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!
889 Hits
My mother, the unknown missionary
Do you plan to attend church this weekend and meet with the people of God? The gathering together of God’s people is not an option, but a command in God’s Word. Yes, I am sure you know Hebrews 10:25.
I have been posting about living a lovely life. 1 Peter 3: 3-6 talks about this too. In fact it talks about living a BEAUTIFUL LIFE. It tells us about the women who lived “in the old time,” or as one translation says, “once upon a time.” Once upon a time, away back in history, women made themselves beautiful in a different way than now. But it is a way that is very precious to God. Let’s read about it in a few different translations so we can really get the picture:
One night I was laying in bed thinking about living a lovely life. I wrote about it in my post yesterday. A quote filtered through my mind about “the lovely things that you’ve been taught to do.”
What a lovely thing to live a lovely life. Does that seem like a testimony of your life? Or do you feel you are living a sad life? Or a hard life? Or an overwhelming life?
These are the best years of your life,
The other morning Colin read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 in our daily devotion: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed year by year.”
It’s a pink line! You’re pregnant! Wow!
Children love to have friends. That’s why they like to have lots of brothers and sisters. As they get older they love to have more friends. They love to get in the groove with their friends. In fact, many times peer pressure from friends becomes a greater influence than parent pressure! That’s why it is imperative to guard your children’s friends.
I recently read an article by the Puritan, Thomas Doolittle (1632-1707). His words were challenging. I don’t think many Christians could receive them today. They would be outraged. But would you mind if I shared two little excerpts from his writings? He wrote:
When you hear about someone who “walks with God” you imagine someone who walks a godly life and who does great things for God. You think, “I wish I could walk with God like that, but I’m just mothering children in my home. I don’t have time to do anything for God.”
The devil wants our children. He will take the souls, minds, and hearts of our children if we let him. He wants to take them down his road of destruction. We cannot give him an inch or he takes a mile. We must be fierce guarders!
Every now and then I like to get on my “band wagon” or my “soap box.” I have quite a few soap boxes! Which one am I on today?
We talked yesterday about the joyful mother. Sadly, this seems to be the opposite testimony of many mothers today. They look downcast. They are overwhelmed. They are full of self-pity. They moan and groan. Where has the joy gone?
Yesterday we talked about nesting in the home. But we must look at something more in Psalm 113:9 which describes the mother as JOYFUL. Did you know that God equates motherhood with joy? And it’s not an average kind of joy. It’s exceeding joy.
Psalm 113:9 says: “He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.”
Yesterday we talked about how God wants us to settle in our homes (Hosea 11:11). The ESV and some other translations give another thought to this Scripture: “I will RETURN them to their homes, declares the Lord.” In other words, when we get away from our homes, God wants to return us back to our homes for this is where He has placed us.
Are you nestled in your home? God wants you to nest, rest, and invest in your home. He made the home for you. He created the home for you to raise your children. Before God created Eve, He first prepared the home for her. When she woke up to life, she was in her delightful home of Eden. Adam had already been created before the home, but not the woman!