Life isn't always about being happy. It's a weird thing to say, but it's true.

Lots of stuff happens in life and quite a large percentage of that stuff is not going to be stuff that makes you happy. What I also know is that everyone, without exception, struggles, with all sorts of things. I struggle with things, the people I love struggle with things. We all struggle with something.

I am by no means an authority on modern counseling methods, but some of it seems to focus on reaching a place where you can be happy, setting up boundaries so that you are less affected by what's going on around you and limiting the affect others have on your emotional state. I read something in some counseling material that went something like 'Being good doesn't always make you happy' - does that mean playing dirty is acceptable as long as it makes you happy?... That doesn't sit very well with me, but then I guess it's not the whole picture, like I said I'm not an authority on counseling.

Talking about things help, you could sit in a room with any person who will listen and talk things out and it will have a positive effect...I think large percentage of the population go through life not talking about how they really feel and bottling up all kinds of things that really need to come out.

I don't think that 'happiness' can realistically be a primary goal when trying to work things out. I might be way off here, I've only just started thinking about this but the bible never promises that we will be happy.

I truly believe that the answer to every problem we have is Jesus. That might sounds simplistic but I believe it's true. I also think that a human being can't ever get to a place where they are 'sorted out' independently from God. Even with God that's a pretty tall order. We were all created individually by God, in His likeness, if you really believe that then even attempting to exist without Him is ludicrous.

The point of our life is not to be happy, it's to discover God and to get to know Him. God promises peace, he promises hope and assurance of a future with Him, he promises that He'll always be with us, that He'll never leave us or forsake us. He never promised happiness.

That sounds a bit odd and depressing, but it's actually better than anything else He could have promised. Things will always come along in life to hurt us, upset us, hinder us, make things difficult for us. That's a result of our sin and we just can't always be happy in those situations. We can however have His peace and we can have it constantly. We can know that no matter what we face He will be with us and that He will never let us down. We can know that regardless of what happens to us in this life we are promised an eternity with Him where there will be no tears, no sadness and no pain.

What's important is focus. The purpose of this life is to know Jesus. Paul suffered, he was stoned, imprisoned, he probably wasn't always happy but his joy was complete, his peace was in God. Whatever happened to him and where ever he found himself he was content.

I want to be happy, I love being happy and I want those I love to be happy..Hell, I want everyone to be happy! Sadly though I'm not always going to be happy..but I can have peace, even joy, and God with me in every situation.

We don't work right without God. Make sure you're not without Him.

Thoughts?