{"id":14630,"date":"2026-05-11T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/?p=14630"},"modified":"2026-05-11T04:58:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T09:58:47","slug":"joy-that-god-gives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/joy-that-god-gives\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy that God Gives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two-minute read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/May-11th.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14632\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/May-11th.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/May-11th-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/May-11th-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/May-11th-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/May-11th-180x180.png 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To experience divine joy, we must have a relationship with the Lord. Prior to this verse, Jesus teaches about the vine and the branches. We must stay connected to the Savior to receive His joy. A branch can\u2019t survive separate from the vine, and we can\u2019t tap into the strength of the Lord if we don\u2019t have a connection with Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, I\u2019m writing on a laptop, and when I finish, I will post it to my blog through the Wi-Fi connection in my home. If my computer doesn\u2019t connect to Wi-Fi, I can\u2019t post. The laptop and Wi-Fi have a relationship, and staying connected lets me do my work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Christ, we must connect to Him to experience His joy; we can\u2019t do it any other way. Jesus says,  &#8220;My joy.\u201d God gives us joy through our relationship with Him and the connection it creates. The more connected we become to the Savior, the more we will experience His joy, and it will remain in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Writing on Good Friday, I think of Jesus on the cross. Christ\u2019s joy endures suffering and anchors itself in purpose and love. Divine joy goes beyond the surface and strengthens you from within your soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus\u2019s complete joy lacks nothing. He speaks into the empty places that feel empty and incomplete. Joy doesn\u2019t visit\u2026<em>it fills. <\/em>Living in alignment with God\u2019s love, obeying His commands, and abiding in Him results in joy, a deep, settled fullness we can only receive from the Savior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We don\u2019t have to chase joy; we receive it from our relationship with Christ. His joy becomes our strength, our steadiness, and our fullness. Not because life becomes perfect, but because we remain connected to the One who is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Reflection:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>What areas of your life do you need to strengthen the connection with Jesus?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Joy Thought:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Christ fills us with His joy that strengthens us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two-minute read. To experience divine joy, we must have a relationship with the Lord. Prior to this verse, Jesus teaches about the vine and the branches. We must stay connected to the Savior to receive His joy. A branch can\u2019t survive separate from the vine, and we can\u2019t tap into the strength of the Lord&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/11\/joy-that-god-gives\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Joy that God Gives<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14630"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14990,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14630\/revisions\/14990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}