Today's Scripture
The Gift of Laughter – Genesis 21:1-7
(Holman Christian Standard Bible)
1 The Lord came to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”7 She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”
Stephanie's Devotion
What the passage says
When Sarah first heard God’s promise that she would bear Abraham a son she laughed in unbelief. It was as if she laughed at God. In her mind she thought, “yeah, right…” We live in an I’ll-believe-it-when-I see-it world, full of doubt and skepticism. So we laugh at unlikely promises. We think they are funny because we can’t believe in them.
Sarah reacted in joyful laughter when she discovered for herself that God is true to His promises and CAN do what seems impossible. If we have been skeptical and then experience God’s provision we gain a joy that endures and is expectant.
I meet so many people who have every reason to laugh in unbelief. Life is not easy. People sometimes wait a lifetime for a joyful promise fulfilled by God. That is why I am intent on sharing my stories of God’s redemption in my life and 
the lives of others I know. It helps people laugh in expectation. Sarah suffered through many years expecting nothing, but God changed everything.
Do you laugh joyfully? People are drawn to that kind of laughter. It makes them smile with you. What if what you say or share gives someone hope, hope enough to laugh expectantly, while waiting for the Promise Keeper’s timing. I know God is calling us to be messengers of that kind of joy.
Prayer
Jesus, You are the one who always gave unexpected joy to those who met you. Fill us with Your laughter; laughter that makes people gather close and hope in You. Amen.
*Contributed by Stephanie Dickenson
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