Smiles May Chase the Gray Away

By Anne Johnson –    

“It’s been 42 days since we have seen the sunshine,” my high school principal’s voice announced over the school’s intercom. Years later, I sat in my brown recliner wrapped in a heavy blanket. Winter’s dreariness was wearing on me. I physically needed sun and the warmth of its rays to regenerate both my body and mind. I felt as if I hadn’t seen the sun in over 42 years.

“I don’t want to go anywhere today,” I whined. “I don’t feel happy,” I expressed my complaint to God during my quiet time that morning.

There are days it seems impossible to be cheerful and smile. I have experienced times where all I can do is cry, and times when difficulties wear me down and I feel completely overwhelmed. The gray of the day envelopes my heart. However, I need to realize I’m not alone in these feelings.

During these days of sorrow, tears and frowns, I can find comfort in knowing Jesus had these moments in His life too. The Bible states in Isaiah 53:3: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (NIV).

I realized, Jesus probably didn’t always have a smile on His face or feel happy all the time. I also read, “As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it” (Luke 19:41 NIV). No smiling or false happiness there.

I have heard both believers and non-believers express their assumption that Christians should always be happy. But life isn’t easy. There are many days when it seems impossible to smile and find joy in the day. But, I must choose to walk with God through these troubled times and take my pain to Him in prayer. I can’t give in to the sorrow or the grayness around me. My smile may be faded, but my hope isn’t.

When I cling to the promise that I am heaven bound I discover the most wonderful reason to clothe my face in a smile. My heart may be troubled, my mind not feel cheerful, but eternal life awaits me.

A smile can be like a beam of sunshine or a beacon of hope. While sojourning through the struggles of life, God’s promises shine into my heart like the welcomed sun rays of spring. This time of mourning and weariness will fade. So, I choose to smile, to bring sunshine into my world and into the lives of those around me.

Chamomile Tea and Wolves

By Charlotte Riegel –

The private Facebook message was short and cutting. I sat reeling from the news. Composing my thoughts I sent a brief reply and asked a few questions. His response was even more painful than the first message and indicated he did not wish to communicate further.

Our relationship had a long history, a considerably rocky one, but I had no idea it had deteriorated to this. Admittedly, there had been minimal communication between us recently. It had been a long time since I had mastered an all-nighter, but this turned out to be one of my best for not sleeping. My mind simply would not turn off. After drinking chamomile tea to encourage much-needed sleep I spent the next few hours eliminating it, thereby counteracting the original purpose.

The following day I felt remarkably good for not having slept. My husband and I were encouraged by a conversation with someone mutual to both sides of this broken relationship and were directed to seek counselling. Another brief message was sent apologizing for our part in his current pain and opening the door for some bridge building over the murky waters. The ball had been tossed back into his court and we would await his move, hoping there would be one.

I survived the day much better than expected, however, as bedtime approached I was on a second wind. “Oh God, I need rest. Your Word promises that You give rest to Your people. Please help me sleep tonight.” Once again I tossed and turned, then rose for a journal hunt that might give insights into my head and heart space of many years prior when some of the issues first arose. And, I had another cup of chamomile tea in hopes of better results. After a few hours without success in finding the journals, I once again tried sleeping. This time, success. “Thank You, Lord.”

The next day was Sunday. As we prepared for the typical Soup Sunday at our church, I felt anger and bitterness rising from thoughts about the broken relationship. By the time we arrived at church I felt like a witch and had little of anything pleasant to say to anyone. It seemed best to keep silent. My feeble attempts to engage in worship were useless.

I scribbled a note to my husband indicating I would not be staying for the fellowship meal and planned to give it to him just before the benediction. Then we sang the song, “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying”. I dissolved in tears. I could not even mentally articulate a prayer but God must have heard the cry of my heart because He sent a vision of one sheep leaving its fold and being attacked by a pack of wolves. The message was clear and I decided to stay. A sense of peace wrapped around me like a warm blanket and the bitter, angry feelings dissipated.

“Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others. Don’t yell at one another or curse each other or ever be rude. Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ” (Ephesians 4:31-32 CEV).

“Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you” (James 4:7-8 CEV).

Triggering God

By Cheri Cowell – 

Triggers can be both good and bad. From psychology we’ve learned even a gesture or the tone in someone’s voice can trigger a memory and a reaction. Some of those are good, like the memory of a loved one. On the other hand, some of those memories cause pain or anger. The worst triggers are the ones we don’t yet recognize. They’re the things which send us reeling or raging.

God has triggers. The Bible tells us that how we live our lives toward others, whether freely giving and open or stingy and closed, trigger God. Often the workplace rewards stinginess, but God’s Word makes it clear He is triggered to bless those who give spontaneously without regard for the cost. He will bless those who freely give to others in all their work, in all their ventures, and in all they do.

“Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers GOD, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures” (Deuteronomy 15:10 MSG).

Prayer: Lord, I know I grumble about the difficult job I have. Help me to turn my frown into a smile by doing that job as if I were doing it for you.

Faith Like a Taco

By Rhonda Rhea –

Okay, so here’s an idea. A taco, but with a folded hamburger patty for the shell. Because nobody lives forever anyway.

It makes me want to imagine there’s actually a quote that goes, “Ask not for whom the Taco Bell tolls. It probably tolls for thee.”

I’m not sure how to stop my brain from coming up with new ideas that add fat content to my diet by the thigh-load. You’d think my cholesterol numbers would scare me straight. Of course, this is precisely why I don’t regularly have my cholesterol checked. Knowing might actually be a strain on my heart.

Some people don’t know that cholesterol can produce extra adrenaline that way. I do wonder if at some point my heart and thighs will together rise up and tell me enough is enough.

When it comes to faith, though, is there ever a point we feel we have enough? And how much would that be? Even the disciples asked Jesus to grow their faith (Luke 17:5) and they were eye-witnesses to the miracles of Christ. They heard His words firsthand.

This life is full of challenges. We need a faith that’s not merely “enough.” We need faith that’s meaty. Double-meaty, even.

We beef up our faith every time we remember exactly where that faith is placed. It’s not faith in faith. That’s just a lot of extra fat. Hebrews 12:2 refers to Jesus as “the author and perfecter of faith,” (NASB). Our “Author” creates our faith in the first place. The Greek word used there can also mean “captain.” The word for “perfecter” means “completer” or “finisher.” He originates, creates, generates our faith. He captains, steers, controls our faith. We can fully trust Him to perfect, complete, sustain our faith.

Take a look at the paraphrase: “No extra spiritual fat…Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in… When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Hebrews 12:1-3, MSG).

Each time we think of the One who originated and sustains our faith, and each time we remember the cross of Christ and all that’s been done to complete our faith, it revs our faith up all the more. We’re talking good adrenaline here. Not a strain on the heart. As a matter of fact, nothing is heart-healthier.

All the Lord has done for our faith is oh so enough. Our faith can rest in His “enough-ness.” The hymn says it so well:

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device or creed;
I trust the ever living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

(“My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” by Eliza E. Hewitt in Songs of Joy and Gladness, 1891)
Let’s fix our eyes on Him and His “enough-ness” and let our faith pleasantly rest there. And let it flourish there.

Faith in Him. Faith in what He accomplished on the cross. It’s faith folded into faith. And that’s beefy—in only the very best ways.

God’s Sleep Aid

By Cheri Cowell –  

We are a nation of insomniacs. This conclusion comes from a recent survey showing how many Americans are taking some form of sleep aid. Advice abounds for non-medication solutions. From forming a bedtime routine to removing the television from the bedroom and lowering the temperature, there is a long list of things one can try. If you’ve worked through this list and are still tossing and turning, perhaps it is time to look for an underlying reason.

God’s sleep advice doesn’t begin when we are readying for bed, but rather at the start of the day. We are to order our steps to walk uprightly, to walk in such a way that we can hold our heads high. When we walk this way we can rest assured that as our heads hit the pillows and our minds review the steps of the day, we will be at peace. God’s sleep aid will help us fall into peaceful sleep because our waking steps were godly.

“He enters into peace; They rest in their beds, Each one who walked in his upright way” (Isaiah 57:2 NASB).

Prayer: May my steps throughout the day bring peaceful sleep when I lay down at night.

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