Does this word make you think of people jumping up and down like maniacs? People looking like they've had too much sugar or caffeine... or some other drug? Is that what the Bible means when it talks about joy?
Judge for yourself:
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 NASB)
Keep in mind that when James the apostle wrote this, Christians were under severe persecution. They were being disowned by their families, fired from their jobs, and even killed. It cost something to profess faith in Jesus. Jesus Himself said that if anyone wanted to follow Him, they should count the cost.
And yet James wrote that we should count it all as joy??
So obviously the joy that James is writing about is a different kind of Joy. It's a settled confidence and peace in knowing God, and knowing (by faith) that He has everything under control and is using it to perfect and complete His children.
As we persevere (keep on keeping on) we develop endurance, which makes our faith stronger until we are "perfect and complete"... in faith and in everything else. In the life to come, for all eternity.
I know that I'm far from "perfect and complete". Let a trial come my way, and there goes my peace. And in comes fear, anger, doubt, impatience. Maybe for something as small as my phone breaking!
Does this sound a little like you?
What if we had to go through some really bad stuff? How would we hold up? Would our faith get stronger or weaker?
I don't think God expects you to have a silly grin on your face after you get hit with bad stuff. But if you have the joy that James is writing about, you have a smile on the inside and in your heart. It will enable you to go through some really bad stuff. And if God chooses to let you come out of it, you'll look back on it and wonder how you ever made it without cracking up.
I know. I've been there. In truth, it wasn't my great strength that kept me. It was God's.