I wrote a post on Instagram last week about how I was on the verge of throwing in the towel. This was barely days after I wrote the article on how to handle being discouraged. Call that a coincidence? Of course I practice what I preach so after releasing everything to God, I went on Google to find some encouraging quotes to put up to encourage myself and someone else out there. That’s when I stumbled on the quote above and I fell in love with it. The last line is really what blew me away;
“…when life gives you a thousand reasons to cry, show the world you have a million reasons to smile”.
Profound, isn’t it? It is easy to focus on the bad things that are happening to you while you forget the fact that, looking at the full picture, you are actually blessed. I mean when you compare a million reasons to smile with a thousand reasons to cry, you have no choice but to be grateful. You see, when you are on the Lord’s side, nothing can bring you down. Let the devil do his worst. Let him throw his best shot, you have nothing to be afraid of. God has you covered. So please don’t let anything steal your joy away.
Praise even through the pain. Thank God even when you have barely N500 in your account. Be grateful even though things are not working as they should. I discovered something about praise recently. When you praise God, He responds back in blessings. The problem is that we don’t realise it because God sends us blessings in disguise. For example, you are expecting a big financial breakthrough in a particular month and you don’t get it but people give you little sums here and there. They buy foodstuff for you or even take you out. In that month, you didn’t have to spend money on food or clothes. It was covered. You didn’t have any reason to spend so much money on anything really. Instead of being hung up on that financial breakthrough that has not come (which will come anyway), don’t you think it will be better to cherish your little million reasons to smile?
Indeed, there are thousand reasons for me to cry. I am facing certain challenges in my family. I am expecting that big breakthrough that has not yet come. There are people I want to bless materially but I don’t have the capacity to do so at the moment. Sometimes I sit and wonder when Mr. Right will find me. Those subtle hints from family and busybodies are not so subtle anymore. I want to serve God without restrictions but I face constraints that I have to deal with. There are things that I pray will change but that’s all I can do…pray and it is because I have no control over them.
In the midst of all these things that sometimes bring tears to my eyes; I am grateful because I am surrounded by people who truly love me. Honestly I have made mistakes with family and friends and God really has given me another chance. If anyone would have told me that I will have the loving support of great friends like I do now, I would have doubted it. Even though I cannot do the big things for people like pay their school fees or house rent, I can pay for their transport or buy food for them. My family isn’t perfect but they are alive and well. That is a reason to smile. I am not confined to a hospital bed. I walk and talk properly. I breathe well. I have no challenges with my health. I have a bright future ahead of me. Every single day, I feel God’s love and presence all over. Those are more than enough reasons to smile. I could go on and on really.
Smile. Be happy. Rejoice. I don’t know how else to say it. If you sit and think about it, you will find reasons to be grateful. Dwell on those things and thank God for them. Soon enough those thousand reasons to cry will be part of your million reasons to smile.
About the Writer: Adedoyin Jaiyesimi is a Writer, Media Content Creator and Brand Manager. The various publications she has written for include Y! Magazine (now Y! Africa), Discovery, Pride Magazine Nigeria, Butterscotch magazine amongst others. She currently holds the position of Brand Communications Manager at Victor Adeyemi Ministries and she is also the founder of LRouge Media, an editorial and brand consultancy company which provides content writing and editing services for business websites, magazines and blogs. When she is not creating content, you can find her in church doing the work of her Father. She tweets @msdoyeen and blogs at
www.adedoyinjaiyesimi.wordpress.com .
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This article was first published on 7th July 2015
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