We all love to hear good news! Good news makes us happy, excites us, gives us hope for tomorrow. But what about when you hear bad news? Does it steal your joy?
Sadly, we probably hear some form of bad news everyday. Acts of violence, death, crime. It’s online, it’s on the news – you don’t have to look far to find it.
Maybe you’ve received some bad news of your own. Maybe you’ve heard your parents are splitting up, or someone in the family is sick, or you’re going to have to move to another town/city. Whatever the situation, bad news can be difficult to accept and we all handle it differently.
Over the years I’ve learnt something about bad news. It can cause you to have a bad day but it doesn’t mean you’ll have a bad life.
A few months ago I received some bad news. I found out my dad had cancer.
In that moment when I heard it was like my whole world fell apart. Cancer was horrible. I’d heard so many awful things about it. I felt sick, with a deep sense of sadness. As I began processing what was going on I realised ‘sadness’ was a place that’s okay to visit but I was not supposed to live there.
If I stayed there too long it would only immobilise me and depress me. Sadness is a core emotion and all of us experience it.
But where does sadness lead you? I’m often lead to chocolate! It’s true, chocolate helps (well at least at the time it does!).
When sadness is suppressed or hidden it can lead to anger, depression, eating disorders and lethargy. Sadness for me needed to be accepted and recognised because it was valid. In order for me to move forward I needed to experience the sadness but also bring it before God for me to receive His healing. I love what it says in Isaiah 61:3:
“To all who mourn in Israel he will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.”
He’ll cause us to praise.
When life squeezes you from the outside, praise will pour out from the inside.
Whenever I give my son a carton of juice, I say ‘don’t squeeze too much or it will spill!’ What spills out of you when life squeezes you? Worry, fear, anger, dangerous habits?
When you keep your heart full of God, His Word, His promises, His Truth, His Love you’ll never run on empty. There’ll always be more inside you that will help you ooze strength, grit, confidence, faith, hope and love.
