Two authors this month remind us that we can still be joyful even as we are suffering or carrying a cross. God will always be with us here on this earth and has something—actually, someplace—greater in store for us. 

As we live our life here on this earth, we need to let our Christian joy show. Take, for example, Brian Urbanek, who wasn’t afraid to let his faith shine with his new girlfriend, now wife, Cristina Urbanek, who is featured in this month's Confessions of faith. Living out the joy of our faith is one of the themes in the book of James. In a new Bible study starting this month on that book, Richard Lauersdorf shows us how James offers a blueprint for living out our lives of faith.