Have you felt joy today?
I felt joy this morning when I read from the Letter to the Philippians (4:4–7).

It says:
Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God! And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!
Joy in faith and in God’s nearness. The knowledge of God’s nearness.
Christians are people who give thanks, who know that they do not live by their own strength alone, who know they are sustained and upheld by a power outside themselves, by Someone else, Someone greater, whom we call God. There are many things for which we can give thanks. Among them is the awareness that not everything can be taken for granted.
These are the small and large things that each and every one of us may have experienced—things that have come to us like gifts, decisions we’ve made well, wrong decisions we’ve weathered, adversities we’ve overcome, and moments of small or great happiness in everyday life.
Those who know they are held by God do not need to stand on their own; they can let go of their worries by placing everything trustingly in God’s hands.

Those who know they are sustained and held by God dare to ask again and again for His help in difficult matters and serious problems, for His help in our times of need—which we all experience to a greater or lesser extent.
The petitions of the Lord’s Prayer give us food for thought. They encompass our personal suffering, our fear, our distress, and even our despair. Above all, however, stands the decisive petition: “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” Our lives are woven into this.
What Christians have longed for for millennia, we too long for. We know: the world is not whole. Not everything is as good as is often claimed. The kingdom of God has yet to come; His will is not done everywhere.
But when we ask that we may fulfill God’s will a little more, then we can succeed—right where we are—in living a little more kindness and love among ourselves, in showing a little more friendliness and understanding toward one another, in offering a little more security, and in spreading a little more happiness. Then His kingdom will become visible among us.
We do not know what the new week and the weeks to come will bring. Probably a fair share of joy and suffering for each of us, often inextricably intertwined. It is good that we do not know what lies ahead. But one thing we confess in faith: that God sustains us and that we may offer both thanks and prayer again and again—not just today, but every day.

Praising God brings together both petition and thanksgiving—knowing that we are held and sustained, and therefore able to live in joy. Having trust and hope are important guiding lights for whatever may lie ahead.
Prayer (from the Letter to the Philippians):
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God! And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus! Amen.
I wish you all the best and everything you long for and hope for in the coming week, sustained and upheld by God’s goodness.