Finding Joy in the Lord While Facing Worldly Pressure

Let’s be frank. Being a woman can be hard.

There are many voices telling us who we should be, how we should look, how we should behave, what we should wear. There is the pressure to be thin, right alongside the pressure to be curvy. There is the pressure to be married but in the same breath the pressure to not ‘need a man.’ The pressure to be a career woman stands toe to toe with the pressure to be the perfect mother. Add to this immense pressure, the regular woes and challenges of simply existing-from small things like traffic jams, making you late for work or school to the big things like broken relationships and loss.

It can be completely exhausting, not to mention frustrating and overwhelming. Add to this, hormonal changes, bills, and maintaining relationships and you have a recipe that can wreak havoc on our souls sending our emotions on a never-ending roller coaster ride with tremendous highs and lows.

How are we as women to deal with all that life throws at us and still maintain our joy?

I believe the answer can be found in Nehemiah 8:10.

“Then [Ezra] told them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.” 

In this passage, the people had been read the Law and responded (appropriately) with weeping and grief for their sins. But Ezra then encourages them to have joy and to celebrate because despite their sins God was still working, loved them and had a plan.

This says to me that regardless of circumstances, my own faults, or life’s challenges, I can have joy! I can have this joy because my possession of it is not dependent on others, my circumstances or how I think I feel. It is the joy of the Lord. This joy comes only from the knowledge of God’s love for me and His sovereignty in my life. What greater joy than knowing that the perfect God of everything chooses to love imperfect little old me?

I love that the amplified version includes that the joy of the Lord is my stronghold. A stronghold is a “place that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack.” This means that when challenges and negative feelings come God’s joy protects me against feeling pressured, sad or weighed down. In other words, the knowledge that God loves me, and protects me knocks down any reason to wallow in sadness or depression.

John 15:10-11 says, “If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love. I have told you these things, that my joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.”

It’s important to add this because we really can’t expect to have joy in the midst of difficulty if we aren’t walking in God’s love and obeying Him. This doesn’t mean we are perfect. Remember the Israelites were in grief over sin when Nehemiah 8:10 was spoken. The key is that they were repentant before God and not simply living and wallowing in sin.

We must always run to God when we fall, though the temptation is to run and hide. Running to Him, abiding in Him and remembering His enduring love for us is what supplies our joy. That complete, miraculous joy that doesn’t give in to the pressure, that can sing joyfully in traffic jams and praise God in the midst of loss.

About the Author:

Ayesha Keller is a lover of Jesus, wife, and mother of two rambunctious boys. She is also an assistant social work professor, blogger, and vlogger.  You can read her blog here and visit her YouTube channel here.