New guy here, I'll share my testimony. Hopefully it won't be too long, I'll try to keep it pithy as much as I can, although I feel I could write an entire book on it.

I was on my 4th day of a 7 day jail sentence for 2 DUI's, and I was at the end of my rope. I hadn't slept for days, and I was near the point where I truly didn't know how I was going to make it three more days. I wanted peace more than anything, and I knew there was only one way I could find it.

That's when the Holy Spirit told me in no uncertain terms: “You are not a Christian”. It wasn't of particular surprise to me as I have had doubts all my life. Never did I have any peace or assurance of the matter, although I had checked all the right boxes (profession of faith, baptism, church membership). My dad was even a pastor, of which I took particular pride in.

Why would God want to hear anything I had to say? I had run from Him all my life. Look at where I was, how low I had sunk. I was truly at the bottom of the barrel. I had no faith He would hear me, let alone forgive me.

That's when I simply bared my soul and poured out my heart. I begged forgiveness of my multitude of sins. I told Him “my life is Yours now, I'm tired; I'm tired of trying to do it myself”. It was full submission, full surrender. Needless to say, Christ does exactly what He says He will do. He heard my prayer, and saved a wretch like me.

A peace and joy entered me that moment as the lifelong burden of sin was lifted. As a “new creation”, it seemed as if everything else was new as well. Same dirty cell, same circumstances. But different. Impossible to put in words. I can add more to this later if anyone is interested. God bless.

Even through trials, temptations, sickness, all the difficulty we go through...we can still have joy. Joy isn't temporary, like happiness is. Happiness is a temporary emotion based on circumstances. It can leave as quickly as it came. Joy is an emotion rooted in hope, irrespective of circumstances.