Finding Joy Is a Choice—Even When Life Is Hard

Sorrow doesn’t pause life—and neither does joy. If you’ve ever wondered how to find joy in difficult times, Scripture offers a deeper perspective than simply waiting for pain to pass. In this article, you’ll see how joy and sorrow often travel together and learn how to experience the presence of God within it.

 

Finding Joy Is a Choice—Even When Life Is Hard

If you’ve ever watched Forrest Gump, you probably remember Forrest sitting on a bench, offering this now-famous line: “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”

Yet we do know something about the box: It holds both the chocolates we love and the ones we don’t. Sweetness and surprise. Delight and disappointment. Life rarely offers only one or the other.

In her book Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough, Kay Warren offers a powerful image for understanding this tension:

“I used to think that life came in waves … sometimes we’re up, then we’re down. But life is much more like a set of parallel train tracks, with joy and sorrow running inseparably throughout our days.”

It’s a picture that feels deeply true. Every day brings moments of beauty, connection, and purpose—and often, at the same time, moments of struggle, loss, or unmet expectations. The challenge, Kay suggests, is not figuring out how to avoid sorrow, but learning how to live faithfully on both tracks at once.

Joy and Sorrow Were Never Meant to Be Separated

Scripture affirms this reality rather than denying it. Jesus Himself lived fully within it.

Consider the Last Supper. In that sacred moment, Jesus shared fellowship, love, and meaning with His disciples—knowing it would be their final meal together before the cross. Joy and sorrow occupied the same table. He washed their feet, offered bread and wine, and spoke words of hope, even as betrayal and suffering loomed.

Jesus did not wait for sorrow to disappear before expressing love. He did not delay joy until circumstances improved. He showed us that deep joy can exist within pain—not after it, not instead of it.

This pattern echoes throughout Scripture. Mary rejoiced at the birth of Jesus while carrying the quiet knowledge that His life would include suffering she would one day witness. The psalms are filled with praise written in seasons of distress. God never asks His people to pretend sorrow isn’t real. Instead, He invites us to trust Him within it.

Why Avoiding Sorrow Doesn’t Work

Most of us try—consciously or unconsciously—to escape the sorrow track. We focus on positivity, distraction, or even denial, hoping that if we concentrate hard enough on joy, pain will fade into the background.

But as Kay Warren points out, that approach simply doesn’t work:

“That’s impossible because joy and sorrow will always be linked.”

Trying to live on only one track leaves us exhausted and disillusioned. Faith isn’t about outsmarting sorrow—it’s about learning to walk with God when both joy and sorrow are present.

Joy Is Not a Feeling—It’s a Choice Anchored in God

So how do we live this way without becoming overwhelmed? Kay Warren offers a definition of joy that moves it out of the realm of emotion and into the realm of faith:

“Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.”

That definition matters—especially when life feels anything but joyful.

Joy, biblically speaking, is not denial. It is not pretending everything is fine. It is settling ourselves in the truth of who God is, even when circumstances feel unstable. It is choosing to trust His character when we cannot yet see His outcome.

Scripture reminds us of this posture in Jeremiah 29:11, where God speaks of His plans—“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.” That promise doesn’t erase hardship, but it anchors us through it.

Living on the Tracks with Christ

Joy becomes possible—not because sorrow disappears—but because Christ walks with us on both tracks. When we settle our hearts in Him, we begin to notice grace alongside grief, provision alongside pain, and hope alongside heartbreak.

And one day, as Kay Warren so beautifully describes, those parallel tracks will merge. Scripture promises a future where sorrow no longer exists and joy remains forever. Until then, we live faithfully in the tension—choosing trust, choosing praise, and choosing joy, one day at a time.

Joy is not something we stumble into when life finally cooperates. Joy is something we choose when we place our confidence in God—right where we are.

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Are you walking through a season where joy feels difficult to hold onto?

You’re not alone. God meets us faithfully in every season, and He often does so through prayer, reflection, and community.

Reach out to our caring prayer ministers, who are here to walk with you in hope and faith.