Marius Mauthe, How to be filled with joy in a world of trouble

Guest Blog Post: Marius Mauthe, Arkansas Dream Center Director

I’m in my eighth year here at the Arkansas Dream Center and I have had the chance to work with a lot of different families and young men. One interaction though, stands out. When I first started with the Arkansas Dream Center I was the boys coach for the second through fifth grade classroom. One of the young men I was working with had every reason to be sad, he was in a constant state of trouble. His mother had been having a lot of health problems and was in and out of the hospital due to a severe sickness. Through this time, this young man remained anchored in the hope that Jesus provides and was always full of joy. When he walked into a room, people would turn their heads and start to smile. When he retold the week's Bible lesson with passion and added flavor, the rest of the class would be engaged and excited. When we got reports from his teachers and principals, they wanted every kid to be just like him because he was always filled with joy. This young man taught me a lesson that we can be filled with joy in a world full of trouble.

When you look at your life, do you feel like that behind every corner and turn, from one season to another, you are constantly facing troubling times? At times it feels that if we could just find the “magic pill” or the cure to all our problems we would finally be okay. 

This reminds me of Proverbs 17:22,  “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

When we face hard times, this proverb offers us a new perspective on the medicine that we all need when facing obstacles and challenges; joy.

Three ways to be filled with joy in a world of trouble:

1. We are filled with joy when we are close to God.

When we lack joy in our lives, we have to evaluate what we are close to. Are we close to the latest news, our stressful calendars, the negative voices around us or just all by ourselves? The one thing that will bring us joy in every season, at any time, is the presence of God. When we are lacking joy we have to get close to God. He promises to produce in us the fruit of the spirit when we are close and in step with God (Galatians 5:22-26). 

2. We are filled with joy when we find hope in the right places during hard times.

Just like for my student, it's important for us to know where our hope comes from when we are facing hard times. We already know that we are or will be facing hard times in our lives. When we do, we have two different ways to respond: we can face them alone and be tossed around from one storm to another with temporary happiness, or we can consider it pure joy and face trials with God by our side. Knowing the trials we face produces perseverance, we can be filled with joy through the hard times. (James 1:2-4).

3. We are filled with joy when we are in community together.

We can be filled with joy, just by being around somebody. When we see one another go from trials to celebrations, from good times to bad times, we can be strengthened in our faith. We can be reminded by more experienced and seasoned believers by hearing their testimonies and getting to watch them respond to what the world throws at them. This world can be lonely and hard when we face it alone, but sometimes we just need to be surrounded by our community to be filled back up with confidence and faith. Community will send you back out energized and filled with joy (2 Timothy 1:3-5).