i am happy

I have been thinking for several years about this phrase "I am happy."  Mostly because people have been asking me, "Are you happy?"  Or just saying to me, "I just want you to be happy."  I usually hear this in connection with a conversation about my marriage - which has seen its ups and downs.  And I have come to discover a truth - I'm not even sure how I came to understand it, but it is this - happiness is a feeling.  When someone says "are you happy?", I want to say, "now? five minutes ago?  this morning?  because I was sad at one point today, and angry and happy . . .."  God never promised us happiness.  God promised joy and peace, but not happiness.  The general cultural sentiment, however, is that we "deserve" to be "happy." 

I have come to understand, however, that when those closest to me ask, they really mean, "are you joyful, are you fulfulfilled, are you at peace?"  Well, here's my answer, I am on a journey, but if what you mean by happy, is am I all of those things, then yes, I am happy.

I love, love, love, this description of where we can find that kind of happiness and how we as women really struggle with the temptation to find it other places - http://www.incourage.me/2011/03/who-calls-you-happy.html.