Rachel St. John-Gilbert - Wake Up Laughing

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2004 by Rachel St. John-Gilbert

Print ISBN 978-1-59310-147-3

eBook Editions:
Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-62416-624-2
Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-62416-623-5

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the H OLY B IBLE , N EW I NTERNATIONAL V ERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80920.

Cover image Dan McGeehan

Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.barbourbooks.com

Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

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5 4 3 2

To my precious family:
Scott, Trevor Scott, Tori Leigh, and Whitney
Nicole. We may not always wake up laughing,
but we sure come close.

Every morning as we slip out of bed and slide our feet into our warm fluffy slippers, we have a choice. Will we face the circumstances and people in our life with grumbling and negativityor will we face them with gratitude? The choice is ours! The attitude we choose will color our day.

I grant you that its easier to let lifes challenges get the better of us, causing us to whine and complain in despair. Its more difficult to choose to rejoice when situations and people dont exactly fit into our personal picture of how life should be.

Each of us could use a little help and encouragement in seeing the positive side of life. Thats what Rachel St. John-Gilbert has given us. Wake Up Laughing is more than a devotional bookits a jump-start to our day! Through her candid examples we learn to laugh at situations that might normally make us worry, fret, or cry. We learn to take off the dark glasses of despair and put on the bright glasses of hope to see every circumstance as an opportunity to learn and draw closer to God.

As you read this creative and unique book of devotions, youll begin to experience your world in a fresh new way. Youll be encouraged to allow the glorious light of laughter to lighten the path of some of your darker situations. Youll discover yourself in the unconventional reality of Rachels worldpersonally I take great comfort in the fact that Im not the only one who gets nervous ordering coffee at Starbucks!

Some of lifes greatest lessons are learned through laughter, so take a walk on the lighter side of life and enjoy a daily dose of devotional delight!

K AROL L ADD
Author of the best-selling books
The Power of a Positive Wife,
The Power of a Positive Mom,
and The Power of a Positive Friend

This book would be a few disjointed essays gathering dust in a shoebox in the top of my closet if it werent for a moment of kismet over dinner with several writing friends. During dinner, at one point I lifted my fork and pointed it squarely at editor-guru Steve Laube and asked, Why cant Christian women wake up laughing?

Before the last word left my lips, he and fellow diner, author Becky Freeman, locked eyes and sang in unison, Thats your title!

Later, both friends came through at critical junctures and not only kept the project alive but kept my hopes alive that this book would make it to publicationeventually. A year later and days after I delivered my If your idea of expanding my territory is letting my Pulitzer Prize contender hang out in the top of my closet that is A-okay with me speech to God, Shannon Hill with Barbour Publishing rode in on a white horse with contract in hand.

Warm appreciation to Super Agent Man, Lee Hough. James Bond has nothing on you. Your wisdom and friendship have steadied me throughout this sometimes-daunting process. It still amazes me that you answer my phone calls. (Okay, so I use the pseudonymn of Stormie Omartian, but still)

Thanks, too, to our baby-sitting crew who rode herd on our herd: Kristi and Jenny Pereira and wonder dog, Penny. Lauren Schleyer and Britney Spears (I mean, Meyer). Our kids have been blessed by your enthusiasm, kindness, and creativity.

And finally, heartfelt gratitude to the hired hands and big hearts of my substantive editors: lead editor (and sometimes collaborator), my mother and best-selling author, Ruthie Arnold; and coeditor/author, Lynn D. Morrissey (check out her exquisitely written book on prayer journaling: Love Letters to God). Both women kept me in stitches with their funnies, in tears with their genuine encouragement, and in awe of their giftedness.

Even so, my greatest awe is reserved for God. His love sets me free, draws me into Him, and keeps me laughing.

The Purpose-Driven Laugh

While shopping at a Christian bookstore, I overheard a genteel southern lady asking a friend, Have you read that wundaful new book called The Purpose-Driven Laugh?

I thought, Wow, what a great title. I need to get a copy. Well, as it turns out, she was actually looking for Rick Warrens The Purpose-Driven Life. But I started thinking, Does laughter have a meaningful purpose in our lives, or is it just a frivolous physical phenomenon that matters little when the giggles have faded into silence? And then I thought some more.

Life gives us many opportunities to be solemn and contemplativewhether were facing guilt from blowing our tops at cranky toddlers, mouthy teens, or aggravating spouses; wringing our hands over todays troubling headlines; or reeling from the loss of someone we love. But if we succumb to the heaviness we feel, the enemy often places one foot squarely on our hearts and the other on our funny bonesand we end up immobilized.