What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy? Perhaps marriage works to develop Christlike character – forgiveness, love, respect, perseverance. 
I can’t help but ponder if all of life is meant to make us more holy? Which is quite ironic because as people we usually strive for happiness more than holiness. Holy and happy are sometimes very far apart. I want to be happy. He wants me to be holy. I’m busy trying to find happiness and I have to wonder, how many times am I avoiding His attempts to make me holy? Look at the New Testament. People being martyred, tortured, persecuted, abandoned – yet they love their Lord and they want to see Him glorified.
Remember Paul’s words in Philippians 4:11-13? “For I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”
The word HAPPY means: feeling or showing pleasure or contentment; having a sense of confidence in or satisfaction with (a person, arrangement, or situation). Happiness is a feeling. It is something which changes all the time depending on our emotions.
The word HOLY means: dedicated or consecrated to God; devoted to the service of God; morally and spiritually excellent. Holiness isn’t a feeling instead it is an action.
Times of trials are just so hurtful and tiring that I sometimes forget that God’s end purpose is to make me a better person. Like Paul, I must learn to be content in any situation. My prayer is that we will desire and aim for the greater joy in God and not the lesser joys of the world.