When
You Don’t Wake Up Feeling Happy
Joni Eareckson Tada’s Advice
for When You Don’t Wake Up Feeling Happy
By
As I’ve written and talked about happiness,
I’ve heard from lots of people wondering how we can experience true, heartfelt,
and Christ-honoring happiness in a broken world where life can be difficult.
They often ask
something like, “What should I do when I
just don’t feel happy?”
It’s true that we can’t make
ourselves happy in God any more than a seed can make itself grow. But we’re not
just seeds.
We’re greenhouse farmers who can make
sure the seed is planted, watered, and fertilized.
Paul said to the
church in Corinth, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).
While God makes the crop grow, the
people who raise the largest and best produce, winning ribbons at the county
fair, do their part too.
We should never
flippantly say, “Happiness is a choice.”
It’s not always easy to choose what
brings ultimate lasting happiness over what brings instant temporary happiness.
Choosing happiness is not merely
working harder to pull up our minds and moods, as we would our bootstraps.
Rather, it’s gratefully receiving God’s grace and happiness.
Still, there’s a lot to be said for “Just do it.”
Harvard
psychologist Jerome Bruner says, “You
more likely act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action.”
Too many of us wait for sufficient
motivation before making wise and joy-producing choices. But whether it’s
exercise, eating right, or volunteering to serve others, when we take those
first steps, we overcome inertia and establish new habits.
Once we see the positive happiness
that results, we’re much more motivated to keep up those new patterns.
In an interview with World Magazine, one of my heroes of the
faith, Joni Eareckson Tada, shares
this advice for what we can do on days when we don’t wake up feeling happy:
Does
depression still ensnare you at times? Are you happy?
“I make myself be happy. I make
myself sing because I have to. The alternative is too frightening.
“My girlfriends will tell you, in the
morning when I wake up, I know they’ll be coming into my bedroom to give me a
bed bath, do my toileting routines, pull up my pants, put me in the wheelchair,
feed me breakfast, and push me out the front door.
“I lie there thinking (gagging
noise), ‘Oh God, I cannot face this. I’m so tired of this routine. My hip is
killing me. I’m so weary. I don’t know how I’m going to make it to lunchtime. I
have no energy for this day.
“God, I can’t do quadriplegia. But I
can do all things through You as You strengthen me.
“So God, I have no smile for these
girlfriends of mine who are going to come in here with a happy face. Can I
please borrow Your smile? I need it, desperately. I need You.’”
“Our weakness, God’s strength. I hate the prospect of having to face
the day with paralysis.
“I choose the Holy Spirit’s help
because I don’t want to go down that grim, dark path to depression any more.
“That’s the biblical way to wake up
in the morning, the only way to wake up in the morning.
“No wonder the Apostle Paul said, “Boast in your afflictions.”
“Don’t be ashamed of them. Don’t
think you have to hide them and gussy yourself up before God in the morning so
that He’ll be happy with you and see that you’re really believing in Him. No,
no, no.
“Admit you can’t do this thing called
life. Then cast yourself at the mercy of God and let Him show up through your
weakness because that’s what He promises – (2 Corinthians 12:9.)
We are separated from God due to our sin, so God provided a way for us to spend eternity with Him in heaven.
In a great act of love, Jesus died on the cross as a perfect substitute for each of us. He died, was buried, and rose again.
When we acknowledge His gift and accept it, He comes to guide our lives and love us as we have never been loved before. God has made it possible for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in your own life by receiving His Son, Jesus Christ, and have eternal life.
Say the following prayer:
“Father God,
I confess I am a sinner and my sins have separated me from You.
I am truly sorry. I now want to turn away from my
past sinful life and live a new life pleasing to You.
Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again.
I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ died for my
sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer.
I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule
and reign in my heart from this day forward. Thank You that according to your
Word, I am now born again.
Please send Your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and
to do Your will for the rest of my life. I promise to study Your Word – the
Bible.
Please use me for Your glory.
In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.”
For more on
happiness, see Randy’s books Happiness and God’s Promise of Happiness,
and the devotional 60 Days of Happiness.
Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is
the author of over fifty books and the founder and director of Eternal
Perspective Ministries.
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