Happiness is something we all struggle to find and keep. Our problems occur when we search for it in all the wrong places. We, as young women especially, try to find our happiness in other people and relationships, but there's a reason this always fails. True happiness and peace come from one source - God.

Friends can be a blessing in your life, but they can also be toxic. True friendship builds you up; it doesn't tear you down. God places the right people in our lives at the right time. You'll know who these people are because they'll light up your life in the best way possible because God placed them there. If they make you feel like you have to change yourself or that something is wrong with you, you probably don't need them in your life. God made you exactly the way He wanted, in His image, and He thinks you're worthy of the greatest love ever to exist.

The same goes for romantic relationships. You will not find your validation in a boy. They're human; they're unreliable, just like you are. To be truly happy in a relationship you have to wait for the one God has picked out for you. That person will help you grow spiritually, mentally, and emotionally as long as God is the center of your relationship. You can't assume that just because someone loves you you will always be happy. There are going to be hard times and you are going to be let down but you will get through all of it if you keep your focus on God and His healing.

Too often we find ourselves unhappy and wondering how we got trapped in this never-ending cycle of disappointments, but the reason is because we were looking in the wrong places. If you base your happiness on someone else, you will always be let down. We're all only human after all, which means we all mess up. The only perfect human being to ever walk the face of this earth was Jesus Christ, and while, yes, we should strive to live by his example we should also remember that perfection is unrealistic for us. It is human nature to sin and mess up. The key is to remember that you are forgiven and that true joy of the heart comes from the Savior and Redeemer, not your own self or others.

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."