Finding Happiness

by Faith Miller

When was the last time you felt that you had everything you needed to be whole, happy, and joyful? For many people, if they are honest with themselves, the answer is one that they do not know. In modern-day Christianity, we have made up an idea in our heads that says we are only truly happy if things are going well in our lives. Many of us do not know how to rely on God for our happiness. Now, I know—easier said than done. But I want to ask you another question: When was the last time you had complete confidence in God’s unconditional love for you as His son or daughter? When was the last time you were able to anchor yourself in the truth that regardless of what you do, how well you perform, or how many times you read your Bible in a week, God’s opinion of you never changes? Even better, you never lose your title as His son or daughter. Think about it. No matter what you do, the fact that you are your parent’s child never changes. Why do we have such a hard time believing this with God?

I once had a friend named Jane. Jane loved God, served at her church, and worked very hard. But Jane had struggled with insecurity for most of her life and no matter how much she reminded herself that God loved her, she still found herself lacking in some way emotionally. She was constantly seeking affirmation that still would not fulfill her needs. Jane had a pure heart and was a good person, but because of her insecurity in her identity, she realized one day that she had not been content and joyful in a long time.

Jane spent most of her time wondering what people were thinking of her and whether they would accept her or not. She didn’t like thinking like this and she knew it was silly, but she found that she cared much more about what people thought of her than she ought to. These types of thoughts were exhausting and consumed much of her energy until one day, she heard someone at church preaching about this exact issue! It was as if the person speaking was reading her journal out loud. This was the first time that Jane had heard this subject spoken of when the answer she heard was not to “stop caring so much about what people think.” The minister revealed that the core issue was insecurity and how you think God sees you.

She realized that the root of the problem was not that she lacked affirmation, but that she had not known of the multitude of affirmations she already had from the only person that she needs it from. Jane thought that because of

the mistakes she would make daily, she did not do enough to deserve God’s love and joy. She learned that God did not expect her to be perfect. Jane learned that she is a daughter of God and that means that she has everything she needs to be happy in her life because God is so pleased with her.

I think that many of us have been in the same place as Jane before. Something that we can learn from this story is that God gives us everything we need to have joy, peace, and satisfaction. God is pleased with His kids and that satisfaction has nothing to do with actions. It is who God created us to be. He made us because He loved us, even before we were born. When you let that be the motivation behind your life, your perspective will change.