You Will Smile Again
(Even If You Can't See How Yet)

How God Restores Joy After Deep Pain and Heartbreak

By Rodney D. Nielsen

Have you ever wondered if you’ll ever really laugh again?

You Will Smile Again is not another book rushing you to be “fine”; it’s a strategy for getting your joy and your strength back.

You still show up. You still serve, still raise your hands on Sunday, still smile for the photos. But behind the competent exterior, you feel numb, quietly breaking from a wound most people never see: a betrayal you didn’t see coming, a marriage that ended, the loss of someone you loved, a child who walked away. And somewhere inside, you’ve started to wonder if real joy is just for other people now.

It isn’t. Rodney Nielsen names what you’re actually feeling and permits you to grieve honestly before God, then offers you a clear, step-by-step path forward, pairing the truth of Scripture with what we now understand about how God designed your mind and body to heal. He writes as someone who has been in the dark himself and found the way back, so you can trust where he’s leading.

Rather than addressing pain in general, it meets you in your specific wound: grief, rejection, shame, disappointment, or trauma, with practical steps, prayers, and reflections. It even names the hurt few books will: the wounds caused by the church itself. And it closes with a guided 30-Day strategy path that turns hope into something you can actually do, one day at a time.

You may be wounded. You may be tired. But real joy, not a performed smile, is still possible for you. With God, you will smile again.

Includes a bonus 30-Day Devotional Guide for finding hope, healing, and joy again.

    • A strategy, not just comfort: A step-by-step method and a 30-Day Devotional Guide, not only a message of encouragement

    • Scripture + science together: Biblical truth paired with how God designed the mind and body to heal

    • It meets your specific wound: Grief, rejection, shame, disappointment, or trauma, not pain in the abstract

    • It names church hurt: Honestly addressing wounds others ignore

    • Honest, never rushed: It validates your pain, then gives a real way forward.

    • A built-in transformation tool: The 30-Day Strategy makes it ideal for individuals and groups

  • Title: You Will Smile Again
    Subtitle: (Even If You Can’t See How Yet) How God Restores Joy After Deep Pain and Heartbreak
    Genre: Christian Living / Inspirational Nonfiction (Hope, Grief & Healing)
    Page count: 216 pages
    Size: 6 × 9 Inches | 15.24 x 22.86 cm
    Language: English / American
    Formats: Paperback, hardcover, e-book, and audiobook
    ISBNs: Paperback 979-8-9966938-0-1 · Hardcover 979-8-9966938-1-8 · eBook 979-8-9966938-2-5 · Audiobook 979-8-9966938-3-2
    Publication date: 20 October 2026
    Publisher / Imprint: Overcomer Press · Distributor: IngramSpark

Coming October 20, 2026

  • Coming October 20

  • Coming October 20

  • Coming October 20

  • Coming October 20

  • Coming October 20

  • Coming October 20

  • Coming October 20

Some book retailer links on this page are affiliate links.
Please see my Affiliate Disclosure for more information.

Advance Praise for:
You Will Smile Again

  • “Some books explain pain. This one walks with you out of it … honest about the dark and relentless about hope.”

    — Philip Harding, CEO Impact Junkie, US Congressional Candidate

  • “This book wasn’t written by someone who merely studied grief and loss, it was written by someone who lived it … a reminder that God’s faithfulness is greater than your pain.”

    — Bishop Art Hodges

  • “Pastor Nielsen is living proof that God’s grace is sufficient to help you endure any heartache … Let him show you the path to ‘beauty for ashes,’ so that you will smile again.”

    — Dr. Donna Fearnside

  • “Pastor Rodney D. Nielsen weaves Scripture, science, and real stories of restoration into a path back to joy. Your smile isn’t gone, it’s just waiting. A must-read.”

    — Dr. Stephen B. Allard, Pastor, Author, Interculturalist

  • “Some authors tell you a story of their pain. Rodney will help walk you out of it … He’s earned the right to write it. I promise you this is a book you won’t be able to put down!”

    — Pastor Tony Suarez, Revival Makers Ministry

  • “Rodney most certainly speaks from a place of empathy … if you are facing a situation you deem difficult or even hopeless, you owe it to yourself to be refreshed by reading this book.”

    — Dr. Jeffrey A. Stirnemann, MD, Founder & Director, Apostolic Healthcare International

A sprouting seed

You Will Smile Again Bonus Content:

    1. The author says many wounds “wear ordinary faces”: a tired smile, a sharp temper, a numb heart. Which “ordinary face” do you tend to wear when you’re hurting

    2. Rodney invites readers to name one specific hurt they’re carrying. If you’re willing, what came to mind for you, and what has it been like to carry it quietly?

    3. The book says God “does not edit out pain”, pointing to David, Job, and Jesus in Gethsemane. How does it change things to know that honest grief is not a lack of faith?

    4. Have you ever felt your pain was “too much” for church? What happened, and how did it shape the way you bring your struggles to God or to others?

    5. Which of the five wounds: grief, rejection/betrayal, shame, disappointment, or trauma/fear do you recognize most in your own story right now?

    6. The book pairs Scripture with what we know about how God designed us to heal. Was anything about the “science of healing” new or freeing for you?

    7. Where have you been tempted to heal in isolation? Who are the “few steady, supportive relationships” God might be inviting you into?

    8. Which lie of the enemy named in the book (“you must have deserved this,” “you’ll never be whole again,” “you’re completely alone”) has felt most believable to you, and what truth answers it?

    9. The title is a promise: you will smile again. Where are you on that journey today, and what would “real joy, not a fake smile” actually look like in your life?

    10. As you finish, what is one practical step, prayer, or habit from the book you want to carry forward this week?

  • Based on the book’s opening

    Click here to download and print out

  • One page printable for when you need a little extra help

    Click here to download and print out

Something Good Is Coming

Blog
When God Is Silent: What to Do While You Wait
When God Is Silent: What to Do While You Wait

You’ve prayed. You’ve fasted, maybe. You’ve done the honest inventory, asked is there something in me blocking this?, and come up empty. And still: nothing. The heavens over your situation feel like a phone that rings and rings in an empty house.

Read more →
What to Say (and What Not to Say) to Someone Who’s Grieving
What to Say (and What Not to Say) to Someone Who’s Grieving

I’ve stood in more funeral home receiving lines than I can count. Thirty-two years of ministry will do that. And I can tell you the exact moment I see grieving people flinch. It’s rarely the casket. It’s usually a sentence.

Read more →
How to Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Actually Sorry
How to Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Actually Sorry

They’re not going to apologize.

I know that’s a hard sentence to read. Maybe you’ve been waiting years, rehearsing the conversation where they finally see what they did, finally say the words, finally make it right. And every year the phone doesn’t ring.

Read more →
How to Find Your Joy Again After Betrayal
How to Find Your Joy Again After Betrayal

I can tell you where I was standing when my world cracked. I remember the dishwasher ticking. I remember the clock keeping time as if nothing had happened.

Read more →
Read the blog
Read the blog