No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth (aka Happiness)

Ok. So I know, it's been awhile since my last post. To say the least, I've been extremely busy the past month. I feel like I've been running around with my head cut off! But... I'm back.

I wanted to touch on something I've been thinking about recently. The topic is based on the cliche saying: Happiness is a choice.
I'm beginning to realize that is the truth. I use to think happiness was something I had to look for, search endless years in tiny crevices until maybe I would be lucky enough to find it. I would often get discouraged when trials would come my way, when it seemed as if there were more battles to fight than there were times of peace. I figured happiness was just a scale and you had to settle for whatever amount you were given.
But lately my thinking has changed. Maybe, just maybe, happiness is not something hidden away that will take years to discover. What if happiness really is just a choice. Think about it for a second. If you wake up in the morning and the first thoughts in your head are frustration about the day ahead, the list of things to get done, then most likely you will carry that frustration through the day. If you wake up and get angry or discouraged about something right off the bat, the same thing will happen. So then it must be true for happiness as well. If you wake up and make a choice to start out the day smiling, then perhaps it will be easier to carry the smile with you throughout the day.
And then there is the God factor. If you wake up and the first thing you do is turn to God in prayer, your day will be grounded in God. I find it so much easier to get through the day when I turn my day over to God. I give Him everything that happens, every thought in my mind, the words I speak and the things I will do. When I let God into my day from the very beginning, its not so hard to make that choice for happiness. It's much easier to let the frustration and discouragement that I might face roll off my shoulders.
Something else came to me recently. I kept thinking about the battles that I fight and how sometimes it seems as if they are endless and I will never win. But then the thought came to me that my God has already won. I am already victorious in Him. The victory is obtained, the prize is won. In the end, I will be victorious. And its a lot easier to keep fighting with that knowledge. Its easier to keep pushing forward, fighting the good fight, falling down and getting back up again because I know I win in the end. That takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders. All I have to do is keep fighting, keep moving forward. My God has taken care of the rest.
My husband and I have been talking about heaven lately. One thing that came up in our conversation was that one of the reasons we have struggles and pain here on earth is because there is something more. If life were perfect here on earth, why would we want to go to heaven? I think that the struggles and obstacles to happiness here on earth can increase our longing to one day be with our God in heaven.
And so today I choose to be happy. And no, I'm not happy all the time. And life does get hard. But if I ground myself in God, plant my day in prayer from the very beginning, its a whole lot easier. So I challenge you all to choose happiness. Fake it at first, if you have to. But eventually if you fake it long enough, one day it won't be so fake anymore. And pray. Plant your day in God's love. He will never let you down.