moving beyond unhappiness

the second section in the book entitled, "Lord, I Just Want to Be Happy" is on moving beyond our unhappiness. this book is written by Leslie Vernick. she has an education background in biblical counseling and cognitive therapy. i like how she uses her various points of view in her writing.

- Much of our unhappiness results from wrong thinking and wrong habits, not always situational factors.

- Living in God's light opens our eyes to the pitfalls and dangers and teaches us to recognize true beauty as well as what really matters. In the dark, we are much more vulnerable to being deceived and making foolish choices because in the dark, we aren't aware that the edge is so close.

- We too must come to see and accept that we are not the center of truth or life, or even the main character of our story. God is, and he doesn't revolve around us. We are here to glorify, love, and please him. When we live with that reality in the forefront of our minds, everything looks differently to us.

- At one time or another we have all bought into Satan's lie that more (food, love, expensive purses or cars, status, power, sex, money-something other than God) will give us greater love, peace, pleasure, meaningfulness, and happiness. But it wasn't true for Adam and Eve, and it is not true today.

- Many times we don't seek God's love or forgiveness because we do not recognize or admit our desperate need for it.

- To receive what God offers us, we have to own our helplessness and be willing to receive.

- We cannot be filled up with God when we are still full of ourselves.

- God has hardwired our bodies as well as our spirits to feel joy-filled and wonderfully alive when we live in tune with our Creator and his values and purposes. When we refuse, we not only stay spiritually weak, we cause harm to ourselves.

- When we demand or expect that another person meet all of our needs (and wants), or fulfill us and make us happy, we have put them in God's place, and we will always be disappointed.

- What keeps us moving forward toward our goal is our determination to get there, one step at a time, persevering through obstacles and failure. Obstacles often appear as trials that God allows in order to strengthen our perseverance. In the same way, how do we develop patience if we're never put in frustrating situations? How can we build more self-control if we are never tempted? How do we trust God more if we never battle doubt?

- Positive thinking and willpower alone is never strong enough to be transformed into a beautiful person. For a complete makeover, Paul says, we must train ourselves to be godly so that inner beauty becomes more natural to us than ugliness (I Timothy 4:7).

- The opposite of disciplining ourselves isn't freedom, it is bondage. When we're undisciplined and out of control, we are slaves to our passions, our appetites, our ruling desires, and our emotions.

"He who ignores discipline despises himself." Proverbs 15:32

- Freedom from slavery to our cravings, feelings, wants, and yes, even needs as well as the freedom to become who we were created to be. We can have incredible peace and joy available to us when we are no longer tossed about by our unruly flesh, our negative emotions, other people, or even difficult circumstances.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote about our slide into self-centeredness and self-absorption:

"Needs are looked upon today as if they were holy, as if they contained the quintessence of eternity. Needs are our gods, and we toil and spare no effort to gratify them. Suppression of desire is considered a sacrilege that must inevitably avenge itself in the form of some mental disorder...We feel jailed in the confinement of personal needs. The more we indulge in satisfactions, the deeper is our feeling of oppressiveness. We must be able to say no to ourselves in the name of a higher yes."

wow. those words are convicting to me.

in finishing this section on moving beyond unhappiness, the author makes this statement:

"Happiness is being fully alive, awake, and attentive to the awe and beauty of God."

are you fully alive, awake and attentive? do you see the beauty of God all around you and in every aspect of life even in the challenges?

let's live as God intended us to live today and see God for all He is. keep your eyes open and your ears alert...you never know what God will use to reveal Himself to you.

selah