A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

- Proverbs 17:22

Have you ever had a friend or a person who lifts your spirits?

A person with a cheerful heart is kind, encouraging, and helpful. They have an enthusiasm for the job at hand and zeal or zest for life. They just seem to bring joy to those around them.

God’s word tells us that a joyful heart is good medicine because it heals the soul and mind.

But negativity and cruel words bring strife and destruction. They crush the spirit and dry up our bones. Sometimes, life’s trials do that to us as well.

The Lord tells us that we are not meant to carry around burdens, hurts, and unforgiveness in our hearts. Holding onto bitterness and anger only destroys us. By hiding hurt and stuffing it we don’t heal, and that prevents us from living fully. God wants to use our pain for good.

Did you know that to make perfume they have to crush the flowers? The process of perfume-making resembles what happens when we face a trial.

Life may seem sweet one second and then something happens to crush us. But God can use our pain and disappointments, trials, and suffering to create in us something beautiful.

As you examine your heart today, are you good medicine to those around you? Are you a beautiful fragrance to others?

With Love,
Sherry Shepherd