While I do not believe that God directly brings heartache and tragedy to His people, I do believe He will use those situations to admonish, teach and even bless. Over the last few years God has taught me many things. Last night I found myself making a list of the things God has taught me through adversity. Here is part of my list:
1. Look back to learn but not to wall er. Back in Alabama, my grandparents had hogs. Those hogs loved to wall er. They would get down in that mud and just stay there for hours. While it is important to learn from our past, we can't afford to wall er.
2. Happiness is a choice. God has blessed me with the freedom of choice. Though some would not agree, I believe we have a great deal of control over our attitudes and even emotions. Ultimately, I choose to rejoice in suffering or to die in it. I believe the Apostle Paul would agree with me on that.
3. It is more work to look for blessings instead of problems but far more rewarding. Problems are everywhere and they seem to jump out at us. Yet blessings are even more abundant, they just are not always as easy to find. It reminds me of the books "Finding Waldo." Waldo was in every single picture, you just had to look for him. Blessings are everywhere, if we look. Blessings don't have to be big. It may be a warm cup of coffee, my dog going all night without having to be walked, a glorious sunrise or a pleasant day at work. I find that when I spend my time looking for the blessings, I have less time to look for the problems. About a year ago my sister gave me a "blessing journal." Every night I write down the days blessings. It has truly changed my life. Perhaps when the pages are full I will start a "blessing blog."
4. Finally, the greatest lesson I have learned: GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME, ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!
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4 comments:
We'll consider you to be the "Blessings Waldo." Great idea and good thoughts. Thanks.
I, too, am a transplanted Alabamian–Melbourne, Florida for 23 years. Where do you hail from?
I grew up on a pig farm in Northwest Alabama, Colbert County.
BTW, your church family post was powerful. Might even use it in my Discovering Relationships sermon on Sunday.
Peace.
Welcome fellow Alabamian. There are several who read this blog but you are the only one brave enough to comment. We are almost neighbors. Limestone County here, just west of Huntsville.
that would be very cool, a blessing blog! go for it!
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