Be joyful always, pray continually. (1 Thes. 5:16-17) These five words are very hard to live out and put into practice in our lives. It poses a question many people have asked, "How is this possible? How can I do this or even come close to accomplishing this? It is a totally unrealistic ideal." There are lots of reasons out there to not be that joyful. All we have to do is turn on the news to get a snapshot of our world. I have had things that caused heartache in my life, as I am sure all of us have. I know the sting of divorced parents. I know what it is like to lose my job. I know the heartache of having friends and loved ones move away. You might be saying, "Wow Ryan, you have it great compared to me. You have nothing to complain about." You may be right. Regardless, we all go through different struggles in life and we all have different sets of circumstances that we have to face. The commonality of it all is that no matter what the struggle or heartache, we find this verse in scripture and say, "wait a minute." I know that I did.

In figuring this out for myself I found Philippians 4:3. It says, "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!" There is real hope in this verse. It does not say rejoice in your problems. It does not say rejoice in the fact that you lost your job. It does not say rejoice because you just had a loved one pass away. What it does say is that we are to rejoice in the Lord always. God has never changed and his word says in Hebrews 13:8 that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. ou can count on his promises. If he says that he does not change, he does not change. All throughout scripture His promises are spoken and fulfilled. Not once does scripture contradict God's character. He remains constant even when his people (including you and I) do not. He also says he will never leave you or forsake you. We have so much to be thankful for in Christ. His sacrifice on the cross allows us a personal relationship with the creator and God of a universe. We would be facing an eternal separation from God otherwise.

So even though the circumstances of our lives may all be different, the one that isn't is God and His amazing love for us. The bible says in Romans 8:28 that He works all things for the good of those who love Him. That gives me hope. I know that I have seen this happen in my life, and I have seen it happen in the lives of many others as well.

Final Thought: Even though you may feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, don't stop trusting God and believe that he will never leave you and will see you through whatever your are dealing with.