Contentment...

All is well with my soul...

There is joy in the journey...

These words and the emotions that accompany them are easy to express on a good day. It's easy to feel content when there are no worries; it's easy to believe that all is well when there are no losses; it's easy to express joy in the journey when you actually feel like smiling.

But it's not so easy when the day is difficult, when life is disappointing, and when you feel discouraged. Some days are actually a struggle for survival. They're filled with hopelessness because trouble is so overwhelmingly troublesome.

Yes, even a Christian can sometimes be doubtful, faithless, hopeless, and afraid. Yet how can a Christian admit such weakness when a follower of Christ is supposed to always be strong and courageous?

If you have found yourself overcome by despair for whatever the reason, consider this.

There is no courage without fear. Faith isn't faith and hope isn't hope without trust in

what one cannot see or touch. (See Hebrews 11:1.) Trust is defined by one's reliance on what seems uncertain. The truest measure of your strength in Christ is when you can remain steady though your feet slip. It's during your unstable moments when He makes your feet like hinds-feet. (See Psalm 18:33.)

Trust, faith, and hope in Him is based on what is learned about Him through relationship with Him. These things are not built on the use of our five senses, therefore, they're not dependent upon what we humans may define as a good day.

It's in weakness where His strength is made perfect—when all hope seems lost hope can truly abound. Discovering His strength and learning to rely on His stability through the toughest times of your life is when you find genuine joy in the journey. It's when you finally decide to live in Him even though you feel like you're dying that all is really well with your soul. And that is the moment when you find your deepest level of contentment.