

One of the greatest promises to a child of God is that this life is not the end of the story.

Joy means holding on to hope in God regardless of the outcome. Declaring we will give up everything and entrust ourselves more fully and wholly to the One who holds all things together.