Navigating Mental Challenges After LossSample

Finding Joy in the Simple Things

Psalm 16:11 (ESV)

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Joy didn’t return like a celebration. It arrived quietly. It slipped in through cracked windows, tucked itself into moments I almost missed. A warm mug of coffee in the early morning. A deep breath on a walk. A verse that stayed with me longer than expected.

This is the kind of joy David wrote about, not a circumstantial feeling, but a sustaining presence. David, who knew deep sorrow and layered grief, still declared that in God’s presence there is fullness of joy. Not a temporary distraction, not forced optimism, but fullness.

Corrie Ten Boom understood this kind of joy. In the thick of despair, imprisoned in a concentration camp, she discovered joy in the smallest things: a smuggled Bible, a whispered prayer, the sound of her sister’s voice. It wasn’t because her situation changed; it was because God was there, even then.

For me, healing looked less like milestones and more like rhythms. Workouts that reminded me that my body still carried strength. Conversations with friends who loved me back to life without needing explanations. Laughing with my family, chasing clouds, spotting rainbows, and cooking meals. None of it is flashy. But all of it is Holy.

I stopped waiting for a grand turning point. And I started noticing what God was already doing.

Grief had taught me to pay attention. Joy taught me to stay.

I’ve learned to create space for new memories, rather than only echo the old ones, not to replace the past, but to let my heart live in the present too. To trust that God is still writing, still revealing His goodness in quiet ways.

Reflection Questions:

• What simple joys might God be using to restore you gently?
• Are there quiet moments today where His presence feels near, even if unspoken?

Prayer:

Lord, thank You for being close in the quiet. Help me not to miss the joy, You hide in ordinary places. Teach me to treasure the simple, to see Your presence in my everyday, and to believe that joy and grief can coexist beautifully. Amen.