Smiling Through The Pain

I'm at a point in my life where I just feel like screaming, yelling, collapsing, fighting, hating, or just simply blanking out the pain. But regardless of how much pain I'm feeling, and no matter how much I hate this feeling, it's like I have an inner smile that is deeper than my pain, and I just can't help but smile.

Reading a Our Daily Bread devotion, the ending thought gave me so much encouragement, "Our greatest comfort is to know that God is in control."

There are situations in this life that are beyond our control and it's so easy to just lose control and give up. But knowing that an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing God is able to turn even the most desperate situation into a good thing gives me enough reason to continue smiling.

The pain is still there, but pain takes a new form when a smile is added to it. It's like a door opens to another room. But this room just has more space than the room I was in before.

Have you ever managed to smile even when you didn’t feel like it? Did you end up feeling better?

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” --Thich Nhat Hanh