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A friend of mine was falsely accused of a crime and put in jail for two years while he waited for his trial.

After two years of waiting, my friend who had been wrongly accused was being taken to another location for the actual trial when the vehicle had an accident. One of the guards wanted to kill all the prisoners before they escaped, but my friend was spared.

While they were waiting to be rescued, my friend tried to help build a fire so they could stay warm. A snake bit him while he was putting wood on the fire (no joking!). Thankfully he shook the snake off in the fire and was unharmed.

Following this incident he finally arrived at his destination, but he was thrown in prison for another two years until they could get to him. This time, they viewed him as a dangerous criminal so they chained a guard to him every four hours to make certain he did not escape. He had no privacy.

The happiest book in the Bible was written by this friend from this same prison. His story is found in Acts 16 and Acts 28.

Paul has every reason to be bitter. He has every reason to be unhappy, to be depressed and have a pity party. Instead he writes Philippians, a manual on happiness and on joy.

So how can we be happy no matter what happens?
Paul models four habits for happiness. Each habit addresses the Killjoys to Happiness (Pain, People, Pressure and Problems). We will look at them one at a time over the next few emails.

I can be happy no matter what happens in my life if I look at every problem from God’s viewpoint.

If I look at every problem from God’s viewpoint it gives me a larger perspective. When I don’t have the big picture, when I don’t see things from God’s point of view I get discouraged, I get frustrated, I get unhappy. The reason we get unhappy is because we don’t see what God sees.

The truth is no matter what’s going on in your life - the good, the bad and the ugly, God is working out a plan. He even takes all of our mistakes and he even puts those into the plan. God can use that too. My sins? Yes. My faults? Yes. What other people do? Yes. God says I can fit it all into the plan. And Paul knew this.

“I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me has helped spread the Good News.” (Philippians 1:12)

• Think of your problem.
  How is God using that by using you to spread His light?
  What are you learning about yourself and about God through your problem?

Rejoicing, On the Victory Side!

Beau

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