Can we talk about happiness really quick?

Whether or not this post is "really quick" or not, I want to talk about being happy. I think it's terribly sad that I am nearly 20 years old, and it took about 19.75 of them to be truly happy. Happy was a temporary feeling until happy became my constant.

Can I tell you why I'm happy? It's definitely not because I get everything I want and everything goes my way. (Yes, for the most part, I'm a spoiled brat and get what I ask for at the mall)...but what makes me happiest, is being taken care of. Recently, certain occurings that could have been the depressment of the century, should they have gone "wrong", have been glorified wen I simply decided to admit that I do NOT know what I want. That brings me to the point that, for today at least, I don't believe in "wrong". Like...let's be honest, whether we get what we want or not, God's will is going to be done. And if God's will is the opposite of wrong, and God's will always is done...I don't see where "wrong" exists. The only time we get upset about things is when things go "wrong" according to us, but we only get upset about it because we just didn't ask God His thoughts were on the situation.

For the first time this summer, I closed my eyes and handed God one of my most cherished possessions. When I started giving the pieces of my life away to God that I wanted to hold on to more than anything in this world, He answered my prayers.  I stopped praying a LONG time ago that things would go the way I wanted them to. I not only prayed for God's will to be done in that area, but for the first time, I WANTED His plan to dominate mine. It's similar to when we were kids and mom was making dinner, and everything in us wanted to touch the hot stove because it looked cool. Well, duh! Mom was not about to let that happen, because SHE knew that if we got what we wanted and touched it, it would hurt us. In the same way, I'm cool, sophisticated, and 20 years old, sure, but I STILL want to touch the metaphorical stove all the time! I have to realize that there are stoves in disguise everywhere I turn and just pray that He would slap my hand away before I get hurt.

What's even cooler to realize is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with some of the things I think I want in this life. Some of the things I desire are great things. The cool part about that is that when God takes away GREAT things, that means that He has planned to fill that part of my life with something greater than what I was already happy with. When we are obedient in our walk and consistent with the faith, God is faithful by making hard things...happy :)

Goodness, I just get so fired up about it! You will not know true happiness until you rejoice in sufferings because you know that our God is a God of purpose and that He put trials there because He MEANT to!! Realizing that enables me to look back on the short journey of it all and see God's hand protecting me here, covering my eyes there, and ultimately picking me up and placing me EXACTLY where I needed to be when the end of the road came. Because in this life we need nothing more than Jesus, but it is His way of romancing us by filling our road with treats that He places right in front of us. Let's stop tripping on them!

Here's a picture of the bachelorette weekend...love you both :) I'm so excited for you, Sarah!

So...happiness, look it up, do whatever you want...but you don't need a dictionary for this one.

"Happiness" (noun)
pronunciation: happ-i-ness
definition: Jesus