You read it right😳 ...unhappy. This is actually a real key to being happy anyway.
Do you think I have this cheesy grin on my face 24/7? Umm, ask my family. I am human. Of course not. No one laughs all the time or is skipping on the clouds all the time. If they try to make you think they are, run! You have found a fake. As Forest is famously quoted, "...(life) happens!" Not if, but when it does, we will win or lose by the way we choose to be defeated emotionally or to rise up and face the challenge. Knowing how to dig ourselves back up out of unhappiness is how we get to the place of happy ANYWAY.
The Psalmist wrote of being broken hearted by his own reproach and shame in Ps. 69:20. Later in Ps. 129:28, he spoke of his soul melting from heaviness, yet cried out to God in the most beautiful, humble way. So whether your unhappiness was brought on by you or the hand of another, or you don't even know why you are fighting to muster a smile, there is hope for happiness!
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 We are hard-pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.
Whatever your reason for just trying to keep it together without going cray-cray, grab hold of this scripture like I have and take it as yours. Say it out loud right now. Literally say this... I may be or feel hard-pressed on EVERY SIDE but I am not and will not be crushed!!! This situation may be perplexing to me, but it will not drive me to despair!!!! I choose to not let it. I will renew my mind with God's Word. I say I have the mind of Christ. I will follow peace and not be perplexed. I may be or feel persecuted and no matter how forsaken I feel, according to God's Word, I am not!!! He will never leave me or forsake me. I may be struck down by this set back but I will not be destroyed! This will not destroy me. This is a promise I have from God's Word.
Doesn't just saying His promises out of your own mouth give you hope and help you move closer to joy? Why? Because in His presence is fullness of joy. You are in His presence because you are in His Word right now.
If ever I am not happy, this verse gets me back in faith and renews my mind so quickly. I pray it has done just that for you today. Jot it on an index card and keep it in your purse or wallet or put it on your bathroom mirror. Do whatever you have to do to learn how to be happy, and I hope to see you soon happy ANYWAY!
Happy Monday!