How would you describe joy? Like a field of wildflowers on a bright summer day—vibrant and warm; free. If you asked me this question a month ago, this is probably how I would respond.

God’s been speaking to me lately. He’s been speaking to me through pain, through waiting, through uncertainty, through trials, and tribulations. There’s freedom in joy—freedom from a world that has the potential to keep us in bondage. When we continue to attach our joy to life’s circumstances as opposed to God’s promises, we keep ourselves in bondage. No matter how hard we try, no matter how together we think we have it; we will never be able to control what we cannot control.

So long as we are slaves to our circumstances, our joy will be conditional. Conditional joy is not true joy. Conditional joy is an emotion called happiness, and emotions are fleeting. True joy is a fruit of the spirit; it’s a state of being not feeling. Joy is from the Lord, and we can experience this joy when we live in our purpose, being who He created us to be, no matter what life throws as us.

You have to continue being you, despite the pain, the uncertainty, the frustration. That’s how you break the chains of bondage—to keep living in your purpose, keep doing what you were created to do regardless of how you feel. When the devil sees you living how God intended despite everything he throws at you, he knows he can’t get to you.

So how would I describe joy? I’d still paint the same picture and give the same answer, but it wouldn’t stop there. Joy is like a field of wildflowers on a bright summer day, but it’s also the bare soil in the coolness of winter. It’s the seed in the ground that’s waiting, before it’s begun to sprout. It’s the beautiful field of flowers in the midst of the pouring rain and thunder. It’s even the wilted flower which knows it never truly dies. True joy cannot be taken, corrupted, nor destroyed; true joy is truly freedom.