A Sadness that Betters the Heart

Do we truly realize what the sad and difficult moments do for the heart? It seems as though we feel like life should always be perfect, without one flaw; but in Ecclesiastes 7:3, we read… “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.”
We all know that laughter is good medicine for the soul…and it’s true. We should always strive to live the happy life that God longs for us to have; but let’s face it…there are also moments in our lives when we just can’t find happiness, due to an overwhelming circumstance.
Even though these moments can sometimes make us feel as if we are failing ourselves and even God; there is another side to these sad…discouraging and overwhelming moments in our lives; and that is that these difficult moments actually work to turn the heart around into something better. You ask me how? As I look back on my own life, I see a young lady that never had confidence in herself…always feared life and what was coming her way…and even more, she followed in her father’s footsteps, by reacting to everything that came her way with anger. Now…after walking through some very sad and depressing times in her life, she has learned how to start once more from the beginning and come through life, in the way that God first intended.
You know…I’m sure that we've all heard the saying… “No pain…no gain" ...well, I have come to see how true that saying really is. It seems like it takes the sad and painful moments to turn us around, so we can truly see where we should actually be in life.
The hope that we can find today; is that even though we experience sad and difficult times in our lives; they are being used by God to help the heart become even stronger...and even better than it was before...do don't give up.