H-A-P-P-Y?

A few years ago, I was working in my little garden, and the Lord really started dealing with me about something.  I was thinking about how, at the time, my brother-in-law was considering interviewing at a church in California.  When my sister told me about it, I didn't like it, because if he got the job, then of course they would be moving all the way to the West Coast.  So opened my heart to a lesson from God that has deeply affected my heart and is still being taught to me today.

When I'm thinking, I like to have little conversations with God.  On that day, I started thinking about our happiness on earth and wondered if it really mattered.  I didn't want my sister to move to California--I wanted her to move closer to me!  But what was more important?  My happiness, or whether or not they followed God's call on their lives?  I think that's a no-brainer.  

It's not that God doesn't want us to be happy.  Psalm 37:4 says, Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.  That sounds happy, doesn't it?  It is!  But is doesn't mean that he grants the carnal desires of our hearts.  When we truly delight in the Lord, that means that we find joy in obeying Him, knowing Him and living according to His Word.  When we do that, our view of "happiness" changes.  The desires of our hearts become, in a sense, His desires, and we are able to experience true peace.

So, as I thought about this, I realized that our happiness on this earth isn't nearly as important as following God's leading (and encouraging our loved ones to do the same), for God's peace is way more satisfying than "happiness".

They didn't move to the West Coast, but they also don't live very close to me.  But that's okay, because there is work to be done on this earth.  There will be a day when we will all be together, all the time, with our Father.  This world is merely temporary--our mindset should be on eternal things, because that's when it really counts!