Happ-(He)-ness: A Guest Post by Molly

I have some amazing kids [I know. I am biased. But they are amazing. Have you met them?] and my oldest wrote a blog entry.  I asked her to share it with the world as my first guest blogger. 

Love. This. Girl.

This girl’s got a boyfriend. Yep, ‘tis true. For those who know me and my extremely high, almost unattainable (okay slightly dramatic, but they’re pretty high up there) standards, you know all too well that this boy must be the cream of the crop, top notch, A+, extra special boyfriend material. He is. But sadly, this isn’t a post solely purposed around this extra special, cream of the crop, top notch, A+ boyfriend of mine. As word has spread around the two very small towns I spend all of my time in (seriously, in one there is literally a single stoplight), that I can now change my Facebook relationship status to “in a relationship” the reactions, responses, etc. that I have received have been across the board, much to my surprise. While they have all been positive, some have been unsettling and have really made me ponder life in a different way over the last few weeks. There has been the obvious, “Tell me about this boy” and “when do I get to meet him” and “that’s so exciting” and oh, my personal favorite, “you have a boyfriend?!” Yes, I realize it is shocking because I am so homely and un-dateable (is that a word?), but it is really very true. Okay, back to the main point. Another, very frequent, response I have gotten has been simply this: “You deserve this. I am so glad you are finally happy.” That word, finally, has really shaken me to my core. Why is it that people have been assuming I have been so unimaginably sad up until this point in my life? Then it hit me. People assume that I am suddenly so much happier because that is the worldly view speaking. The world says you need a boy to make you happy, you need a boy’s approval, you need a boyfriend so people will not assume you are sad, a.k.a. the world is saying, you need our approval. In this society, we are so very consumed with our image, and I am guilty of this as well. I will be the first to admit that identity has been a crutch in my spiritual journey; it has been a crutch in me being a stepping-stone versus a stumbling block for many of my long 19 years of life. I am a firm believer in the fact that the Lord places people in our lives for a reason, but ultimately it is always for a greater purpose that we cannot even begin to understand. I believe that He lets our paths cross with one another because HE is doing something extremely awesome within each of us, and maybe, just maybe, He knows that through one another we will uplift, encourage, and ultimately glorify Him more. That being said, I have really tried lately to not let my image get in the way of something amazing the Lord may be orchestrating. And you know what? I have found that I am so much happier when I have allowed the Lord’s work to be done with me in the background and Him upfront leading the way. So, as I have pondered this word “finally” that has been thrown at me over the last few weeks, I have realized two things: one, I have always been happy, and two, who cares what they think anyways?

I came up with the clever little title, “Happ-[He]-ness” because it reminds me that in the middle of our happiness lies the Creator. The awesome, holy, completely flawless Lord, who died just to know us. How could you not just be a tiny bit happy about that?! Yes, it has been fun to have someone of the opposite gender (not including my daddy, although I do love him so) tell me I’m pretty, but really, if you think about it, there has been someone doing that exact thing for my entire life, and He beats them all because He was doing it before I was even a thought. The Godly view says we don’t need another person to make us happy, to make us whole. We don’t need worldly approval or 100+ likes on our “Facebook official” relationship. The Godly view says that Jesus, only Jesus, is true happy-happy-happiness. 

“HE will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.”

-Job 8:21 NIV [emphasis mine]

love,

Molly

There is nothing more awesome than knowing that my children are allowing God's will to be done in their lives.  I am so thankful for all they teach me.  I am blessed.