Fight Discouragement!

During a rough time this week, I actually made my son tape a smile  to his face to remind him to be happy while he was doing his school work.  Yes, it could have been a lot prettier, but you get the point!

Do you feel discouraged?  I am fighting discouragement a lot these days.  I think “FIGHTING” is the key word.  It can be easy to feel down and out and not so easy to get out of it.  We have to put energy into getting out of the slump.

First of all, evaluate how the discouragement is coming.

• What are you READING? 
• What are you LISTENING TO or HEARING?
• What are you WATCHING?
• What are you SAYING?
• What are you DOING (bad habits, sinful actions, etc…) that is discouraging you?

When you figure out the answers to these questions, get rid of, or at least limit, those sources.  Maybe you need to stop listening to the news or spending time with a certain person.  Maybe you need to limit the time you spend doing certain leisure activities or ax certain activities altogether.  Ask God to help you determine what is weighing you down and how you can avoid it.

THEN, pour in the positive.

• Of course, we need to spend time with God.  We need to PRAY, SING TO HIM, READ HIS WORD, and experience HIM as often as we can.  His presence is refreshing, and He can lift us up.  We need to fix our eyes on GOD and the things above.  It can seem impossible to find necessary time with God sometimes, but fit in nuggets of time – whenever you can.
• Get some time to yourself.  Send the kids outside.  Get a babysitter.  Wake up a tad earlier if you can.  Take some time to think and read.  Accomplish something – a project or a hobby.
• Do something fun.  Laugh.  I was having a horrible day recently.  I took some time out to play a game with the kids, and before you know it, we were laughing.  It was therapeutic… so therapeutic that my husband thought I was doing “just fine” when I was actually falling apart.  ~smile~
• Spend time with people who have pure hearts and who are encouraging.
• Listen to uplifting music or sermons or better yet, SING on your own to God.  There have been times when I have literally FORCED a praise song out of my being, and it has brought healing.
• Try one of “The Cozy Nook”’s recipes.  <wink>  There should be some new ones soon!

I wish you an ENCOURAGING week.  May God do a work in our lives!