GOD WANTS YOU TO BE HAPPY | “Why wouldn’t God want me to be happy?” “If God is good, then He wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to me.” While this line of thinking might sound right at first, it is false. We are making an assumption about God that is never expressed to us anywhere in the Scripture. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Many times the prophets, the Apostles, and Jesus himself tell us that we will have “trouble” and “suffering” in this world. The devil uses this lie to create a barrier between us and the truth of God’s love. God is the good, good Father, creator of all things. Like a good parent, he allows us to experience the consequence of our sin through death and suffering. Feelings are emotions that God has given to us. Our feelings are not always right; sometimes, they are, but other times, they lead us down the wrong path. If our feelings define our reality, then hopelessness and despair will eventually ruin all our lives. But, through this pain, He is refining, molding, and shaping us to be closer followers of Jesus, who gives us faith, hope, and life.