Why Is It So Hard to Be Happy?

“This book speaks with honesty and clarity to our restless pursuit of happiness. Compassionate and anchored in truth, it helps readers examine misplaced hopes and offers a vision of joy sturdy enough to endure suffering, disappointment, and the weight of everyday life.”

Darby Strickland

“Jen paints a bull’s-eye around one’s happiness in God, which is the only bull’s-eye that will bring fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. An important matter is her comparison of seven habits recommended by psychologists and, later, the biblical foundations, source, and telos for those habits. She thus notes parallel behaviors but pivotal differences between biblical teaching and psychology generally. This is what true science always does—confirm what God has been telling us all along. I’m glad Jen writes, and reading her work prompts me to double down on my joy in the happy God who is blessed forever. Amen!”

Sam Crabtree

“Our quest to soothe our unhappiness sends us in a thousand different directions that ultimately disappoint. In this short book, Jen Oshman helps us see why the pursuit of happiness in and of itself will never give us what we yearn for. If we chase the offerings of this life to grab hold of happiness, our hearts will always be empty. But if we spend our lives running after Jesus, joy will never let us go.”

Glenna Marshall