ST Andrew High School for Girls marked its 86th anniversary on September 21 with an inspiring service during which students and parents were invited to reflect on God’s love for mankind.

Using the theme ‘True happiness… life more abundant’, the service — held in the school’s garden theatre — was addressed by Choose Life International vice-president Faith Thomas, who shared with the worshippers what she determined were the five keys to happiness.

The first was having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ; second was awareness of one’s purpose in life; third, pleasing God; fourth, preparedness; and the fifth was yielding one’s life to God’s plan.

Thomas, speaking to God’s word in St John that He would provide life “more abundantly”, said that psychologists and psychiatrists have done extensive research on happiness.

She told the story of a Buddhist friend of hers who searched for many years for happiness and eventually found it when he developed a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

“God can satisfy you with abundant life,” she said. “Jesus satisfies you completely.”

Declaring that we were all born to serve God, Thomas said that “God had a plan for us before we came here”. It was therefore a given, she said, that “when we decide to live a life that pleases God, we will not be disappointed”.

She said that the people who are prepared to meet God are happy people, and that when you are prepared to meet Him “you are not afraid of death”.

Thomas advised the congregation to surrender their lives to God’s plan and hit out against listening to the kind of music that, she said, is pulling people “down into hell”.

Earlier, the school choir delivered an exciting and elegant rendition of the gospel number Oh Happy Day after scripture readings, the opening hymn In Christ Alone, the call to worship by Rev Astor Carlyle, and the singing of choruses led by the school staff choir.

The service closed with the singing of the National Anthem, after which parents who had accepted Rev Carlyle’s invitation to accept the Lord received counselling, while students spent the remainder of the morning in quiet reflection on the school campus.