“A cheerful heart puts a smile on your face, but a broken heart leads to depression.” (Prov. 15:13 TPT).

The Smile! 

Wednesday, April 2, 1975, was the day my dad went home to be with the LORD.  He was only 55 but was battling congestive heart failure due to atherosclerosis. Although heart bypass operations are commonly used to treat atherosclerosis now, they were less common then and blacks were even more blatantly victimized by medical bias. 

Dad, who was the pastor of our church, had spent part of the early morning bouncing his 11-month-old grandson, Sherrod, on his knee. He was about to take my sister Gwen’s red and white 1973 Buick Apollo to be serviced in nearby Rocky Mount when he suffered a massive heart attack.  Mom and the twins, my baby sisters, Denise and Venise, were around him, praying and crying while waiting for the ambulance, which took a half hour to arrive. When they arrived, their resuscitation efforts failed.

But just before taking his final breath, Dad smiled. Perhaps, he saw the angel who would usher him into the heavenly presence of God. He may even have been given a future glimpse of the ministry he loved and held close to his heart, being carried on through his posterity as it surely would be. For Mom and the twins, it was a gracious, comforting smile that gave them a measure of peace in the midst of their deep grief.

And everyone who saw him at the viewing was struck by that smile which was like a rejoinder to the question, “O Death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15:55) The smile quietly and peacefully seemed to whisper, “Don’t weep for me” (Lk. 23:28). Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:54b). 

By the way, the baby boy Dad bounced on his knee that morning in April of 1975, J. Sherrod Sumner, my nephew, is now the pastor of the church!

Keep Smiling! Keep Shining!

That’s my recommendation to you! Smile! While working in ministry or just experiencing life in general, we can expect to encounter situations that can break our hearts and try to lead us into depression. But rather than succumb under the strain of those situations, adorn your face with one of life’s most potent weapons—a genuine SMILE!  

See the good in others!

Make every day your shining masterpiece!

Illuminate your environment with your positive attitude!

Lift everyone around you a little higher with your infectious smile!

Excel to the max—and take those in your sphere of influence higher!

Focus Quote:  “May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace” (Numbers 6:25-26).

Please continue to join us for our 5:14 pm prayer. “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). Just pause and pray wherever you are.