“The stronghold of the Christian faith is the joy of God, not my joy in God. . . . God reigns and rules and rejoices, and His joy is our strength” (Oswald Chambers, The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers, Run Today’s Race).

If my salvation depended on me, I’d have lost it a long time ago. My faith is fickle, and my emotions are up and down, depending on the weather, what I ate last, and about a million other variables. But God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so is His joy.

That’s comforting on the bad days when I don’t have any joy in me. That’s assuring on the good days when I know that the joy in me is not my own. I know that my strength doesn’t come from me. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

What a blessed thought that my anchor is steadfast and immovable. When the world around me is chaotic, my God is not. I can rest because I am held by the nail-scarred hands that were wounded for me.

Not that I won’t ever have any more bad days. I know me too well. I know I can take my eyes off Jesus and only see the storm, like ol’ Peter did and sank like a stone. But God is faithful even in the midst of the wind and waves. His path is still through the sea, and His footsteps are still unseen, as the Psalmist wrote long ago.

No matter what, in life or in death, I am held and I am safe.