Gloom Away

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

1 PETER 5:7

FEELING GLOOMY? Down in the dumps? Droopy? We’ve all been there. Some days are just down days. Maybe you didn’t sleep well or you’re fighting off a bug. Or maybe you’re worried about something or you had a fight with someone you love. All kinds of things can put us in a gloomy mood when we’d rather just pull the covers over our head and go back to sleep.

God’s got a plan for when we’re feeling down in the dumps: Talk to him about it. Whatever is bugging us, he wants to hear about it. He already knows the things that make us sad, but he wants to talk to us about them anyway. And a lot of the time, when we pray to God about a problem or issue, we soon find a way to fix or overcome it.

Plus, talking to God is an automatic mood booster! You can change the way your day is going by stopping, stepping away from what’s going on, and having a conversation with God. Ask him to help you see the situation clearly. Ask him to help you find the right words to say to others. Ask him to lift your mood and move your focus away from what’s bothering you. You can kick a gloomy mood with God’s help, no problem.

DO

Stand with your back against a wall and put a penny between your feet. Now bend over without bending your knees and pick up the penny.

How’d you do? Try again.

Not so good? Try again.

Now try again, but this time you can bend your knees.

This activity is like what happens when we get stuck in a bad mood. We can’t get things done, we feel stuck, and it’s not very comfortable. But when you bent your knees, it was easy, didn’t hurt, and you could move! Talking to God about a bad mood is like bending our knees. He’ll help us!

PRAY

Dear God,

Thank you for being there for me when I’m in a gloomy mood. Please remind me to talk to you when I feel down in the dumps. I know you’ll always help me. Amen.

READ

Psalm 30:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17