The Fight for Joy is a Fight for Faith

“God’s providence, which is nothing else but the carrying on of his decree, should be a counterpoise against discontent; God hath set us in our station, and he hath done it in wisdom. We fancy such a condition of life is good for us; whereas if we were our own carvers, we should often cut the worst piece.”
Thomas Watson

Joy is an elusive thing. And it is even more difficult to maintain. When the Israelites were working to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem and were discouraged by the opposition they were facing, the godly Nehemiah proclaimed to them, "The joy of the Lord is our strength." Why did Nehemiah tell his fellow countrymen this? Why is it that the joy of the Lord is our strength? I believe it is because joy is a spiritual force that is powerful. It is a frame of mind and heart and spirit that is beyond description but which clearly enables Christians to experience victory in their Christian walk. It is why Paul said, "godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Tim 6:6).

Thomas Watson, the Puritan, who wrote the book, "Divine Contentment," outlined how there is no more important spiritual reality for Christians than joy. And Watson indicated that it is a condition of the heart that cannot be touched by outward influences, saying, "When there is a tempest without, there may be music within; a bee may sting through the skin, but it cannot sting to the heart; outward afflictions cannot sting to a Christian’s heart, where contentment lies."

I have to confess to you, I struggle for joy. I'm affected by circumstances much more than I'd like to admit. And when things don't go my way, I am tempted to try to find my joy, my happiness, my comfort in something other than God and in my faith. I’m finding that I really don’t realize how much I have been in love with comfort and convenience. It is so embedded in the materialistic culture that we live in in America that I did not see how much of an idol it was until these things were removed...and I began to experience some discomfort.

But I’m also realizing that when absent, my lack of joy simply indicates I am not trusting the providence of God. It is He that predetermined that we would have a year, studying Italian 6-7 hours a day, trying to adjust to the culture and learning how to develop relationships with Italians to know how to witness and give them the Gospel. He also providentially put us in a place where it takes 2-3 hours to wash one load of laundry and no dryers to dry it, 2 weeks to replace a broken fridge, 3 weeks to fix an alternator, a month to make a simple copy of a car key, rainy, drizzly, cold days that seem to last forever and stores that are not open for 4-5 hours in the middle of the day. Recently, we’ve been having problems with computers crashing. Talk about frustrating…it is our connection with the outside world as we live here away from all those we love. But when I begin to murmur and complain, I reveal that I am not trusting the providence of God in relation to my circumstances.


Watson says that murmuring is no better than mutiny in the heart; it is a rising up against God. He writes, “When the sea is rough and unquiet, it casts forth nothing but foam: when the heart is discontented, it casts forth the foam of anger, impatience, and sometimes little better than blasphemy. Murmuring is nothing else but the scum which boils off from a discontented heart.”

Do you ever struggle to be joyful? Sometimes, as Christians, we separate in our minds, the meaning of happiness and joyfulness saying, "Well, I'm joyful…I’m just not happy." I wonder if this is even possible. Is it really possible to be joyful and not be happy? Or is it really possible to be truly happy without being joyful. That’s not to say that there are not times to grieve or to be sorrowful. I just wonder if joy is possible during this time. In James 4:9, James seems to contrast laughter against mourning and joy against gloom.

I think that the separation we make between joy and happiness could create a theological hole in the biblical dam that holds up our Christian joy. Can you imagine a Christian telling a pagan, "Well, I'm not happy right now but I am joyful!" What does that mean? What it may mean is, "Though I'm choosing not to trust in all that God has promised me, I am joyful" or "I'm not focusing on the truth of all that Christ did for me on the cross so that I will not have to spend eternity in hell, I do know these things and know I'm to be thankful; I'm just choosing not to do that now! But really, I am joyful!"

We were talking about it recently and we decided that, other than love, joy really is the thing that sets Christians apart in the minds of unbelievers. And joy really is the fruit of our love for God and for others. It says, “I care more about God and you than I do my circumstances.” It says, “Regardless of my station in life, I choose to love you more than I love myself and my comfort, etc.”

Recently, a good friend of ours who is an Italian, broke her shoulder skiing. She is a sweet lady and her and her husband have really become sweet friends of ours. No doubt she has seen many come visit her during her long stay in the hospital (Italian hospitals are quite different than American hospitals…dirty, old and crowded…not a place you want to be for any length of time). But Jeannette and I hope that out of all the people that have visited her, she sees something different in us…a joy that is our strength and a peace that surpasses understanding.

With the conditions of life here, there are many opportunities for Italians to be discouraged. And sometimes Jeannette and I just want to pack up our bags and come home to all the comforts of American life…not to mention our friends, family and loved ones. But as we have been experiencing these difficulties and challenges, we have also begun to get a picture of the challenge that it is for Italians to believe the gospel.

Why should they believe when there is so little hope in their lives…so little to get enthusiastic about and so much to get depressed about. Why should they think that they could find hope in the gospel? Last night, a neighbor friend of ours we’ve been sharing with, attended the church associated with our ministry. Her eyes and attention were fixated on the preacher and she watched everything everyone did and said. You could tell she saw and was greatly intrigued by something in us Christians that was clearly different. I believe it is our joy.

Do unbelievers around you see a joy in you? Do you exude a love and excitement that can’t be described by anything else except that you know and walk with Christ and have experienced His salvation? Is it hard for you to choose to be mostly unaffected by your many unfortunate circumstances in light of the goodness of God toward you? As you trust in the providence of God such that you KNOW that everything you are going through has come from His hand, you will have a joy that is your strength and a peace that surpasses understanding. And the result will be unbelievers around all of us asking about the hope that is within us and experiencing His love...there is no greater love than that a man should give His life for another...and then, for His enemies. The joy that flows from this is great indeed!

A Walti Christmas Greeting to You

A Christmas Greeting in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

You are greatly loved and appreciated. We invite you to enjoy a little gift from us...

A photo Christmas card from the Walti Family (don't forget to click on the pictures if you want to see them bigger...and...there's a video hidden in the card as well!)

Love you and thank you for your love toward us, The Walti Family

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thanksgiving for Italians...an opportunity for God's grace to be experienced

(In order: ESL Thanksgiving meal... Lee & Italian friend, Lele and 2 ESL students...we had 112 in attendance for their very first American Thanksgiving...most also heard the gospel for the very first time with SBI student testimonies and our director who clearly presented the true gospel of grace!)



(ESL students and some church members attending Thanksgiving meal)



(ESL students attending and the SBI students ready to serve the Thanksgiving meal)



(Ladies on staff who prepared the Thanksgiving meal & one of the SBI professors who is from Moody slicing one of 5 turkeys for the 112 in attendance)



(Ready to eat and digging into the Thanksgiving meal...mmmm good)




(Our own thanksgiving meal two days later with 25 in attendance including neighbors, parents of the kids schoolmates, etc.; we had a time of sharing the original story of Thanksgiving, spending time in prayer, going around the table sharing what we were thankful for and later, singing hymns and Christmas songs. For Americans, this is all very normal and traditional; for our most of our Italian friends, it is the first time they have ever done this.)



(Boys go in the kitchen...Girls in with the adults :-) ... this is Hannah with friend, Carmen)



(Okay, the boys are cute when they stop bouncing off the walls; Singing American Christmas songs...a big hit at the Thanksgiving meal)



(Lee teaching chapel for the SBI students Sunday morning; later eating "pranza" or lunch together at the center in San Lorenzo, about 40 minutes away from our home in Udine).



(Walking around after Udine evening church service in the Piazza with all the lights; Hannah with friend Olivia ice-skating for less than 4 dollars outside!)



(Abby & Abby, daughter of other missionary family in Udine; Elijah having fun ice skating...a little too fast like much of how he goes at life!)



(Abby gets play time on a horse...so easy to be pleased when you're young; Nativity scenes are very common and popular in Italy...this one is done by lights only)



We are thankful that God has been so kind to us to give us special friends and supporters of our ministry like you. We wish you God's best in this season of thankfulness for His goodness.

Never choose the scene of your martyrdom

Oswald Chambers calls it the "supreme climb." Not sure about you, but I like to choose the time, place, reason and other details of my "sacrificial" offering. But Chambers says, "The sacrifice must be gone through in will before it is performed actually." Maybe that's why I sometimes struggle with sacrificing. I've not submitted my will first.

Sacrifice is not an easy thing. And I like to avoid it. It messes with my sympathies (for myself) and my love of comfort and ease. I have to confess I never realized how wimpy I really am until I moved to Italy. Everything in the states (and unfortunately, more than I like to admit, still often true here) regarding sacrificial living usually first went through the matrix of my comfort, ease, abilities, what others might think, etc. Chambers says, "When God spoke, Abraham did not confer with flesh and blood. Beware when you want to confer with flesh and blood, i.e., your own sympathies, your own insight, anything that is not based on your personal relationship with God. These are the things that compete with and hinder obedience to God."

When I do this filtering process of my own sympathies, I'm often competing with and hindering my obedience to God. I don't like that I can't get much done in the U.S. with stuff (bills, etc). I don't like the time difference. I don't like that more people don't keep in touch. I don't like that stores here are closed from 1-4pm. I don't like hanging out and taking down laundry because of no dryer. I don't like if have either the dishwasher or the oven on and the washer on at the same time, the electricity shuts off. I don't like that the heat here hardly works and then its like water in some pipes in the corner of the room and you can hardly feel it. I don't like having to get up so early to get all the kids to school by 8am and pick them up by 1pm. I don't like school on Saturdays. I don't like that some teachers are mean and sometimes yell at the kids and tell them to shut-up. Or that there's a bully that keeps picking on Hannah. Or that she has to take 14 courses! Or that we are busier here than we ever were in Orlando. Or that Bethany is not with us and 45 minutes away. Or that we only have one car and it doesn't fit our family. Or that our refrigerator broke down. Or that we regularly don't understand what is being said in the Italian church service or by most everyone else! I miss a regular job. I miss my friends. I miss my family. I miss our wonderful church. And on and on and on. Okay, so you get the idea. I sometimes don't like the terms of my sacrifice. I want to renegotiate. Send new terms God!

Bottom Line: Abraham did not choose the sacrifice. God did. We have to guard against self-chosen service for God or else, Chambers says, our self-sacrifice may be a disease. Chambers again says, "If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential order of God for you is a hard time or difficulty, go through with it, but never choose the scene of your martyrdom."

What? I do this all the time! I want to drink the sweet cup but pass the bitter cup on! Why should I drink? It doesn't fit my fancy! Don't give me bitter!!! I WANT SWEET, I SAID! Where's the sweet cup? Who has it? Pass it here. That's the bitter one. Give it to someone else! And when God does make me to drink the bitter one, I get mad. He could change it. He could make it better. Doesn't He still love me? Has He forgotten me down here? Doesn't He know this is hard? Come on God, the bitter one is just no fun at all.

Chambers states, "God chose the crucible for Abraham [sacrificing his son, Isaac] and Abraham made no demur; he went steadily through. If you are not living in touch with Him, it is easy to pass a crude verdict on God. You must go through the crucible before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because in the crucible you learn to know God better. God is working for His highest ends until His purpose and man's purpose become one."

That's really where the rubber hits the road for me. Do I really want God's purpose? Often not. Do I really want Him to conform me into the image of His Son? Well, yes, when it's comfortable and convenient and not too hard. If its the sweet cup, I'm in. Bitter cup...Pass.

I pray God will help me by His grace to accept the bitter cup of my little issues and problems more willingly (Christ was our ultimate example as He went to His own death . . . "Not my will but yours be done"). What are we here on planet earth for anyway? The gospel! So that those who are dying and heading for hell can hear the good news that can change their hearts and bring them hope and life everlasting. It's too easy for me to forget. It's way too easy to think I'm here for me. And my problems are so infinitesimally small compared to what Christ went through for me. Yet my sympathies keep rearing their ugly head ("He's God though...He could change this" and "Why take the tough road when there's an easy one available!").

Every time Christian in Pilgrim's Progress took the easy way, he found out that not only was it not so easy (even more dangerous, full of even more temptation, old unhelpful friends trying to dissuade him, new enemies trying to hurt him, etc) but most importantly, it brought him away from God, away from God's care, away from the removal of the burden of sin and away from the heavenly city. As we choose the path toward the heavenly city and we see the path that God chooses for us, I pray that we can first submit our wills to Him, especially when we find out that the path He has chosen for us includes a bitter cup (this has come from His hands). God wants me to die. But I have to remember that true life is on the other side.



Christian, on his journey to the heavenly city.


Various pictures...



Jacob & Hannah have been developing their relationship while Bethany and Hannah are trying to renew theirs with Bethany being 45 minutes away at the bible institute.



Elijah @ an Italian b-day party and Abby outside our kitchen window in Udine.



Lee visiting with an 80 year-old Venetian man in Udine and our sweet new Italian friends, Laura and Lele with their children.



Abbie Wells, Abby Walti, Jasmine (from SBI school) and Hannah watching a chalk talk being done by Bethany and Jeannette sharing with a lonely lady who she has befriended in the piazza.



Lee & Leo, a new Christian who are developing a neat relationship and the Walti and Wells families together, the two missionary families in Udine (missing, Adam Wells at college in U.S., Pete Wells at SBI, Hannah Wells probably studying for Russian language program and Bethany Walti at SBI).



In Italy, Jesus is still on the cross.