HAPPINESS IS….?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Handmade Happiness! We were at a Motorway Services this week and I read that phrase on the side of a van selling cakes, chocolate brownies and cheesecakes! As far as that company was concerned they were hand making a bit of happiness for their customers to enjoy everyday.😊

Now happiness for you might be to read a good book, or to go shopping, or to visit friends, and God says He gave us all things to enjoy. But we know happiness is elusive and one minute we can be up in the clouds, singing a jolly song and the next minute down in the dumps feeling as though the bottom dropped out!

So what do we do at those times? How do we learn to live life on an even keel instead of these highs or lows? Well in Philippians 4:11-13 the Apostle Paul talks about being content with whatever he had, because he learned he could do everything through Christ, knowing God was in the situations of life with him to strengthen and help him to rise above them with a grateful, thankful attitude.

Paul learned happiness isn’t hand made, it’s God made, as we tune in to His Holy Spirit.

Paul tells us to always be joyful, but because we are so involved with our emotions we think we can’t do it. The only way to rise above our emotions is to take our eyes off the difficulty that’s staring us in the face and remember that God is still on the throne, He loves us deeply and He has a turn around coming. It helps to speak faith building positive words, and words of victory, not defeat!

So we don’t have to look to ‘things’ to bring us happiness but to the Lord Jesus Himself to bring us His joy, His peace, His victory and His intimate companionship to see us through with a thankful heart as we keep praying in faith and trusting our good God. Amen.😊

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash