Where Does Joy Actually Live?

It’s a question I’ve been thinking about for years.

Most of us spend our lives looking for joy. We search for it in success, relationships, achievement, comfort, and favorable circumstances. Sometimes those things satisfy us for a season. But sooner or later, life reminds us how fragile they really are. Dreams disappoint. People leave. Bodies fail. Plans unravel.

So where do we find a joy that lasts?

That question became the catalyst for a teaching series we did at Hope called Philippians: Finding and Keeping Joy. It also became the catalyst for my newest book, Where Joy Lives.

The apostle Paul wrote one of the most joy-filled letters in Scripture while sitting in a prison cell. His circumstances were anything but ideal, yet his joy remained remarkably resilient. His life invites us to ask an important question: What kind of joy can survive suffering?

One of the great discoveries of my own life is that there really is an accessible, unshakable joy that is stronger than life’s greatest storms. When we discover where that kind of joy originates—and build our lives near its source—we begin to experience a deeper, more enduring joy.

Drawing from Philippians, personal stories, and lessons learned through both celebration and suffering, Where Joy Lives explores why so many of the places we naturally look for joy eventually leave us empty, how God’s presence becomes an enduring source of strength, why gratitude changes the way we see the world, and how the hope of heaven reshapes even our deepest sorrows.

Whether you are navigating grief, uncertainty, disappointment, transition, success, or simply longing for something deeper, my hope and prayer is that this little book points you toward the One who is the source of lasting joy.

Because joy is real.

It can be found.

And it may be much closer than you think.