Welcome to another daily encouragement from the Our Daily Bread Devotional.

Today's reading titled The Joy God Provides was written by Cindy Hess Casper.

When Marshes out in public, she always tries to smile at others.

It's her way of reaching out to people who might need to see a friendly face.

Most of the time, she gets a genuine smile in return.

But during a time when Marsha was mandated to wear a face mask,

she realized that people could no longer see her mouth,

thus no one could see her smile. It's sad,

she thought, but I'm not going to stop. Maybe they'll see in my eyes that I'm smiling.

There's actually a bit of science behind that idea. The muscles for the corners of the mouth

and the ones that make the eyes crinkle can work in tandem.

It's called a Deschen smile, and it has been described as smiling with the eyes.

Proverbs reminds us that a cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and a cheerful heart is good medicine.

Quite often, the smiles of God's children stem from the

supernatural joy we possess. It's a gift from God that regularly spills out into our lives

as we encourage people who are carrying heavy burdens or share with those who are looking

for answers to life's questions.

Even when we experience suffering, our joy can still shine through.

When life seems dark, choose joy.

Let your smile be a window of hope reflecting God's love and the light of his presence in your life.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Proverbs chapter 15,

verses 13 through 15, and verse 30.

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