Missionary and author Amy Carmichael once wrote, “Joy is not gush.” We confuse a bubbling feeling of happiness with the depth of fulfillment that joy truly is. We go looking for joy in empty places. Or we think we’ve found joy only to discover that we’ve found fool’s gold. That’s why the psalmist wrote about the joy of God’s presence and not the joy of having everything on our entire wish list.

It also seems wildly counterintuitive that joy can come from someone we cannot physically interact with. The possibility, though, that we can maintain lifelong joy because of the omnipresence of God? That sounds like something worth pursuing. God can show us a way of life, a gift with lasting joy and pleasures.

Joy is like the steady ship in the storm or that warm blanket on a chilly night. It isn’t just about enduring hard things. It’s about receiving who God is.