Editor's note: This article was originally published on Lindsey Bell's blog. It has been republished here with permission.

What's that one thing for which you're waiting?

That one thing you know will make you happy?

Maybe it's a new job or a promotion that will help you pay the bills and stop living paycheck to paycheck.

Or maybe it's a relationship. You'll be happy once you finally have a man who treats you the way you deserve to be treated.

Or maybe it's a baby. I know all too well how hard it is to wait for a baby. I feel like I've been "in waiting" for about three years. When my oldest child was two, we started trying to have another baby. Three years and four miscarriages later, we still don't have the biological child I'm waiting for.

Waiting for something (or someone) can be excruciating, especially when it seems God is no longer listening to your prayers. When it seems he's more interested in granting other people their desires than even thinking about granting yours.

I don't know what that one thing is for you.

What I do know is this "¦ you'll never find happiness until you stop depending on the future (and on what may or may not happen) to make you happy.

You can't hang your happiness on that one thing for which you're waiting

In the last few months, God has been gently reminding me (OK, sometimes not so gently reminding me) that I'm taking what I do have for granted.

I'm focusing so much on what I don't have that I'm neglecting to see what I do

He's reminding me that there is only one way to find happiness as you wait "¦ and that is to stop searching for more.

Don't look outside of what you have for the happiness that's within your grasp now. Instead, learn to find joy in what's already right in front of you.

I say that like it's easy "¦ but I know from personal experience it's not. It's a daily struggle for me to be thankful.

For me, it's a choice.

A daily choice to thank God for the children I do have instead of thinking about the ones I'm missing.

A daily choice to thank Him for the money I have instead of worrying if it'll be enough.

And a daily choice to focus on what's right in front of me instead of wishing for more.

The one thing that'll make you happy as you wait "¦ more than anything else, it's you "¦ choosing to be thankful now.