Where Genres Collide Traci Dowe YA Author

Book Review: Happiness Is…

Traci Kenworth

The book is published by Word Publishing and has no author listed. 1995.

I ran across this little book on my shelf the other day and waxed nostalgic. This book was gifted to me about seven months before my marriage, by my sister. I miss little books like these sometimes. So positive. Uplifting. A treasure to find when you’re having a less than fantastic day. Oh, how I wish my then-self could have known more, realized what was going on in my life, but things happen for a reason and I would not have wanted to miss my children despite the pain and loss of the later years.

In any case, sometimes I think we forget to look inside ourselves at what’s going on in our lives and see the signs, the warnings. Books like this one make our eyes see what our heart must have and ignored. Here’s a verse from it that I love:

“The world’s joy glows brightly for a moment and then fades away. God’s joy is forever!”

How true for me. The things I’ve always wanted—and got—did not satisfy me for long. There was always something else to reach for, something more to gain. But when I come to God, in his presence, all things make sense. He instills a peace in me that I fought many years to find. Books like these are needed. To remind us to look, to realize, to inspire us to not settle for the lonely and the despair but to open our hearts to what God is for me: love and healing.

I encourage you to seek out little gifts like these, to become amazed when you look into your heart and see the truth. Happiness is believing in something greater than ourselves. It’s having the faith of a little child to begin again. And in doing so, persevere.