Anchored in Joy When the Storm Doesn’t Stop

Lately, my prayer has become simple, honest, and deeply personal: Lord, fill me so fully with the joy of Jesus that when others see me, they want it too. Not a joy that depends on circumstances, but one that rests firmly in Him.

This year, my word is ANCHOR. I didn’t fully understand why at first, but I’m beginning to see it clearly now. An anchor doesn’t prevent the storm from coming. It doesn’t calm the waves or change the weather. What it does is keep you from drifting, keeping you grounded when everything around you feels unstable.

We are walking through a season of struggle. The kind that weighs on your heart, tests your patience, and reveals the fragile places in your faith. It would be easy to assume that hardship means God is distant or displeased. But I’m learning that this simply isn’t true.
Instead, I believe God is using this season to refine us. To loosen our grip on false securities. To remind us where our true stability comes from. He is not punishing or abandoning us, He is anchoring us more deeply in Him.

Joy, I’m discovering, doesn’t mean denying the difficulty. It means trusting that God is still at work right here, in the middle of it. Still shaping, still providing, still faithful.
So I’m choosing to cling to my Anchor. To believe that even in the mess, even in the waiting, His joy can still shine through: quiet, steady, and unmistakably from Him