Life has seasons where everything feels flat, where nothing seems to bring joy, and those seasons can feel endless. But they don’t define your worth, and they don’t define your future.
Even the people we read about in the Bible had moments like this. David was called a man after God’s own heart, yet he cried, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” (Psalm 42:5). Elijah, after doing incredible things for God, sat under a tree and said he wanted to give up. These were not losers. These were people caught in deep valleys, and God met them there.
Joy isn’t gone forever. Sometimes it goes quiet, buried under the weight of exhaustion, grief, or disappointment. That doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means you’re in a tender place where God wants to meet you differently. You don’t have to make joy happen on your own. Joy is a gift, and it will come again, even if right now all you can do is breathe and take the smallest steps forward.
Your life is not over. You are not behind. You are not worthless. You are in the middle of a story that God is still writing, even if the page you’re on feels blank. And sometimes, in those blank chapters, He’s planting things you can’t see yet.
If nothing is sparking joy right now, maybe the invitation is not to chase joy but to rest in God’s presence and let Him hold you until joy returns. You are loved, seen, and not forgotten.
- Ellie Mont