God has blessed me and helped me through rough times and he has done so in spite of my faults and failings. Because of God's grace, I would like to offer encouragement to others who are struggling. In order to be truly encouraging I believe I need to be honest and thus I must tell you that if my first statement gave the impression that I have come out on the other side, so to speak, of the dark times that is not what was intended by it. What I have learned so far is that it is a journey and that the journey can be endured or even enjoyed sometimes. I can be thankful for God's help at times when I recognize it. And I can recognize that his help is there in ways that I don't recognize and give thanks for that as well. So while times are hard and life is a trial as I believe it is, at least for some, we can still find comfort, joy and help for all our needs.

      If you carry many burdens associated with the circumstances you face in life, then this is the place for you. If you suffer from depression or anxiety, I hope that you can come here and be helped along in your journey.

    While I am making opening comments I should address the issue of the ever present comments section you see across the blogosphere. I am so new to blogging that I have no idea what I have gotten myself into technically speaking or even in the realm of what services and features are offered or not offered by my host service. But I assume that I will be somewhat in control of comments and will be able to offer them or not offer them, block people or delete offensive posts. I am considering a few different options. I am not in this to offer yet another outlet to the world at large to express themselves in any way that they have a whim to do at any given time. And I am not in this to give vent to people's negative thoughts although, yes, I know, we all have them. I may disable commenting altogether. But if I can figure out how I will most likely keep comments open so that they can be used for people to post about their small triumphs in life, such as when the person struggling with temper keeps their cool or when the person struggling with self-doubt makes clear and decisive decisions.

      So today's encouragement is just a simple reminder. Remember when you smile it has power. Remember that if you can make yourself smile even when you don't feel like it, you are likely to make yourself feel better in spite of yourself. Remember that when you take that tiny moment to smile at a stranger you may lighten their load and help them more than you can know. And stress has such a tremendous physical effect on all of us that even if the only awareness you have about it is feeling momentarily better, it may make a significant difference in your health for the next couple of days or a month or even longer. Stress truly does effect our physical bodies in many many ways. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Psalm 139:14

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁴ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

      Why fearfully? And why should the psalmist have wanted to praise God for that aspect of his own creation? I confess I am opening up a question that I cannot answer for you. I can speculate, but I probably can't do the topic justice. And I think that is OK. Maybe that is a question that can provide you with some personal prayer and meditation time. In my mind, today, I think it can very much apply to all the intricate systems and interconnections between systems within our bodies that can prove to be so delicate. Some of you are struggling with constant bad health. Some of you have terrible frightening diagnoses. Some of you have ongoing problems with a myriad of symptoms that you can never seem to get past, even though you can also never get a diagnoses or any grip on what to do about them. Believe me when I tell you that your state of mind has a large impact. It won't be the whole answer but it will make a difference. You can smile at a person today and never know that you just saved them the difference between coming down with a cold by tomorrow morning or not. You may make the difference between them making it to a very important appointment on time or not until after it is too late, all because of the tremendous difference that their state of mind has on their entire person from attention span and memory to energy levels and immune response. So when you hear someone say, "smile, it will make you feel better", don't dismiss it as a cliche! Smile at them and say, "thank-you for the reminder."

Have a great day, friends. ;)