Happiness is not about what you have, it’s about who you are with. Happiness is about loving and being loved. It is relational. 

If you truly want to be happy and enjoy life, it starts with understanding just how much God loves you. Once you get a grasp of that love, happiness will bubble out of you. Uncontainable joy will be yours regardless of the circumstances. 

Life has a lot of pain. I’m not trivializing that in any way. However, a large component of our unhappiness is because we don’t understand how loved we are or that happiness is a possibility. Now, I’m not talking about happiness that is fleeting. I’m talking about real happiness. I’m talking about joy. 

To capture joy and hold onto it, you first have to wake up every morning and say, “Okay God, I’m trusting you today. I don’t know what’s coming but I know that you are for me and not against me.” You know what? That’s true. God is for you. We might not understand why suffering happens in our life or why God isn’t answering a certain prayer but that doesn’t negate His love for you. He’s got His eyes on the big picture when we can see only a small portion. Trusting Him is relinquishing control and finding the peace and freedom to enjoy life. 

Here are a few verses to help you capture that happiness. 

• “Who stood up for me against the wicked? Who took my side against evil workers? If God hadn’t been there for me, I never would have made it. The minute I said, ‘I’m slipping, I’m falling,’ your love, God, took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up.” —Psalm 94:16-19 (MSG)
• “A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.” —Proverbs 17:22 (MSG)
• “When a woman gives birth, she has a hard time, there’s no getting around it. But when the baby is born, there is joy in the birth. This new life in the world wipes out memory of the pain. The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you’ll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you. You’ll no longer be so full of questions.” —John 16:21-23 (MSG)
• “Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!” —Romans 15:13 (MSG)

If you are wondering what it means to authentically follow Jesus, join us on Unfiltered Radio as we investigate who He claimed to be and how He taught us to interact with one another.