My name demands, or at least suggests, that I am a happy person.
For that mater, I've tried to be happy in every way I could for many years. The first 9 years were easy to be happy. It was natural, easy. Nothing running up a hill full of trees, birds, friends and family couldn't heal. Plus, nothing could affect me too deeply back then...
I don't know when exactly that changed, nor why.
The following 9 years were with some heavy ups and downs, but nothing compared to the roller-coaster of emotions I suffered from the very next year.
It took me a missionary expedition to the Amazon to find out something simple, and life-changing:
True Joy can only be found by doing God's will.
It still took me some years to truly grasp what I learned, and to this day sometimes I need to revisit that memory and remember that simplicity of it.
For some reason, years after that occasion I found myself trying hard to be happy on my own. I'd already learned it. It's impossible to be happy by doing things my own way - but I still insist! All I do is waste time, accomplish some things in detriment of others, and live in constant angst for knowing I should be doing something different even if in most occasions I don't even know what that is! That can tie a serious knot around your head. Trust me - You don't wanna go there!
The solution: Take a minute to spend time with God and ask Him what you are doing wrong. Honor your commitments. Apply the biblical principles your aware of, and find more to live by. They are hard to follow, but they definitely make LIFE easier.
