“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
— Psalm 30:5 (ESV)
I sat with her words still echoing in my mind: “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel joy again.”
This woman wasn’t a client. She was my mentor. Only for this conversation, I was the ‘older woman’. My daughter had died 15 years before hers.
Still I didn’t have a quick answer.
In truth, I’ve asked the same thing. Through grief. Through chronic illness. Through deep, soul-level weariness, I’ve wondered if joy would ever return.
But today, something simple happened. I went to make tea.
My friend, Kelly, gave me a box of tea bags with Scriptures on the tags. And this one, wouldn’t you know, read: Joy in the Morning. I knew where that was found.
Psalm 30.
A psalm of David, written not in a carefree season but after crying out to God for help—after being pulled up from the pit, after mourning, after questioning.
David doesn’t deny the weeping. He acknowledges it. He feels it. And he prays, “Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my helper.” Then he makes a declaration many of us are still waiting to feel:
“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing.
You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”
Psalm 30: 11-12 (ESV)
What strikes me most is not a clean, polished testimony of joy—but a messy, honest journey through pain.
One that still ends in praise.
I’ve wrestled with guilt in the silence. I’ve wondered if God was disappointed in me. I’ve asked if maybe my physical illness or spiritual dry seasons were somehow evidence that I had failed. Maybe you’ve wondered that too. But Scripture reminds me: His anger is momentary, His favor is for a lifetime.
Girlfriend, if it’s been a long night—
If the tears keep falling,
If your body aches,
If you’re tired of trying to be “okay” for everyone else,
Let this truth gently hold you:
Joy still comes.
Maybe not in a burst of emotion.
Maybe not right now.
But in the morning.
In the slow dawning.
In the faithful presence of a God who hears, who heals, and who hasn’t left your side.
Let’s hold space for that together.
Join me at the GREEN HOPE GATHERING on the first Sunday of each month at 7:30 PM (Eastern) on Zoom. A conversation, not a class. A place to encourage one another, share honestly, and strengthen the JOY that will rise again.
💚 Please RSVP to receive the Zoom link.
With hope,
Kathy
Green Hope Coaching