Joy never ending!

Joy is often confused with happiness, and though happiness can be the result of joy, it is not what joy really is!
In my own words, joy can only be described as an inner peace, some unseen assurance that everything will turn out alright in the end! In worldly terms, joy may often be the source of the reason for living, the reason to put up with everything terrible! Just some sick sense that it'll be just fine somehow! Joy however is very different in the Bible! Nehemiah 8:10 tells us how the joy of the Lord is our strength. After an easy search, I have discovered that joy is mentioned in the Bible 155 times, if not more! In my family we refer to the joy of the Lord, which we say, once we have it, we cannot lose it! Once we except Christ, we have a hidden joy, both in the sacrifice God made for us, so that we might live, and the future rule and reign of Christ! And a joy of leaving this troubled world, for the wonders of Heaven in God's presence! Like Nehemiah tells us, the joy of the Lord is our strength, and having this joy, means having the strength to go on, even in the trials we are put through that make us want to give us, the joy of the Lord will continually help us get back up and try again!
Just thinking that God is right there, just waiting to help us stand up again, like a father helping his child up from a fall, just makes my heart swell with how much our heavenly father loves us! God's love, makes our earthly parents love for us look like hatred in comparison!
Christian, the truth is, earthly joy and happiness can be taken away, proven time and time again by the instabilities of this sinful world! Joy is the one thing, once received in God, is something that can never be taken away! We can't leave the fate of our joy in the arms of earthly things, as these will fade in time, not matter how you try to preserve it!
That's why, to think of the future for us Christian, in our minds we are already dancing on streets of gold in God's kingdom! Just as our soul cannot be taken from us, so our joy in the Lord, can never be taken! So, next time you feel depressed and saddened by the evil of the world, remember Christian, THE JOY OF THE LORD IS NEVER ENDING! God Bless you all and thanks for reading!