Happy

I was doing my Bible study today, which was pretty interesting. It was talking about how in Christian circles we've kind of gotten rid of the word happy. We use blessed and joyful, but we're afraid of the word happy. Beth Moore was saying that sometimes God just makes her happy. She did clarify that blessed and joyful are despite circumstances, different from happiness, but she said God still likes to make us happy - not all the time, but sometimes. I thought it was a good point. One I obviously like since I'm a fan of being happy. :)
One of the questions was "what is a recent situation where God has give you happiness" or something like that. Now, I'm an optimistic person and overall my life is good, so I'm generally happy. But, one thing I thought about is something kind of new so I thought I'd share it. My answer was "spending time with Steph." There are lots of other instances where I've been happy recently, but I have been having so much fun with my new friend, Stephanie.
Stephanie and I met a little over 8 weeks ago at church. It was her first time and so we talked for a few minutes. From the first day, God gave me a heart for her. If you've ever experienced that, you know that it can't really be explained. I just, out of the blue, loved this girl that I barely knew. It's been so neat to see our friendship develop. God has knit our hearts together and I am truly blessed to have her in my life. She's a college student, so her schedule is pretty flexible and we've been spending a lot of time together. Dave has appreciated it too, b/c he has been REALLY busy at work lately and he knows that's hard for me. So, when he is having to work or go out of town, I've been spending more time with Steph, which makes it easier for Dave.
It has been such a blessing to have Steph in our lives - loving on her, watching her love on our kids, hanging out, doing puzzles together, helping her answer some questions she has about her Christian walk, Dave's been teaching her guitar, and just having fun together.
Dave said this weekend, "I think your life is fuller since Stephanie's been it and therefore it makes all our lives fuller." And I agree.
What a great God we serve to give us friends that touch our heart, help us learn, help us grow closer to God, and make us happy.