Recently, life overwhelmed me and I lost my sense of joy. I felt strangely dead. Even my connection to the Lord seemed to disappear. I could make a list of God’s amazing attributes, all good reasons to praise him, but I wasn't moved.

When we aren't joyful, is there anything we can do to draw near to the Lord with sincere devotion? I can hear my mentors saying, “Press on. Feelings aren’t important. They're fickle. They come and go.” That's true. But throughout Scripture, we're exhorted to pay close attention to our hearts.

Is there anything we can do to help our hearts engage with the Lord again? I think so.

Joy is a key. We have to engage with God as we can, not as we can’t. What I learned was that my best way of experiencing a closeness with God was through following my heart—doing those things that would bring me a touch of joy.

Some mornings I spent my quiet time simply looking at a thirty-year-old portrait of my kids. As I looked in their eyes, I saw their innocence. Love welled up in my heart. I felt it. Can this gazing at a portrait be a connection with God? I think so.

My heart led me into times of beautiful communing with God. Some mornings I stood at my window appreciating the beauty of color as the first light of dawn graced the mountains. Venus sparkled so brightly some mornings. It was just lovely to watch the gradual bowing of the earth to the rising of the sun, clouds transformed from gray to every shade of cotton candy. Every morning was a new display of God’s beauty giving light and warmth. I couldn’t help but marvel that the sunlight comes 93 million miles to me, standing at my window, and it takes my chill away.

I have learned this year that if I follow what brings me joy, it will lead me into worship. I discovered that if I delight my senses with nature’s beauty or the Arts, I will experience joy and a closeness to God.
Beauty opens our hearts to worship with deep joy, devotion and awe. We commune with our Maker.

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee

God of glory, Lord of love

Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee

Opening to the sun above

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness

Drive the dark of doubt away

Giver of immortal gladness

Fill us with the light of day!

If we can discover those things that bring us joy, perhaps a Brandenburg concerto, a delicious cup of coffee, the stillness and beauty of dawn, smelling an heirloom rose, they will lead us to God. The touch of transcendence we experience when we engage with activities that we enjoy is the touch of God. He is giving us the gift of himself. That is how he designed us.

Cindy Bunch in her little book, Be Kind to Yourself, encourages us to keep a daily record. “Commit to thirty days of recording the answers to these two questions: 1) What’s bugging (frustrating) you? 2) What’s bringing you joy? She writes:

“These questions have made me more aware of the things I hold on to each day. The things that pull me down. The things that keep me from noticing that God is near and is constantly drawing me in. Some of us may be in the habit of pushing down negative thoughts and so may not be readily aware of anything bugging us. This simple practice offers a way to get in touch with the idea that we are holding on to pain, frustration, and anger, so that we can work with them together with God…Then turn toward cultivating joy. Because life is all mixed up like that—the good and the bad mingle together. As we pay attention to God’s daily presence near us, we discover the antidote to what’s bugging us.” (7-10)

By making tiny adjustments to our daily routines, we can let in more of the things that bring us joy. I discovered there are some things that consistently bring me joy. Little things. Simple things. And that touch of wonder, that moment of grace, the goodness of the beauty I experience with my senses, all bring into my life joy which invites me to draw near to God.

Follow what brings you joy because joy is a key to the door that opens our heart to Jesus and will lead us into adoration, worship and communion. Even in our sadness, even in our doubts and despair, God is there—sometimes in the dark but never at a distance.

While we wait through trials or a ‘dark night of the soul’ we can know that God has a good purpose for us in it—we can consider even the hard times ‘pure joy.’ (James 1:2)

“No words can express how much the world owes to sorrow. Most of the Psalms were born in the wilderness. Most of the Epistles were written in a prison. The greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers have all passed through fire. The greatest poets have "learned in suffering what they taught in song." In bonds, Bunyan lived the allegory that he afterwards wrote, and we may thank Bedford Jail for the Pilgrim's Progress. Take comfort, afflicted Christian! When God is about to make pre-eminent use of a person, He put them in the fire.” — George MacDonald