A Cheerful Heart Is Good Medicine: How I've learned to embrace God's sovereignty through my battle with chronic pain

By Jennifer Louden

Chronic pain has been my life's companion for the past ten years. This book shares some of my personal journal entries, prayers, cheerful thoughts, and certain foundational truths the Holy Spirit has taught me along the way. I share of the numerous struggles and countless failures I've had. Above all, I share how my LORD has been the One who has held me, carried me, and sustained me the entire time. As you walk with me through this book, I pray you will see that suffering does not need to drive a wedge between you and your Savior. Your suffering, if you will allow it, can be what opens your heart to the supernatural power of the living God! You can be ever so full of cheerfulness even in the midst of ruthless adversity. On your journey you'll find I share many "cheerful thought" moments. Thoughts that are noble, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy. Thoughts that have brought tremendous healing to my aching heart. Remember, a cheerful heart is good medicine! As you continue on there are many places for you to take a break and spend some time with God. He is a safe place for your broken heart. Be honest and journal your sorrows and concerns before Him. In many of my raw and honest moments before the LORD the battle has been quite brutal. But through my obedience""and yes, even my disobedience""my Savior has never left my side. God has shown me sovereignty in suffering by showing Himself to me. And even though I have not met with healing in my body, I have encountered the Healer Himself! And what a beautiful sight He is to behold! My desire for you as you travel with me is to know that you are never alone. Whether your pain is physical, emotional, or spiritual, there is a way to live with or get through the pain. I cannot sugarcoat it for you. It is not an easy way to live, but it is a possible way to live. You do not have to exist in a state of downheartedness or despair. There is hope! The nailed-to-the-cross but risen-from-the-grave hope of Jesus Christ!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098008765

Jennifer Louden

Jennifer Louden is a bestselling author, certified coach, novelist, and creator of innovative learning events and retreats. She has appeared on numerous TV and radio programs, including "Oprah". Jennifer lives on an island in Puget Sound with her husband, Chris, and their daughter, Lillian.

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A Cheerful Heart Is Good Medicine

How I’ve learned to embrace God’s sovereignty through my battle with chronic pain

Jennifer Louden

Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Louden

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Acknowledgments

It has been my utmost joy and pleasure to see the Holy Spirit of God work through me in ways I could never imagine possible. But with God all things are possible! I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who in one way or another have helped bring this book to fruition.

Thank you to Christian Faith Publishing for every bit of help you gave to make my book a beautiful reality. Thank you, Linda and Jordyn, for being patient with me and helping me to work through the entire process. Thank you to the entire team at Christian Faith Publishing for all your efforts displayed throughout my book.

I am so grateful to my mother Winnie who laid for me my foundation in Christ. You held firm to your faith no matter what came your way. You have exampled Christ to David and I and to many others all throughout your life. Other than your love, mom, the greatest gift I ever received from you is the love I have for Jesus Christ. And that is because of your constant and continual love for Him.

I am so thankful for my brother David, and my four children, Meagan, Andrew, Noah and Moses. You all are the lights of my heart and I am so utterly thankful that God blessed me with you all. Thank you for your encouragement, support, and love. Thank you for your endless help when it came to technology. Computers and Word baffled me (and still does) and your patient help was priceless to me. Thank you most of all for giving me a life full of Cheerful Thoughts!

A big thanks to my friend Jennifer Doggart whose editing skills helped bring my words to life. I thank you for making the time to fit my writings into your busy life. A smiley face and a small note of encouragement helped me to push through on days when feelings of inadequacy consumed my mind.

Thank you to my dear friend Kathy Ricco for beautifying my book with your photos of God’s wondrous and glorious creation. You have a gift for capturing that which our LORD has created.

A heart felt thank you to my wonderful husband Mark. You are my most wonderful earthly gift from God. You mirror God’s grace, compassion, and understanding to me daily. You have encouraged me to write from day one! You have been so patient as I would spend hours at time writing. You love and accept me and my pain without question. You make sure I know that I am loved no matter what may come our way. You are my heart beat and I cherish our life together!

To God my Father—A most exalting thank you for Your steadfast and powerful love! How can I even begin to say thank you for Your inexhaustible and unfathomable grace! I am humbled at, and so appreciative for Your enduring and endless grace that it bewilders me and thrills me all at the same time! It truly is amazing!

To God my Savior, Jesus Christ—The One who bore my sin, my shame, all in the name of love. There are no words to convey the depth of my gratitude for a love such as Yours. A love that consumes me! A love that carries me! A love that cleanses me! It truly is amazing!

To God the Holy Spirit—Thank you to my Guide, my Counselor, the One who would keep me up till all hours of the night because I was so filled with You that I couldn’t stop writing! I have experienced Your Spirit moving in my being and even though it took me to the point of complete exhaustion and more physical pain, I would not have missed that for anything. It truly is amazing!

Introduction

When we consider Abraham, Moses and David, or when we look at the apostles Peter and Paul and remember the saints through history, we are reminded that our God is able to fulfill all of His will, even with weak people who come to Him with all their hearts. Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; He is still sufficient when we are small. The Holy Spirit lives within us and empowers us, so we can still be confident when we are weak.

—Bill Mills¹¹

Dear Friend,

I like to start my notes to you as if we’re already in the middle of a conversation. I pretend we’re the oldest and dearest of friends as opposed to what we really are (took that line from one of my favorite movies, You’ve Got Mail), as opposed to what we really are, for we are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26). We are family! We are brothers and sisters and fellow heirs with our Savior, Jesus!²²

I felt God lay it on my heart to take on this project of creating and writing a devotional journal when I came across this verse in Proverbs 17:22: A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. I live with chronic pain and have so for the past nine years. And quite often my spirit feels dried up and crushed. So I began to dig deep into the Word of God because I was determined not to have a crushed spirit.

I am not a writer by nature. It is not one of my gifts, so the first time I felt the prodding, even though I liked the idea of creating a devotional, I pretty much ignored it. Deep in my heart I just didn’t feel adequate to do this project, especially one where I had to write. Did I mention that I’m not a writer? Talk about fear and being taken out of your comfort zone! I wasn’t sure I could even expose myself to the world like that. After about four months I felt the prodding again to create this cheerful heart devotional, so I took it more seriously this time and thus began my journey to boldly go where I had never gone before.

I struggled at first when starting this because, like I said earlier, I just didn’t feel adequate to take on this project. I never finished college, let alone Bible college. I am not that spiritually wise or mature. Believe me, I have a long way to go in the sanctification process. I deal with doubts and fears and many other needed attitude adjustments. I just thought, I am an uneducated woman who doesn’t have the ability to share, encourage or give hope to help anyone.

In my walk with the lord over the past thirty-some years, I’ve come to realize that this is true. I can do nothing on my own. In John 15:5 it says, Apart from me (Jesus) you can do nothing. When you and I accepted Jesus as our Savior, we received power and ability from the Holy Spirit.³³ Peter says,

For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has bestowed on us His precious and magnificent promises [of inexpressible value], so that by them you may…become sharers of the divine nature. (2 Pet. 1:3–4, AMP )

God supplies us with all we need to have a dynamic spiritual life. The definition of dynamic is having active strength of body or mind. Our spiritual life is lived out in our minds, and God gives us everything necessary for that active strength of mind! How awesome is that! We get God Himself! His divine nature living in us, filling us with energy, zest, boldness, passion, and high-octane get-up-and-go! Let us open our hearts and minds to the gutsy and tenacious life God so desires us to have. Hearts and lives full of cheer!

Many of you may remember the TV commercial from the mid-1980s, Milk, it does a body good. Dairy farmers and milk distributors were trying to sell the idea of milk and all its benefits. If you drank milk, in time you would see amazing changes in your body. Your bones and muscles would become strong. You would grow big and tall and be able to stand up against any bully, with your strong arms, powerful legs, and broad chest. There was even one advertisement that said if you drank milk it could help you get the boy or the girl of your dreams. Milk was supposed to be a real pick me up.

Even though I look on those commercials and reminisce with a few giggles, those ads were nothing but empty, hollow promises. The dairy farmers’ and milk companies’ ploy was to sell as much milk as possible in order to gain as much profit as they could. These people couldn’t guarantee or assure the audience that any of the ideas they portrayed in their advertisements were trustworthy and would come to complete and certain fruition.

I do, however, have One that I can turn to who makes promises and guarantees that I can absolutely and without a doubt trust are true. God’s Word says that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13, ESV). His Word says by His power and His might I’ll be able to stand up against any bully, earthly or demonic,⁴⁴ because who, then, can comprehend the thunder of His power?⁵⁵ In all things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us] (Rom. 8:37, AMP). God says in Jeremiah, Behold, I am the lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too difficult for Me? (32:27, AMP). Nothing will be impossible with God, for no word from God will ever fail.⁶⁶ Any word that comes out of the mouth of the Almighty God is the absolute truth (Ps. 119:160). His words are reliable, dependable, and incorruptible; and they will be fulfilled completely when He declares the right time to be.

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. (Isa. 46:10)

I can trust that I will see amazing changes in myself because Jesus is the real pick me up! Jesus—He does a body good!

Every morning God gives us breath, life happens. We need to be able to deal with whatever our day, or the enemy, may throw at us. When my spirit is crushed, I don’t have the energy or strength to face anything. It can even make it difficult to see the blessings in my life.

A crushed spirit will take its toll on your physical body. It weakens you. It can give you ulcers, high blood pressure, heart problems, anxiety attacks, and a host of other ailments. You may lose your appetite and therefore don’t eat and fail to give your body the proper nutrition it needs, and next thing you know, you’re down for the count, literally!

Many days as soon as I crawl out of bed, my spirit feels crushed and my heart aches. I have a sense of heaviness and dread before my day even begins. I feel weighed down with sorrow, completely drained, and utterly exhausted. My spirit is melancholy and miserable. My heart is depressed and despondent. These crushed-spirit days make it so much harder to deal with my daily chronic pain. It’s hard to deal with anything in general.

Our heart is at the very core of who we are. It doesn’t just keep our physical body alive, but it is also what keeps our spirit alive. If we come down with a physical sickness, we do everything in our earthly power to heal that ailment. When our heart becomes sick, we must do everything we can to heal that ailment as well. Only we don’t do it in our earthly power. It must be done through the power of Jesus Christ dwelling in us.

I have enough going on in my life that I sure don’t need to add to it by living with a crushed spirit. God doesn’t want us to live that way either! His Word says that a cheerful (or joyful) heart is good medicine.⁷⁷ We know that cheer, or joy, is a fruit of the Spirit. Paul says in Galatians 5:22 that the fruit of the Spirit (the result of His [God’s] presence within us) is joy (AMP). Over and over God’s Word speaks of all the benefits of Jesus dwelling in us:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 15:13)

Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isa. 51:11b)

The joy of the lord is your strength. (Neh. 8:10b)

In Your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forever more! (Ps. 16:11). Amen and Hallelujah! No one can take away your great joy!⁸⁸

My dear friends, the joy of this world is fleeting but our joy in the lord is imperishable! Indestructible! Christ died on that cross so that we might have that fullness of joy in God’s presence. Hebrews 12:2 says,

[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith…who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work]. (AMP)

Jesus Christ, who for the joy set before Him, endured. Endured the cross, endured shame, because He knew His joy was found in His Father. Joy was found in completing His Father’s will, which was making us right before the Holy One, God. He redeemed us from our sins and gave us peace with our Creator. Every blessing that came from that cross can never be taken from us. Grace, mercy, forgiveness, strength, peace, wisdom, indwelling of the Holy Spirit, redemption, adoption into the family of God, love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, and joy are all blessings that are ours forevermore!

Your foundation of joy is as secure and as solid it gets! No one, including Satan, can take Christ, or anything He has done, away from you. Paul says in Romans,

For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (8:38–39, AMP and NIV)

If we can’t be separated from the love of God, then the blessings that He has given us can never be taken from us either. At times we are going to feel our joy become diminished by sin, by the pressures, issues, and struggles of this world; but it can never be destroyed.

The lord’s cheer or joy is good medicine. It restores, refreshes, invigorates, and raises our spirits. Joy calms racing hearts, quiets anxiety within, soothes the churning of acid in our guts, and restores our appetite for food and life! It gives us the vim and vigor we need to carry on!

Let the words of Isaiah 40:28–31 permeate your heart and soul. Shut out the chaos that is going on around you, and let the truth of God’s Word stimulate and exhilarate your weary mind and body.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become tired or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who has no might He increases power… Those who wait for the lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] will gain new strength and renew their power; they will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun]; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not grow tired. (AMP)

And so, my dear friends, we do not become discouraged, beat down, or frightened. Yes, our outer self, bit by bit, may be wasting away; but our inner self is deliberately and piece by piece being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16).

Whether in writing this devotional for you or just you and I trying to live out our lives, which may include constant pain, ongoing struggles, or the day-in-and-day-out normal activities, there is no way we are going to be able to do it or get through it without Jesus, without His Holy Spirit residing in us. His Word says that His Spirit has given us absolutely everything necessary for a dynamic spiritual life. (Bold print mine)

Our heart and our focus need to become the heart and focus of God. We need to see God for who He really is: the holy, good, majestic Creator and Sustainer of all life. His Word, His power, His strength, His life-giving breath are the things that are going to give me words of hope and encouragement to share with you; and they are ultimately going to give us all that cheerful heart we so desire.

One of my absolute favorite verses in the Bible comes from Exodus 3:14–15: God said to Moses, I am who I am… This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations (ESV). I am encompasses everything to me! I am your source for everything you need in life! I am your comfort! I am your strength! I am your provider! I am your shield! I am your protector! I am your power, and I could go on and on! I am all of it!

Throughout the Bible, God didn’t call the qualified but He always qualified those He called when they humbled themselves and allowed God to use them. I don’t believe for a second that Job was able, in his own strength, to deal with all the physical, spiritual, and emotional attacks Satan was heaving at him. The Bible says that Job never once sinned in anything he said, but we do read that Job got wrapped up in all that was happening to him and seemed to get into a rut of griping and complaining to God. Wow! Can you relate to that? I know I sure can! I can get hung up on grumbling and bellyaching to God! I start to vent about all the garbage I have to go through every single day and wonder why I’m not getting a break from it at all! I lose sight of where my heart and focus should be, on the great I AM. Relishing in the greatness of God is where you and I are going to find that cheerful heart and all that we need in order to live with chronic pain or just the daily struggles that we have in our lives.

"For I am the lord! If I say it, it will happen!" (Ezek. 12:25, NLT)

Trust your Heavenly Father to do what He says! Say good-bye