What Kind of Joy

The room is cold and damp. I can hear tiny feet skittering across the floors.  Rats!  Why did it have to be rats?!
It seems like forever I have been in this prison of mine
Now I face a death sentence cast down upon me.  If only I could find an escape...
     There are two other men on the other side of the wall.  I can hear them talking and singing.  I lean over to the hole in the wall and listen.  I can hear two men talking with excitement and laughing talking about the last few weeks occurrence's.  I holler thru the wall a "hello" and they respond back with the same.   I ask them how they can be so joyful in this place.  They respond that they are here for crimes against the government, but the King that they serve knows they are here and has sent a Messenger to tell them He will take care of them.  They ask me why I am here, and I reply jokingly, "I shot the sheriff...but I did not shoot the deputy!"  I tell them I feel like I have been in this prison all my life.  Subject to the four walls of pain surrounding me everyday.
      They tell me with a joy in their voices that this is not their first time in a prison or being beaten but they are glad to suffer for their King.
What kind of joy is this, to count it a blessing to suffer?  When they should be crying, there is joy in their eyes.  What kind of joy gives these prisoners a song when they are staring death in the face?
They tell me it is the joy of a soul that is forgivin' and free...
My King has promised me this joy, it just seems sometimes I forget the tune and need to be reminded every now and then.  May my song be sung loud enough that others would ask me, "what kind of joy is this" you have?