HAPPY 'OL TIMES

Something to share..I wrote this article for our church publication last June, 2010. I hope that this would give you some encouragement. 

Ecclesiastes 7: 14 “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider:  God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.”

What is happiness to you?

Before, I’ve asked myself a lot of times with this question: what really makes people happy?!

When I was young, I am fond of watching cartoons, asking my parents to take me to carnivals or amusement parks, sometimes I would really cry out and beg them to take me to toy stores and buy me Barbies and Legos; well, as a kid that really makes me happy.

However, as times pass by and as I grow older, things are more different. When I was a teenager, I learned to have peers, vises, boyfriends, addictions; I was so very careless. If you assess my then- senselessness, from 1-10, where 10 is the maximum, I might have a scored 9!  So what?! I don’t care what other people may think of me….As long as I AM HAPPY!

I got married at the early age; at first I thought it was OK. My parents are there to support me so I don’t need to worry…but then worst things happened and it turned me upside down…Being in my sinful-old-natured  human body I  seek superficial happiness, leisure, a lot of times I grab more of what I don’t have - I never really feel contented of what was given to me. Life was so easy until I found out…I’ve been trapped by the enemy. I was enjoying with the world while the devil was walking with me hand by hand - more enjoying with me.

Knowing Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior and continually walking and serving  the Lord (though I am not saying that I am perfect); I’m still growing and letting Him teach me each day and as I journey with Him closely I can say that I’m learning. Being happy is not only if you’re having a lot or receiving a lot, I came to realize that we should also learn to be happier  when we encounter trials; especially if we have nothing - nothing with the world’s wealth,  but knowing we have God…He is more than enough.

Practically speaking it is really hard, knowing you don’t have anything in your pocket literally.  Then comes the bills for house rental, electricity, school fees, banks etc. and to add insult to the injury is to know  that one of your family members is in deep trouble and so sick, and your income is insufficient to pay, I for myself honestly, it feels like my mind would explode. But if we entrust all these things to God, and being still and patient and if we hold on to our faith in Him, You would know that He does supplies, that He will put springs in every deserts in our lives.

Sometimes we would thought that He is not answering our prayers, we would thought that He is far from us and that He is not listening to us; but think twice maybe there is something He wants to teach us or He wants us to learn. That is why it is very important that we always seek His will and not our own will - which will only lead us to failures. Let Him move and you will know that our God is sovereign.

There are so many things I want to thank Him in spite of our difficulties and trials, I with my family, can testify that our Lord really supplies our needs  and that He is really there - present every time I’m about to fall, carry me and let me and my family stand still. The more we learn to serve Him in the midst of difficult  times, the more we will be surprised as He really turns our mourning into great joy because knowing we are near to Him and focused we can feel that we are secured in His presence. There is no greater happiness in His presence.

Now, what is happiness to you?