\u201cA joyful heart makes a face cheerful, but a sad heart produces a broken spirit.\u201d Proverbs 15:13 CSB
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The key to being cheerful is a joyful heart. \u00a0This so easy to miss if we don\u2019t stop and think about it for a moment. \u00a0I find this tricky, since I\u2019m always trying to be cheerful when I\u2019m around other people. \u00a0After all, no on wants to be the one bringing everyone down with their sad hearts. But the truth is, sometimes I do have a sad heart and it definitely makes my spirit feel broken. \u00a0The dilemma then becomes, how can I maintain a joyful heart at all times?
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Gratitude! The key is gratitude.
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My favorite true life example of this is Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian during WWII who was imprisoned in Ravenstock concentration camp for helping Jews escape. Her sister, Betsie and her were together when they were imprisoned. By the grace of God they were able to sneak a Bible in with them. Here\u2019s where it gets good, their cell was infested with fleas. Tons of fleas. And her sister Betsie made her thank God for the fleas. Corrie did. You know how God answered that? Because of the fleas, the guards wouldn\u2019t come into the cell. This meant they were free to study the Bible without worry of persecution. The fleas were God\u2019s army protecting them in the worst moments of their lives. Betsie did not survive the prison, nor did their father. Only Corrie survived, God did amazing things with her story.
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That is gratitude. \u00a0Thanking God for the fleas. \u00a0When you can begin to find anything to thank God for in your life, no matter how small it is, you find joy. \u00a0No matter how insignificant it may seem to you, anything at all, you start to let joy into your heart. As Mark Batterson says, \u201cEach of us takes 23,040 breaths a day. \u00a0Right there is something to thank God for.\u201d Even if you don\u2019t think you have something to thank God for, you do. Ever since my trip to El Salvador, I’m more grateful for running water than I’ve ever been in my life. \u00a0I\u2019m careful to turn it off if I\u2019m not using it. I thank God for it constantly. It often convicts me of the privileged life I live. Because I visited a home that didn\u2019t have running water, it only had a cement cistern filled with water. \u00a0God only knows what bacteria it was hosting. And that\u2019s what they used for everything, cooking, cleaning etc. I didn\u2019t eat the tamales we made there, I\u2019m ashamed to admit. I used the out house they had while I was there, so glad my bladder is small. \u00a0I will never forget it. I don\u2019t want to forget it. I want to always be thankful for running water.
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The key to cheerfulness is a joyful heart. The key to a joyful heart is gratitude. Find something to be grateful for first, you\u2019ll find your cheer.
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\u201cA joyful heart makes a face cheerful, but a sad heart produces a broken spirit.\u201d Proverbs 15:13 CSB The key to being cheerful is a joyful heart. \u00a0This so easy to miss if we don\u2019t stop and think about it for a moment. \u00a0I find this tricky, since I\u2019m always trying to be cheerful when… Continue reading BE CHEERFUL<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":824,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions\/824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}