#TellHisStory: Does God Care About Your Happiness?
Several months ago, I sat at a table with half a dozen women — all of them rock-solid followers of Jesus. We shared deeply from our hearts about what our struggles were, and what we needed most right now to get through the upcoming year.
We also talked about what we felt was missing in our lives. The range of responses was different, but at the core, every woman expressed the same deep need:
Happiness.
Trouble is, we didn’t know whether we could even admit that. Could we, as Jesus followers, really desire happiness?
Does God care about our happiness? Or is He more concerned with our holiness?
I wish I had known then, what I have been learning lately. Oh friend, it’s exciting!
This, right here? This is the very good news that I would have shared with the women. Join me at The High Calling.
#TellHisStory
Hey Tell His Story crew! It’s always a joy to gather here every week. The linkup goes live each Tuesday at 4 p.m. (CT). If you would use the badge on your blog, found here, that would be great. And if you would visit at least one other blogger in the link-up and encourage them with a comment, that would be beautiful! Be sure to check the sidebar later. I’ll be featuring one of you over there! Our featured writer this week is Amanda Conquers. She is sharing a powerful story about bringing a child into the world. Find Amanda here. To be considered as our featured writer, be sure to use our badge or a link to my blog from your post. 🙂
xo Jennifer
5 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- What I Did When I Lost My Voice in the Wilderness | Waxing Gibbous - […] I’m linking up this week with Katie Reid at #RaRaLinkup, Jennifer Dukes Lee at #TellHisStory and Holley Gerth at Coffee for…
- Home | danisejurado.com - […] Blog Link Ups: Inspire Me Monday Grateful Heart Testimony Tuesday Raralinkup #TellHisStory […]
- Does God Care About Me? - […] TellHisStory with Jennifer […]
- God is our refuge (Psalm 142, part 5) | abounding grace - […] up: Monday’s Musings, Good Morning Mondays, Titus 2 Tuesday, Women Helping Women, Tell His Story, Coffee for Your Heart, Works For…
- How to Thrive in the Face of Challenge | Faith Spilling Over... Into Everyday Life - […] these communities: Holly Barrett’s #TestimonyTuesday, Kelly Balarie’s #RaRalinkup, Jennifer Dukes Lee’s #TellHisStory, Dance with Jesus, and Grace and Truth. Check them…
- that’s what you were saying | crippledatYourtable - […] there’s room for you by my side, darling. inspired by this. My grandma had this picture of Jesus on the…
- Meet the Author: Danise Jurado - […] with Jesus lovers here: Katie M. Reid, Jennifer Dukes Lee. We’d love to have you join […]
- Who is My Neighbor? | Ginger's Corner - […] Linking today with Bloggy neighbors: Coffee for Your Heart, #TellHisStory, […]
- content in my distraction | Quiet Confidence - […] https://jenniferdukeslee.com/tellhisstory-does-god-care-about-your-happiness/ […]
- apaigefromourbook.comRest | - […] share it with others that they may be encouraged as well. Sharing here: Words of Comfort, #TellHisStory, Tuesday Afternoon, Teaching What Is Good, WholeHearted…
Yes Jesus wants us happy and shares in our joy with us. This beautiful world of ours is the perfect example of God’s goodness. The beauty we see in each other shows how God loves us and this love is one of being pleased with us. Maybe I tend to be positive about most everything but I see Jesus as a model of joy. Thank you for your words and for opening up your beautiful home each week.
Reading your words at High Calling really made my heart glad. I think so many non-believers expect to meet that solemn, strict, rigid Jesus who is going to wag his finger at them, then shove them into a restricted existence. We who know His heart – who want it to be ours too – recognize the joy and grace and love that He pours out and into our lives. We know the gladness that comes from knowing Him. Thanks for shattering those windows and letting His light shine!
Jesus “gladdened” the wedding. What a great word and an even better concept! I want my children to live a happy life (of course, not when the appropriate emotion is sadness, etc.). Why wouldn’t our heavenly Father want us to have a life of “good cheer?”
I think to be happy is part of being holy. 🙂
I love the Mathew Henry quote. ( Yes, I got out my little notebook and wrote it down, the quote nerd that I am.) However, what stands out is the power to be in fully In HIM in every moment and in every emotion. I read a post recently by a dear heart who reminded me that He felt every emotion we did. He wept and there was a reason He wept, weeping can come with a season but it is cleansing and can necessary. Today you are reminding me that He was glad, and gladness can even flow out of the other emotions that we think conflict with the state of happiness we assume is defined by outward joy. Happy-ness can be felt even in the weeping, like when the a daughter dances with her father at her wedding, filling us and flowing out to mark our living.
Blessings!
Dawn