Whether or not you are a religious person, this is for you!  Statistics and our eyes don't lie. Take groups of happy people, from the radio, from your community, and just people around you, you know , the ones that have that sparkle in their eye, that smile that just won't go away, that possibly annoying but AMAZING inner need to talk to people, and just that look of contentment and hope that radiates out.  I can guarantee you, they have something in common, they know they are a Child of a loving God and trust in him each day. 

Just a simple Google search can prove this.  Search religion and joy, or anything related and you will find the evidence.  Believing in and trusting a God above just brings peace, joy, and all of those feel good things we long for, especially in the difficult times in our lives.   

An article from the Pew Research Center titled "Religion's Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World" (has graph after graph showing the data.  People who believe in God overall are happier, are healthier, and more involved in their community and the data shows it.  

So why the hesitancy to embrace it? What is the answer to the statements said by those who haven't experienced the joy yet, such as "believing in God is holding us back", "religion is keeping us from your true potential," or you believe in God, you must have the blinders on." Well, the answer to these statements is that we HONESTLY DON'T HAVE ONE! because the data and just looking around us for a few minutes PROVES THIS WRONG!

There is a story in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a group that in its early beginnings were driven out of their homes, had to walk across the country, literally, sometimes in the bitter winter, and who were given an official extermination order by their own government, and for a cause that was never really even identified let alone justified, they were peace seekers! The story, quoted by President Russel M Nelson in the 2016 October General Conference, goes as follows: 

Life is filled with detours and dead ends, trials and challenges of every kind. Each of us has likely had times when distress, anguish, and despair almost consumed us. Yet we are here to have joy?

Yes! The answer is a resounding yes! But how is that possible? And what must we do to claim the joy that Heavenly Father has in store for us? 

Eliza R. Snow, second General President of the Relief Society, offered a riveting answer. Because of Missouri’s infamous extermination order, issued at the onset of the grueling winter of 1838,7 she and other Saints were forced to flee the state that very winter. One evening, Eliza’s family spent the night in a small log cabin used by refugee Saints. Much of the chinking between the logs had been extracted and burned for firewood by those who preceded them, so there were holes between the logs large enough for a cat to crawl through. It was bitter cold, and their food was frozen solid.

That night some 80 people huddled inside that small cabin, only 20 feet square (6.1 meters square). Most sat or stood all night trying to keep warm. Outside, a group of men spent the night gathered around a roaring fire, with some singing hymns and others roasting frozen potatoes. Eliza recorded: “Not a complaint was heard—all were cheerful, and judging from appearances, strangers would have taken us to be pleasure excursionists rather than a band of gubernatorial exiles.”

Eliza’s report of that exhausting, bone-chilling evening was strikingly optimistic. She declared: “That was a very merry night. None but saints can be happy under every circumstance.”8

That’s it! Saints can be happy under every circumstance. We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!"

So we INVITE you to consider WHY people who believe and trust in a higher power may have found the secret to a happy life.  For true, enduring, deep, lasting joy, God needs to be a part of the equation! He doesn't require you to drop everything and change every aspect of your life, he just wants you to talk to him, believe in him, learn about him,  and let him guide you to things that will bring you joy, which usually includes serving your fellow neighbor!

So we bring this site to you to combine all of the resources we can fit in a website about believing God, serving others and finding that deep. lasting joy that he offers plentifully, even when the world around us is in turmoil, people are good at causing that! God has to allow our agency, it is his gift to us, but he is there to hold us up when life pushes us down, and we want you, our dear friends, to have that strength and peace.  So, take a look around at the resources we have gathered and join us in being joyful!   

Resources cited - 

- https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/01/31/religions-relationship-to-happiness-civic-engagement-and-health-around-the-world/

- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2016/11/sunday-morning-session/joy-and-spiritual-survival?lang=eng