Its okay to be happy when you're sad.
- Kerstin Lindquist
- Jan 21
- 3 min read
You can be both happy and sad at the same time.
When you’re grieving, it can feel like happiness is off-limits. As if joy would somehow betray your sorrow. You might even feel guilty for smiling, laughing, or noticing something good in the middle of pain. But holding joy and grief at the same time isn’t wrong, it’s healthy.
These past weeks have been marked by deep sorrow. I’ve walked through the loss of my friend and prepared for her funeral. The feelings are familiar, echoing the season when I lost my mom five years ago. And yet, in the middle of this tragedy, I’ve caught myself feeling genuinely happy. Hopeful for the future or excited in a brief moment of success.
Even writing that feels uncomfortable.
But it isn’t wrong.
When God lives within us—as He so lovingly desires—He makes room for a peace, and even a joy, that truly does surpass understanding. It doesn’t erase the pain. It sits beside it.
If you’ve invited God to dwell in you, you don’t have to choose between grief and joy. You can experience both, even when the world feels like it’s crumbling around you.
Part of the hope I’ve felt in this otherwise heartbreaking season has come from you. Your kindness. Your generosity. Just when I’m tempted to write off social media as mostly noise and negativity, God reminds me that it can also be a place of extraordinary good.
Your donations to support these two children now orphaned by cancer have been overwhelmingly humbling. Every time I see a name—someone I’ve only known through an Instagram comment or a live stream—my heart fills. And then there are friends, guests, and vendors from QVC who are quietly giving, without recognition. I am deeply grateful. And yes, even happy, despite the circumstances.
The funeral is this Saturday. And after family and friends return home, and Abbie and Finn go back to school, the reality of their new, parentless world will settle in more fully. Every dollar raised is a tangible reminder that they are not alone—that people see them, love them, and care.
Thank you for helping create moments of joy in the middle of deep pain.
With so much love,
Kerstin
You can read the entire story on this GoFundMe page for the two children who have now lost both their parents to cancer.
This is about helping Finn and Abbie with basic living expenses, education costs, medical and legal needs, and the many unseen financial burdens that come with losing both parents so early in life. It is about giving them space to grieve without the added weight of fear about how they will make it through the next chapter.
If you are able, please consider donating. If you are not, please share this page and keep Finn and Abbie lifted in prayer.
xoxo
Kerstin
Coming up...
Live 1.23 2p est on QVC2 with 8Greens
Please join me February 11th for our Open Prayer Group 9a PST/12pm EST. Virtual via Zoom. Tickets are Free, you just need to register here https://www.kerstin-lindquist.com/event-list
Group Coaching February 17th - Bring all your questions to this small, heartfelt group and get real answers and strategies in a safe affordable place. https://www.kerstin-lindquist.com/event-list
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