The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)

In my dining room, hangs a beautiful tapestry—a darkened forest illuminated by a bold and defiant light shining through the trees, a light that refuses to obey the darkness.

Defiance is the refusal to obey someone or something. Have you ever noticed how defiant nature is? The sun continues to rise after each and every setting. The ocean refuses to stop meeting the shoreline no matter how many times it’s sent away. The beautiful rainbow forms across the sky after every storm. We could all learn a thing or two from nature.

I heard a life changing sermon the other day. The pastor began to preach on something that completely inspired me—defiant joy. Defiant joy isn’t just joy; it’s joy in the face of the most unlikely of circumstances. We have to give ourselves permission to have joy at all times, even during the darkest days.

Lately I’ve been praying a lot. Prayer doesn’t always change circumstances; prayer changes you. I want to encourage everyone going through something right now, to pray a particular prayer. “God if you won’t change it; change me.”

No matter how hard life gets, we can have joy in God’s promises—not just any joy, a joy that exists in the face of all circumstances, a joy that refuses to obey the enemy, a joy that can never be taken away.