“The fight for joy isn’t an optional struggle for security or ease, but an essential battle to join Jesus on the way to gladness in God.” – John Piper
Being on the field can be hard. Over the past two months, ministry has looked like me standing barefoot in a pile of fertilizer and rotten tomatoes, shoveling dirt pile after dirt pile, spending hours working in a mushroom house or banana field, and being burnt to a crisp from the sun. I have stood way to close to a scorpion for comfort, been forced to use a squatty potty (don’t ask), and I usually end my days covered in a mixture of mud and sweat.
No matter how hard I try to maintain a positive attitude through these things, I usually find myself getting frustrated. I don’t always see the fruit of my labor, and I honestly sometimes feel like it was useless. When I signed up for the World Race, I expected ministry to look like me watching cute kids and building churches (you know, normal missions trip stuff). I did not think it would look like me spending weeks filling up a ditch with moldy mushrooms and dirt.
When I did not find joy in what I was doing and started to develop a negative attitude, I found myself turning to God. Through Him and Him only did I find real joy. And sometimes I would have to fight for that joy because it’s usually easier to look at the negative side of things. I have to continuously remind myself that God will bring good out of this and that he wants me to choose joy. In 1 Thessalonians, He tells us to “Be joyful always.”
