A cheerful"); document.writeln("heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person\'€™s strength.1
"); document.writeln("Norman Cousins"); document.writeln("tells of being hospitalized with a rare, crippling disease. When he was"); document.writeln("diagnosed as incurable, Cousins checked out of the hospital. Aware of the"); document.writeln("harmful effects that negative emotions can have on the body, Cousins reasoned"); document.writeln("the reverse was true. So, he borrowed a movie projector and prescribed his own"); document.writeln("treatment, consisting of Marx Brothers films and old Candid Camera reruns.
"); document.writeln("It did not take"); document.writeln("long for him to discover that 10 minutes of laughter provided two hours of"); document.writeln("pain-free sleep. Amazingly, his debilitating disease was eventually reversed."); document.writeln("After the account of his victory appeared in the New England Journal of"); document.writeln("Medicine, Cousins received more than 3,000 letters from appreciative physicians"); document.writeln("throughout the world.2
"); document.writeln("We all know"); document.writeln("that stress can lead to health complications, yet we still have the tendency to"); document.writeln("focus more on the problem at hand, then find joy in the many other blessings"); document.writeln("God has given us, one of them being a sense of humor! I have found, as a mom,"); document.writeln("that if I join in my children\'€™s laughter throughout the day, my stress levels"); document.writeln("decrease significantly compared to days when I allow myself to get caught up in"); document.writeln("the craziness of life. Give it a try\'€¦ have your children or grandchildren tell"); document.writeln("you funny jokes or go watch America\'€™s Funniest Home Videos for a while, and you"); document.writeln("will see what I am talking about!
"); document.writeln("God loves us."); document.writeln("He knew that this life would have its difficulties, so he made sure to give us"); document.writeln("cheerful moments to help us through it all. However, if we become bitter"); document.writeln("because of our circumstances, we will fail to see the joy in life, and this"); document.writeln("could be detrimental to our overall wellbeing. The Bible tells us that there is"); document.writeln("a time for everything, so in the midst of the stress of life, don\'€™t forget to"); document.writeln("laugh!
"); document.writeln("Suggested"); document.writeln("prayer: Lord, thank you for giving me all the tools I need to live this life."); document.writeln("Please give me a cheerful heart to enjoy the beautiful moments you give me, and"); document.writeln("help my cheerfulness be contagious to others. Thank you for hearing and"); document.writeln("answering my prayer. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.
"); document.writeln("1. "); document.writeln("Proverbs 17:22 (NLT).
"); document.writeln("2. "); document.writeln("www.sermoncentral.com
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Today\'€™s"); document.writeln("Encounter was written by: Crystal B.
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This and other devotionals by Richard (Dick) Innes can be read online.
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