86. Happy

I loaded up our side-by-side ATV Saturday evening with our 3 outside dogs. The weather was beautiful, the sun was setting… I took a moment to breathe it all in. I was heading over to my mom’s house to swim laps. Jeremy and I spent the day doing some deep cleaning around the house, and the kids worked on finishing up their college classes for the semester; Alayna finished her freshman year, and Harrison finished his senior year.

As I was driving to my mom’s house, I had this thought… I’m happy. I was experiencing sheer happiness at that moment, and I stopped to recognize the feeling.

We all loaded up to go to church Sunday morning. We got there early to go over the music. Between rehearsal and service time, we visited with our friends and family. I got to spend time holding my great-niece and visiting with my niece and her husband. I saw my parents walk in, greeted them, and hugged them. I saw my in-laws and visited with them for a little while. We spent some time visiting with the pastor before the service started. When service time came around, we led worship and listened to the teaching. When service was over, we visited with friends and family. We stayed around, and as per our usual, we were some of the last people to leave.

We headed to our favorite restaurant for lunch with our parents when we left the church. Our niece, her husband, and their precious baby came too. We sat around the table and visited some more.

As we drove home, Jeremy said, “I like going to church.” I had been thinking the very same thing. I never thought I could feel that way again, yet here we are. God has redeemed so many things.

We have been so blessed to reunite with family and friends. What began as a crushing blow of leaving Tree Town Baptist ended up being the best thing that could have happened.

It was almost like God knew what He was doing…

It wasn’t fun… but it was necessary.

Those low times make you appreciate the good ones.

This entire weekend was filled with happy moments.

Sometimes I find myself thinking back to the way I felt when I was growing up…

Is being happy ok for a Christian? Joy is really all that Christians are supposed to feel, isn’t it?

Happy is for worldly people… Joy is for Christians…

That’s what we were taught.

I read a book a couple of years ago, “The Sacrament of Happy” by Lisa Harper. She took on the subject of Christians and happiness. I need to go back and reread it, but she made an excellent case for why God does want us to be happy, that He created us to be happy, and He rejoices in our happiness.

Where I’ve always known the deep abiding joy that a life in Christ brings, I’ve had many times when unhappiness prevailed and blurred my vision…

Times when the world seemed like it was against me…

Times when all that I knew and loved was crumbling around me.

Times when the church, as an institution, was the absolute hardest part of my life.

Times when family issues were challenging, farming was hard, church was hard, my job was hard, friends were complicated, and relationships were complex.

I’ve felt the pain of loss, change, and uncertainty… and I know without a doubt I will feel that again.

But right now, right now I’m happy. So I’m going to embrace the feeling. I’m going to enjoy it.

I know this happiness is something only God could make possible and I’m so very thankful.

Until Next Time,

Whitney