Isaiah indicated a way of solving one's problems. He said (12:3), "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Here the prophet suggests using joy as a bucket or means of providing ourselves with water from the wells of salvation. Grief, pessimism, depression, self-pity, can in no way help to attain salvation, for these may be likened to sieves that let the water of salvation run through, and we end up having nothing to show for our efforts. He who preserves his joy in the face of great problems will find that his very joy has helped to overcome them.
How can one be joyful when faced with problems? Mary Baker Eddy gives us the answer to this in her sermon "Christian Healing." She states (p. 10): "If you wish to be happy, argue with yourself on the side of happiness; take the side you wish to carry, and be careful not to talk on both sides, or to argue stronger for sorrow than for joy. You are the attorney for the case, and will win or lose according to your plea."
Joy is a quality of God, which man reflects, just as he reflects Life, reflects intelligence, health, and so on. As spiritual qualities are not dependent on matter or material situations, so joy does not come to us because of material situations; we have it because God gives it to us. Man is the expression of joyous Life, and in reality there is never a time when it is possible to be without joy. One could not possibly imagine God without joy, and consequently man is never without it, for he is God's image and likeness. Since these are the spiritual facts concerning joy, we can argue for our joy along these lines just as we would argue for our health, our life, our supply, should we seem to be lacking them.
