4 comments / Add your comment below

  1. Thanks for your message. Had not thought of the difference between happiness and joy.
    To me, joy comes from within and is outwardly displayed by the spirit of the person.
    Happiness is a chosen mindset regardless of circumstances that can certainly be influenced by joy or lack of it in my personal life.
    Keep up the good work. I enjoy our growing friendship.

    1. Thank you Dan! Really good thought there; I hadn’t considered happiness as being a choice, but rather a natural (automatic?) emotional response to circumstances.

      Looking back at the historical understanding of joy vs. happiness from the church fathers was the most eye-opening. It seems they didn’t separate the two.

  2. I guess I’ve always thought that my happiness depended on the “happenings” in my life, but true joy comes from Jesus. After my husband died, I certainly wasn’t happy, but the joy of the Lord was my strength—and still is!

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