Many people believe that achieving happiness is only possible when you succeed at something or become successful. Success has become a figment of our imaginations. So many people set New Years Resolutions only to later disappoint their-self.
Personally, I quit setting New Years Resolutions a few years ago. Why set myself up for failure? It wasn’t until I realized we can achieve happiness by choosing to be happy that I became successful in different areas of my life.
Are you chasing happiness? Are you desperately trying to become successful at something believing that is when you will be happy? If you are then I have news for you…. you are only setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.
We can achieve happiness by choosing to do so. Success comes in all shapes and forms. But it is up to you to choose how you define it.
Searching For Happiness In All The Wrong Places
Searching for happiness used be my soul purpose in life. I searched high and low. Psalm 37:4 says:
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Looking to God for happiness seems to be easier said than done. At least it was for me. Happiness was taboo in my earlier years. It was a figment of my imagination that I didn’t think I could ever achieve.
I felt so broken inside and I believed to my core that no matter what I did I would always fail. Nothing would ever go my way. And nothing ever did because I believed that to be true. Therefore it was.
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We get what we focus on. In my case that was everything I didn’t want.
When you feel broken inside you tend to look outwards for things to fix the brokenness with in you. For me those things consisted of many worldly things. Sex, drugs, and alcohol to name a few.
Choosing Happiness Through Jesus
I have heard many times over that you should remember the day you was saved. Or that if you are truly saved you would remember the exact date.
Does that mean your not a Christian if you don’t remember that exact date? Sure hope not because I couldn’t tell you the exact date I was saved.
The first time I accepted Jesus into my heart I was just a small child. From that day on I have asked Jesus into my heart thousands of more times! Why because I used to have this fear that if I sinned then He didn’t love me anymore.
When you don’t feel loved by God that is a feeling that is well hard to explain. It’s a feeling I never want to feel again.
However, when I realized that God does in deed love me (He loves you too whether you like it or not) I realized that I can choose happiness. I also realized that we have so much to be happy about and we can achieve happiness by choosing it.
Jesus can fill holes in your heart you didn’t think was fillable. He can do things in your life you didn’t think was possible. And most of all He can use you in ways you never would have imagined.
The Pursuit To Happiness
There was a time when I was so depressed all I wanted was to be happy. I went to the library checked a bunch of self development books and the movie Pursuit To Happiness with Will Smith.
I went home and devoured each book and watched the movie 17 times over the course of a week. It was like I had myself convinced if I just keep watching the movie maybe I will catch something I didn’t catch before. You know, the secret to happiness.
The same went for the books. One book after another I just kept reading and devouring. The problem was I wasn’t actually putting forth any effort of what I was learning.
Its like I was choosing to stay miserable which is exactly what I was doing. My mindset was if I can just succeed at this or that I will be happy. I was looking for the secret.
That is so not true! We can choose to be happy right now. We choose how we feel and act.
This was big for me because once I realized I can choose how I feel things began to change. Just by being happy and grateful for the things I have have brought more good things into my life.
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