When We Choose To Rejoice, Regardless!
Discover how choosing to rejoice in difficult moments can transform fear, tension, and uncertainty into opportunities to trust God and experience His provision. Through a treasured childhood memory of money raining over the breakfast table, Jane Morin reminds us that the joy of the Lord can become our strength—even when life doesn't go according to plan.
Jane E. Morin
8/17/2026
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As I was meditating on Philippians 4:4 that says, “ Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice,” I began to think of the times in life when rejoicing is most difficult. Things like when the washing machine breaks down, or the bottom line after paying bills reflects a low balance. Maybe it is when the children all need something at the same time, or when the dog gets sprayed by a skunk. Ah!. Rejoicing does not come to mind in that immediate moment. Sometimes panic, fear, or uncertainty itself takes over and we become overwhelmed. We have all been there.
As I was in my senior year of high school, us six children sat at the table to eat breakfast before school with my foster Dad at the head of the table. He had just read a devotional and prayed. As soon as the final ‘amen’ was voiced, one of my brothers piped up and asked, “Dad, do you have twenty dollars? I need it for school.” Right behind the request came my little sister, “And dad, I need some lunch money.” Their insistence to ask for funds gave me courage to ask too. “Hey Dad, I have been meaning to ask for some money for a music fee in class. May I have eighteen dollars?”
What happened next was a scene that has been seared in my mind all of these 50 years. Dad reached in his back pocket to retrieve his wallet, and without a pause starting throwing money up in the air over the table, where some eventually landed in our hot cereal. He followed that up as he laughed, “Here! Take it all! Take everything I have!” And we did, quickly grasping what we needed as it floated from the air above us down the to breakfast table. While we did that, we were all laughing so hard at his antics because it was so out of character for him; and yet before it was over with, he had taken what seemed like a somewhat tense moment and made it into a lesson for all of us.
Now, I do not know if the other children caught the spiritual lesson, but I did. As the money was floating down from the air, I was reminded of heaven and how our Heavenly Father will always meet our needs. I was reminded that joyful moments can come out of somewhat tense situations. As we all had a good laugh and resumed eating our breakfast, I truly began to understand the rejoicing messages threaded throughout the word of God. In Psalms 9:2 the psalmist said,
“I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.”
The Psalmist, David, wrote this after witnessing God put an end to his enemies. I am sure in the midst of battle, rejoicing was not the first thing in David’s mind. Just like in the midst of daily struggles and unexpected emergencies, we do not stop right then and there and say, “Rejoice in the Lord always, everyone, everything is going to be alright!” But, on a more serious note, perhaps we should.
James 1:2-4 states,
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Nothing increases patience in us like a good ole fashioned crisis! And if we allow patience to have its way, our hearts do become joyful, for we know that the Spirit of God is enabling us to allow the Father to work His perfect ways in us. Afterward, we come to the realization that no matter how bleak the circumstance is, we will lack nothing.
So, if you are going through a difficult time right now, it is important to pause, take a breath and remember that God desires to work His perfect way in you. He is just waiting to show you that even in the hard times, you can rejoice because His word promises us in Nehemiah 8:10, “For the joy of the Lord is our strength!”
Selah!
Author, Jane E. Morin
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