Not too long ago, my son and I participated in a fundraiser for our local children’s hospital.  We arrived for our portion of the event a little early and proceeded to check in to let the organizers know that we were there.  I recalled greeting several people with a smile on our way to the check-in table.    Later on, when it was time to do our interview, we were introduced to the interviewee and he said, “I saw you earlier when you came in and you had this huge smile.  I had no idea that you were the mom of one of the miracle children we were going to interview.  Why are you smiling?”

I immediately processed the question.  I thought about how I was feeling at the time.  I thought about how well my son was feeling at the time.  We hadn’t had a hospital stay in a while and we were managing his illness very well.  I then proceeded to answer our interviewee, “God is good! Why not smile?”

Trust me, this journey is not all smiles and I’m human but when I think of all the goodness that God has granted us, I must smile.  It took me a while to get to this point.  The guilt, the constant worrying, the “woe is me”…..I had to learn to deal with it all.  It took time, prayer, sharing how I felt, and listening to those who wanted to help me to get to this point of smiling.  When I catch myself sliding back into the gloom,  I check myself and my attitude, say “Thank you, Jesus” and smile.

I smile because my God is good!

Proverbs 17:22 King James Version (KJV)

 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.