A Woman's View

Take a fresh look at trials and sufferings

Maybe right now you're in the midst of a long, hard time in your life.

Maybe you've reached the end of your endurance. Sometimes you wonder whether God has turned his back on you. Otherwise, how could you pray and pray, yet nothing changes?

Been there, thought that, sometimes.

That's when we try to make sense of it on our own. Every one of us can think of times when we "knew" how "A" would lead to "B," then inevitably to "C."

Except it didn't.

Then it's time to remind myself what I know. I see only today. God sees yesterday, today and tomorrow. He loves us and promises to be our strength all through life, in good times and in the worst of times. 

That does not guarantee our life will smooth out and be pain-free. All we can do is keep on trusting and keep on walking.

Someone sent me this YouTube. The song was new to me and so was the singer Laura Story. Her song touched my heart. She says what we all need to remember when we're slogging through one of those misery times.

I hope these lyrics speak to you as they do to me.

Lovingly,

Lenore

Story Blessings song http://youtu.be/1CSVqHcdhXQ

Want to be happy? Start smiling!

I used to think some people are born happy and some aren't. So if we're a grouch or a gloomy Gertie, well, it's not our fault. That's just the way we are. 

Like so many other things we "knew," this one turns out not to be true.

Even if we customarily spend most of our days wrapped in gray we can climb out into the sunshine. All we have to do is start smiling.

Yep. That's what researchers at the University of Wisconsin - Madison have shown. Every time we decide to smile and then move our mouths in that direction, voila!  That action moves our brain activity "in the direction of spontaneous happiness."

So we can learn to be happy. We can choose our activities and what we read and watch on television. We can hang around people who spread happiness. Being around laughing people can make us break out in laughter faster than a case of hives.

Within our homes and our circles of friends, we either spread joy or . . . something else.

Laughing even helps our health. IF we laughed one-hundred times a day it would be equal to ten minutes on a rowing machine. Our pain-killing endorphins would increase and we'd breathe better. Even our immune systems would function better.

Years ago Norman Cousins wrote a book, "Anatomy of an Illness," which documented the influence of laughing on his health. He was diagnosed with a painful auto-immune disorder and doctors did not give him a good prognosis. Finally he checked himself out of the hospital and into a motel very near it. Then he had family and friends bring him funny videos. Over and over he watched Abbott & Costello, Candid Camera and any number of television comedies television and old movies. He thought of them as his medicine--and they were. Cousins found that after watching an hour or so and laughing frequently, his pain went down and he could sleep. He confounded his doctors by getting well. Later, he became a lecturer at medical schools, telling doctors of his experience and urging them to introduce their patients to humor instead of simply increasing their pain meds.

Cousins demonstrated that humor benefits the body. Now researchers say that when we smile, even if we're not feeling especially happy, it changes the chemistry of our brains.

That wouldn't have surprised the writer of Psalms. You may remember that in Psalm 15:13 he wrote,

"A merry heart doeth good like medicine.:      ---KJV

So the message is clear. No matter what mood we wake up in let's paste on a smile and laugh at small things. Let's look for what's funny in our everyday lives instead of being so quick to nitpick and pounce on what's wrong.

Besides, wouldn't we rather have laugh lines than frown lines?

It's something to think about.

Blessings and JOY,

Lenore