The expression on our faces has great power to change the way we feel personally and the way we affect others. Our faces are very powerful to either release blessing or negativity.
Have you been blessed and uplifted by the smile of a stranger? It’s amazing, isn’t it? Sometimes I have been walking in a shop and a stanger will smile at me. I am immediately warmed and blessed inside.
But we don’t always feel like smiling or showing a happy face, do we? But look at this Scripture in Job 9:27 (ESV): “I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer.”
NET: “I will change my expression and be cheerful.”
In the Hebrew it actually means to “abandon my face, or to change my expression.” Or “I will arrange my face.” We have the power to change the expression of our face. We usually allow our face to convey how we are currently feeling, whether happy or sad, don’t we? But we can move into a new realm where we determine the expression of our face.
Have you tried this? It truly works. There are times when I may feel despondent, but if I allow that expression on my face, it will take me into a greater depth of self-pity or despair. But if I put on a happy face and smile in the midst of my difficulty, my whole attitude changes. The expression I put on my face determines how I feel and the how others feel around me.
We have such power to influence the mood of others by our expression. Let’s not be wimpy mothers who give into our feelings (for feelings are deceiving and come and go like the wind) but instead be mothers of stamina and determination. Let’s put on a smiling face even if what we are going through is the opposite. We will bless ourselves and those around us.
I love reading Job, chapter 29 when Job reminisces of the days when God’s blessing was upon him and of how he was a blessing to many others. These were great memories in the midst of his present suffering.
Here is one of the things he did: “When they were discouraged, I smiled at them” (Job 29:24 NLT).
A greater thing is to smile at others even when we are discouraged ourselves!
Are you ready for a new way of living?
Love from Nancy
P.S. You can’t show a smiling face with a mask on!