Personal Curriculum Notes | Joy (March)

I keep trying to fix my joy with better habits, but God keeps drawing me back to Himself. This month’s notes are a reset on what actually satisfies.

Mar 31, 2026

It’s a little raw and still taking shape, but each month I’m focusing on one fruit of the Spirit—praying, reading, and paying attention to how God forms us slowly, often quietly, in the everyday rhythms of life.

These notes are simply what I’m noticing along the way—places of resistance, growth, and grace—as I learn to abide and trust the Spirit’s work.

“I am not asking whether you know things about him but do you know God, are you enjoying God, is God the center of your life, the soul of your being, the source of your greatest joy? He is meant to be.” (Martin Lloyd Jones)

A few years ago, I found myself in a slump. Determined to lean into joy, I made it my focus. I led a Bible study on Advent joy and continued into a winter study on Philippians, eager to rekindle my joy in Christ. That season gave me a clearer biblical framework for understanding what joy truly is.

Then last fall, I made some intentional changes. I began to recognize how the seasons affect my mood, along with the weight of working with mental health crisis. I added a daily gratitude list to my journal, set more pauses to be present with my kids, and leaned into life-giving rhythms like teaching, Bible study, reading, and writing.

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11)

These habits helped lift the fog of low mood. But Scripture reminds me that joy is not simply about how I feel. It’s also about how I think and where I fix my attention.

I’ve been memorizing Psalm 16 and reflecting on the fullness of joy found in the presence of Christ, in faithful living, and among His people. The pull of the world toward achievement and accumulation is constant. Yet true joy is found as I intentionally root myself in Christ and look to Him for satisfaction. This joy is not fleeting. It is lasting.

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11)

So this month, I am returned to biblical joy. I need the reminder. I need my compass reset to Christ, my true north, because the world will always pull me away with promises that don’t last.

Here are a few of the ways I have been reflecting on and pursuing true joy.

1. Defining Christian Joy

Stepping back to define joy is an ongoing and healthy practice for me. Discouragement and disappointment slip in easily, and when they do, joy can feel elusive, especially if I confuse it with happiness.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary describes biblical joy as “more a state of being than an emotion,” an awareness of God’s grace and favor rather than a passing feeling. That can be difficult to grasp, but it offers clarity and hope. Instead of chasing happiness, I am learning to pursue joy in Christ. I fix my eyes on the evidence of His grace throughout my day. This shift has changed me.

2. Keeping Track of Small Joys

A personal curriculum is not only reflective and instructional, it’s also deeply practical. This month, I chose to pay attention. Each day, I noticed small, joy-filled moments where God wove beauty and goodness into ordinary life, often when I least expected it.

A perfectly brewed cup of coffee. Boys erupting with excitement after a winning point in a close volleyball game. The glowing awe of a sunrise or sunset. Sweet camaraderie with friends. A timely passage of Scripture that redirects my heart.

As I paid attention, my joy grew.

3. The Unhurried Approach

As Lent continued through the month, I practiced pausing to savor Christ during my morning abiding time. In unhurried moments, I made space to reflect on His perfect love and His finished work.

How often do I actually pause to taste my morning coffee or slow down enough to enjoy a meal? It may sound small, but the habit of rushing shapes more than our schedules. It shapes our souls. Instead of moving quickly through Scripture or hurrying into the day, I am learning to begin at a slower, more intentional pace so I can truly treasure the goodness of the gospel.

This is the difference between eating and enjoying, between hurrying and savoring, both in daily life and in the presence of Christ.

4. Free to Rest and Enjoy

Learning to find joy in Christ requires intentional pauses. I know this, yet I often struggle to practice it. I suspect part of the struggle comes from a mindset shaped by striving rather than abiding.

I can feel the pressure to perform, as if I must secure my place as a co-heir with Christ. But union with Christ reminds me that there is nothing left to earn. He has already secured it. My relationship with Him is grounded in being before it’s expressed in doing.

This doesn’t remove action, but it rightly orders it. I respond from acceptance, not for it. I remember that God is forming who I am, not merely measuring what I do. And in that remembering, I find freedom to rest and to enjoy Him.

5. To Know and Enjoy the Lord

The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches that the chief end of man “is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Isn’t that beautiful?!

As I meditated on this truth alongside Psalm 16, I was reminded that fullness of joy is found in the presence of God. That realization began to shape my Bible study. I found myself slowing down, digging deeper, and reaching for resources on hermeneutics to better understand and rightly handle His Word.2

Knowing God and enjoying Him are not separate pursuits. They are deeply intertwined.

6. Holiness Is Happiness

R. C. Sproul summarizes the path to true happiness: “The secret to happiness is found in obedience to God. How can we be happy if we are not obedient? How can we be obedient if we do not know what it is we are to obey? Thus, the top and the tail of it is that happiness cannot be fully discovered as long as we remain ignorant of God’s Word.” 3

True joy grows in lives that glorify God through godliness.

Ronni Kurtz writes, “Even our repentance is a repentance into joy. Like David, when we move from wickedness to righteousness, we ought to beseech the Lord to ‘restore the joy of your salvation to me’ (Ps. 51:12).”4

The Spirit’s sanctifying work in us often feels like pruning. At times it is painful. Yet it is always purposeful. It leads to fruitfulness in our lives and for His kingdom. We may not see it clearly in the moment, but we can trust the Gardener who tends His vines. His care steadies us with hope and assures us of His presence.

7. Joy Doesn’t Equal Ease

James calls us to consider our trials as joy. This is far from an easy command, but it teaches us that joy and sorrow can coexist.

Tim Keller offers a helpful picture. He compares joy to salt.5 Salt preserves meat from spoiling, and in the same way, joy enters our sorrow and keeps it from overwhelming us. Our hearts are preserved by the joy we have in Christ. The pain doesn’t disappear, but truth keeps us anchored and helps us endure.

David Gibson writes, “Joy is the deep, settled knowledge that God is in this, that nothing he sends me—nothing!—is outside his care and his loving purposes for me.”6

God’s sovereignty in every season becomes the steady anchor for our joy because we know Him and trust Him.

8. A Model for Joy in Suffering

Hebrews 12:2 calls us to look to Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

As we endure in faith, we look to our Savior. He shows us that there is joy in obedience, blessing in holiness, and certain hope in His victory.

May we keep the good news of the gospel at the center of our hearts and minds each day. As we do, we remember with deep joy the work of Christ and the salvation we have in Him.

9. The Threats to Our Joy

If we look to our circumstances for joy, we will drift toward discouragement.
If we love the things of this world more than Christ, our hearts will grow restless and disheartened.

True joy is found in communion with God.

So what threatens that joy?

Comparison. Discontentment. The quiet belief that something else will satisfy more than Christ. The pressure to strive and achieve, only to feel like we fall short.

When joy feels distant, we can come before the Lord in honesty. We can ask Him to search our hearts and reveal where our desires have become disordered. And as He does, we can turn again in repentance and find that joy is not lost. It is restored in Him.

10. The Attractiveness of a Joy-Filled People

A Welsh preacher, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones emphasized the need for a joyful church. He said, “The greatest need of the hour is a revived and joyful church ... Unhappy Christians are a poor recommendation for the faith ... The exuberant joy of the early Christians was one of the most potent factors in the spread of Christianity.”7

God advances His kingdom through the faithful, ordinary obedience of His people, empowered by His Spirit. And one of the clearest marks of that work is joy. It’s a joy the world can’t manufacture. It draws people in and points to a hope and conviction far deeper than circumstances, rooted in the salvation we have now and the glory to come.

I saw this up close during one of the hardest seasons of our lives. When my daughter was in the ICU again after her bone marrow transplant, her condition took another serious turn. In the middle of all the uncertainty, I shared with her nurse about God’s faithfulness to us. She responded, “I knew you were believers!” She went on to explain that others on the unit had noticed how we were holding together in the midst of it all, wondering how it was even possible. It opened the door for her to share the gospel with them and to speak about the reason for our hope and joy.

The world is searching for happiness. It looks for it in success, comfort, relationships, and control, yet it remains out of reach. But we have been given something better. We have the good news of the gospel.

So we fight for joy. Not a shallow optimism, but a deep, abiding joy in Christ. And as we do, our lives become a witness to the One who is our true and lasting hope.

May we become fruitful as we thrive in grace.