Joy

We are in the midst of one of the most trying times in human history. Never before has one crisis assaulted literally every nation and every person in the entire world...and, in the midst of that, what is the Lord’s hope for us? Joy! 
Joy is actually different from happiness, which is dependent on circumstances. Real joy is the connection with someone else--whether another “regular” human or with Jesus, in which the relationship is greater than the problem we face.
Admittedly, it is not automatic for us to be able to recapture joy when it has escaped us! It is a skill that has to be learned. In fact, what is happening, is that there are different places in our brain where we experience the six major negative emotions. They are:
Sadness    AnxietyDisgust
Shame    AngerDespair
Inside our brains, different “neural pathways” need to be developed for each of those emotions so we can learn how to navigate our way back to our “joy center,” in order to “recapture joy.”