Imagine with me…it’s a huge day, packed with important appointments and massive deadlines. Things are finally looking up, though. You are ready for the day, excited to meet the demands with gusto but right from the “get go,” (excuse the Southern colloquialism) the day begins to unravel. The first few things that go wrong are okay. You’re like, “I’ve got this!” So what do we do? We take a deep breath and keep moving through the morning with confidence. Then, by the time you get to your 10:30, your most critical event of the day, the phone rings, and it’s the school telling you to come and get your child who has a fever. You head to pick him up, but wait – on the way to get him, REALLY?!?! You are preoccupied and run a red light…you guessed it! Blue lights and seventy five dollars out of pocket later, you think, “Seriously, can anything else go wrong?! Surely not!”

We’ve all had variations of days like that. This is a verse I’ve come to love at times like that. It’s one of my “go to’s” that help me get in the right frame of mind. 

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are afflicted on every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”

It never fails, after I read these verses, I can always manage to think of someone who would love to trade lives with me. That’s when I realize the Word of God just renewed my mind to be thankful that even though I may be afflicted on every side, perplexed about something, feel persecuted, or even struck down, that at least I am not crushed, forsaken, in complete despair, or destroyed! We only lose when we quit. And it’s always too soon to quit!! 

If you can relate to this, and we all can, just know you are not alone. Let’s lock arms as women who are together determined to be #happyANYWAY. Please leave a comment if you would like to share maybe a favorite verse or something you have learned that may help me or others be happy anyway.

It’s the last day of 2018, and that can bring about mixed emotions. We can be sad that this year didn’t go exactly the way we planned, or we can choose to be #happyANYWAY because today marks the last page in this chapter, and tomorrow begins the start of an entire new book. Let’s make it great by beginning the year with the determination to enjoy the joy that God has given us. Happy New Year!