Happy Sorrow

I was reading something this morning about the New Year and what God may have in store for us. The author was talking about difficult times that may come and how the world would like us to believe that we are never to blame. It's always somebody else's fault and when we take on that opinion we miss the opportunity for repentance. It struck me because in my Bible reading this morning I was reading 2 Corinthians chapter 7. At the time verses 9-11 really stood out to me. 2 Cor 7:10. "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret..." So is this happy sorrow? I experienced a lot of sorrow in 2007 and praise God, He was patient and waited for me to come to repentance. Those were some of my most joyous times with the Lord. I'm learning now that when hard times come I need to start looking for what God wants to teach ME through it all. So often we think of repentance as being a time when we feel guilt and sadness but God desires it to be a time of renewing and fellowship. So Happy Re-New Year.