Awaken Delight in God with courage and defiance | with Carol Kent | Episode 457

Carol Kent joins Stephanie again to explore the themes of delight, lament, and defiance as we walk with God during life’s hardest seasons. Drawing from personal tragedy and grief, Carol models a Christian posture of joy and hope rooted in God’s character and presence rather than in circumstances. Holding on to God’s presence in both sorrow and joy allows lament, defiant delight, and community to become pathways to deeper intimacy with Him—trusting always that “He is close to the brokenhearted.”

Listen here: https://www.podcastics.com/episode/416307/link/ 
Watch the conversation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice 

Ready to awaken your delight in God through "Awaken Delight" the book? Purchase it here: https://a.co/d/0625K1AZ 

Carol Kent begins by recounting profound personal loss: her son’s incarceration for life after a tragic shooting, her sister’s recent passing from cancer, and the death of a beloved mother-in-law. As Carol says, “If I were the author of my own life, I would not have written all of these chapters into it.” Deep sorrow, grief, and questions are inevitable in this life and unavoidable for the Christian as well. But delight in God can still exist, and even thrive, in the midst of this.

Psalm 37:4 promises, Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Carol clarifies that delight, unlike happiness, is not circumstantial or fleeting. Instead, it is the ongoing choice to “be at home” in God’s presence, trusting that He is still good even when life falls apart. The Hebrew root of “delight” includes ideas of softness and pliability “being shaped by something”. This allows the believer to rest in God’s love, even wordlessly, when strength or words run out.

Lament is communal as well as personal. She describes the beauty of grieving with her siblings—sharing scripture, encouragement, and family memories during her sister Paula's dying days. Lament is rarely a single event, but a process that comes in waves. Honest lament involves asking hard questions of God and laying out our pain before Him, just as the Psalmists do.

Stephanie, in her book and through this conversation, speaks of defiant delight: a courageous, deliberate act of standing in God’s love and goodness even while fully acknowledging pain. It does not deny reality but declares that God’s love, His delight in us, and His purposes are the final word.

Practices for Cultivating Delight

1. Daily Immersion in God’s Word: Carol emphasizes reading Scripture before anything else. Breathing in God’s truth enables us to breathe out hope to others.
2. Community in Grief and Joy: Reaching out to others, sharing both joys and sorrows, strengthens communal faith.
3. Hands-on Ministry: Serving others, especially “the least of these”—as when Carol brings hope to women inmates—multiplies joy, even in places of loss or pain.
4. Prayer and Intercession: Praying for and with others, and inviting others to partner in God’s work, turns both lament and delight into a shared experience.

Delight and lament are communal, just as worship in heaven will be—our delight in God amplified through the delight of others. We experience this now, in part, as we partner together in prayer, service, and celebration, looking forward to perfect joy in God’s presence.

Application:

• Delighting in God is a daily, sometimes moment-by-moment discipline.
• It means allowing God’s presence—not our circumstances—to define our identity and our peace.
• Defiant delight is chosen daily, sometimes breath by breath.
• It is strengthened by God’s Word, community, and serving others.

DISCOVER “AWAKEN DELIGHT” BY STEPHANIE ROUSSELLE

What you will (re)discover as you journey with God through Awaken Delight:

• Delight in God is identity-shaping, not emotion-driven. Delight in God is not fleeting emotion but resilient identity.
• Delight in God is altogether trust, satisfaction in God, relational intimacy with Him.
• Delight in God is often expressed and grown through resilient joy under suffering.
• Delight in God is the missing engine behind resilience. It’s the antidote to burnout. It’s even the foundation for sustainable ministry.
• God’s delight in you is secure, not performance-dependent. God’s delight in you frees you from striving! That’s the beginning of delight.
• Jesus is the center of every endeavor to delight in God.
• You can build a delight-centered spiritual life.

Awaken Delight invites you to follow Scriptural truths and spiritual practices that cultivate daily joy in God.

Purchase here: https://a.co/d/04Nyzr93

Discover more about the book at https://www.gospelspice.com/awakendelight

MORE ABOUT “HE HOLDS MY HAND” BY CAROL KENT

He Holds My Hand is a page-per-day 365-day devotional. Based on Scripture, this devotional is written as if God the Father is speaking His words of comfort and protection directly over you, based on the Scripture for the day.
When Carol Kent’s son was sentenced to life in prison without parole, Carol was consumed with grief, sadness, and despair. She was distraught wondering why God permitted this to happen. She had prayed for her son since he was a small child. He had been raised with biblical principles and daily prayer. As Carol tried to make sense of everything, she couldn’t help asking, Where’s God when it hurts so much?
In the middle of her sorrow, Carol turned to the place where she had always gone for comfort―the Bible. She was desperate to hear God’s voice. She soon discovered that the best way for her to “listen” to His voice was to meditate on Scripture and then write out what she believed He was saying. She wrote it as if it was His prayer over her life, and it comforted her. It was as if He took her by the hand, as a father would guide a child, and He gently led her in the direction of unconditional love, renewed hope, and fresh faith.
Know without a doubt that God is with you and stands ready to protect and guide you. He holds your hand, and He won’t let go. Listen to God’s voice and put your hand in His. He is your Comforter, your Healer, your Teacher, and your Joy. Remember He holds your hand, and He won’t let go.

More at https://carolkent.org/books-by-carol-kent/