Can we still have joy in a world of pain and anxiety?

The troubles around us and in our lives lead many of us into a joyless experience where despair and hopelessness are the norm. Yet something within us still longs for a joy that transcends our challenges and gives us meaning and satisfaction. Our inner longings for joy actually point us to a God of joy who gives us both the capacity for joy and the realities of joyful experience. In this book, I explore pathways to joy and why we often experience the absence of joy. I then offer theologically grounded and research-based practices for becoming people of joyful presence. Even if we are not temperamentally happy enthusiasts, we can gradually cultivate the deep abiding joy that we were created for and that enriches the world around us.