Quasimodo Writes a Guest Post

Here is what I have been thinking about lately. Actually today.

First let me tell you why.

I woke up about 3 days ago with a swollen eye.

Due to a stye or pimple or something. Although the intensity of pain has subsided,

~and trust me it was tear worthy~

my eyelid has gotten larger(?) since then. If that makes sense.

I have one giant enormous looking lazy eye.

I look like Quasimodo from Disneys Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I wish I was kidding. Oh, by the way, my name is Julie.
I blog at a little place called "The Funny Thing Of It Is."

Now you know why. Because I talk about stuff like this.

Anyways, back to Quasimodo. Yes, I did take a picture of him me.
Actually I took like 12 of them, because I was thinking this morning as I plopped

myself in front of the mirror, that perhaps one day I would be brave enough

to post one on facebook or my blog, just to use, for I don't know... something.

Sorry girls. Today is not that day. If you want to see a very close replica of what I 

 actually look like while typing this, just google it. Quasimodo.  

As a matter of fact, I can hardly see right now. My vision is blurred.

Impaired. Whatevs. The whole situation ain't cute.

Stay with me here, I have a point.

I plopped myself in front of the mirror this morning, hoping to make myself

feel better by putting makeup on the one normal & functional eye.

(Which by the way didn't work)

However what did work, was to laugh at myself.

I seriously just sat down in front of a full length mirror and kept laughing 

at how utterly ridiculous I looked. And yes, I was alone.

And this is what popped in my head at that moment.

This. Below.

 How completely true is this? How full of wisdom is our God?

Even in things like this! Laughter! Joy! A Happy Heart!

He knows whats up!

Laughter is the best, isn't it! When you are with your friends and you are on the floor,

laughing so hard at something completely lame...

but it is oh, so much fun!

I was tickling my daughter earlier today in bed and she kept asking for more

and more and more... and I always think to myself, how is it that these kids

want me to keep tickling them over and over?  Being tickled is like torture for me!

But the laughter, oh that laughter~ when you laugh so hard your stomach hurts,

is like medicine. It heals the soul. Sometimes you really just need it.

Sometimes when you are on the brink of tears, and you happen to laugh at something,

you actually start to cry. That proves you need it!

And sometimes, it's a decision we have to make. It really is.

Those moments where life throws an unexpected pimple curve ball right at your eyeball.

Or when your three kids are all asking you for 17 things all at one time.

Or maybe something more serious is going on in your life, a family trial,

a tragedy, a loss, a sickness, whatever it may be~

that is the time when you must use faith and let the joy of the Lord be your strength.

It's odd how the times in life when you have NO strength, sometimes you don't really want joy 

neither. Because I think a part of us likes to sulk and feel sorry for ourselves.

But that is when God tells us to let his JOY be our strength. ~Nehemiah 8:10

We need that to just do life. Right? It energizes us!

We have to CHOOSE to LET his JOY strengthen us.

Sit in front of the mirror. Smile. Make dumb faces at yourself.

Stretch your lips, or your eyelids or something.

Trust me, YOU WILL START LAUGHING, because you're alone.

And it's so silly that you are doing this!

But do it! If you are having a day where you are anxious, stressed, worried,

hurt, sad, bored, lonely..whatever.

Sit down in front of mirror, say "The Joy of the Lord is my strength"

and just laugh, girl. Make it happen. You will feel so much better. 

And the best part is you will have this secret smile that you will

carry with you all day long.

It's between you and God, how silly you were. 

 How much you laughed at absolutely nothing. And how much good it did you.

Thanks so much to Kelly for letting me share my heart here.

There are a million reasons why my blog is called The Funny Thing Of It Is,

and what I wrote about today is the main reason. 

I need life to be fun. We all do!