If Only...

"...put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind..." Ephesians 4:22-23 I so well remember the time before Christ in my life, when I believed I would be happy "if only...." - always filling that in with those things I believed to be necessary before I could attain happiness. In his mercy, God brought me to the place where I eventually had all those things I believed would set me up in happiness. God brought them to pass - in order to teach me one of life's great lessons: When I finally had it all ...I was shocked to discover that I was now in the position of not having any unfulfilled desires, yet I was miserable. At that point I realized that no matter what, I couldn't be happy and I descended into despair. My sister had come to the Lord two years prior and she was interceding for me. Long story short - the Lord answered her prayers and granted me an encounter with Jesus Christ that totally transformed me. That was the beginning of an adventure through which I came to understand what happiness truly is. Interestingly - I lost all those things I had so yearned for and received, yet my life today is filled with happiness. ONLY God can fill that yearning in the human heart. Nothing else can fill it, because HE MADE US WITH THAT YEARNING which can ONLY be satisfied in him. What do you think would make you happy? Are you holding on to the idea that when such-and-such happens, then you will be happy? Is there an "if only" in your heart, promising happiness ...if only... ? If you truly want to find happiness, there is only one place where it can be found. Happiness is finding out what God's purpose is for your life, and then following it. He who made you has the perfect plan for your life, the only plan that will bring the true fulfillment and happiness that we all desire. Pray with me: Father, even as I achieve those things I thought would make me happy, I've found that they don't. Even at the best of times, I feel so empty. I humble myself before you and seek to know from you what your plan for my life is. Show me the gifts and talents you have placed within me, even the personality you have designed for me, and show me how to use them for your glory. Let me find my true happiness in walking in your will, using all you've placed within me in your service. I earnestly desire to hear from you at the end of my life on earth, "Well done, good and faithful servant...enter into the joy of your Lord." (Matthew 25:21) Therefore I seek to know from you what your plan for me is, and I pray for grace to embrace it and find in it the happiness that nothing else has been able to bring.