Book Description:When it comes to happiness, most of us have the same questions. Why can’t I be consistently happy? Is it wrong to be happy when there’s so much pain and suffering in the world? And perhaps the biggest one: How can I be happier? Some Christians make an artificial contrast between joy and happiness, while others claim God wants us to be holy, but not happy. In fact, he wants us to be both, and the two go hand in hand!
In 60 Days of Happiness, noted theologian and New York Times bestselling author Randy Alcorn shares sixty timeless devotions demonstrating that God not only wants us to be happy in him and enjoy his gifts, he commands and empowers us to do so.
My Review:
Ok, so I struggle with this one. I come from a long line of women that battle depression so consistent happiness seems like an oxymoron to me. Therefore, when the opportunity arose for me to review this book for Tyndale House Publishers I thought, "Why not?"
The book is broken into 60 daily devotionals. Each begins with a Bible verse and a quote from people such as Anselm, James Houston, A.W. Tozer, Charles Spurgeon and Isaac Watts. Each day has a specific topic, such as, "Can happiness be consistent and enduring," "how does seeing God accurately promote lasting happiness," and "what role do our attitudes play in our happiness". And each day ends with a prayer.
While you will get the typical Christian responses in some of the readings, ("God wants us to seek real happiness in Him.....""Only (Jesus) could have granted them...the deep and lasting happiness they sought") Alcorn urges us to move beyond the surface answers. He even addresses it on Day 9 when he discusses many that sought surface happiness and yet failed to find true, enduring happiness.
All in all I would say that this is a good, daily refresher that happiness is found only in God. When we focus on that we find that everything else may give fleeting happiness, but we won't lose our joy when the world falls apart if we rest in God's love.
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