You Say Strength is found in weakness...

This line, from my favorite Starfield song...has re-playing in my head again and again over the past month. I've been really pondering strength and weakness.
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Have you ever noticed that others expect you to be the strongest when you want to be the weakest? And then turn around to view you as weak when you want them to notice how strong you are? But strength is not in the eye of the beholder as beauty may be. Strength and resolve come from something inside. Our words and actions may be a good indicator to others of how strong we are at the time or while in certain circumstances, but they don't show the seed of capability that is within the constitution of every human God created. A seed that is only cultivated in our weakest days.

I am weak. Yesterday might have been the darkest day I have experienced in about two months. I cried out to the Father for strength and still didn't get a good foothold. I needed a breath and the air didn't come. It has always been the pattern in my walk with the Lord that the greatest defeats come before the greatest Joy and yet, I'm still surprised when it happens. We flippantly sing, many a Sunday morn, "The Joy of the Lord is My Strength." Stop and examine what you're singing. How wonderfully true these words ring out. For me that Joy is revealed most through trials...through moments of weakness. I count it all Joy to be weak for I know that Joy comes in the morning and my strength will come when I wait for it. He promised that to us, so count on it. God moved through this house last night and brought with Him the Joy and strength I needed after a day of disparity. Once again, I was as surprise as could be...Why? He promised me. Why am I always surprised? I imagine the Father watching me as my mother used to watch me when I was opening a Christmas present she promised me I wasn't getting.

I'm getting ready to do a study on Joy...If any of you have some favorite verses or literature on this, I would love to hear from you.
smooch