You know what, people are funny creatures. We're all completely different, even though we have similarities. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. We all have different trials to overcome. And we all have different reactions to those trials.
I've had a few conversations over the last couple of months that have really solidified my thinking that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. I've spoken to people going through really tough challenges who handle them with patience and faith, and to them, those challenges don't seem all that huge. I've also spoken to people who are going through some minor inconveniences who act like it's the end of the world and the sky is falling and all the buildings are collapsing and oh! The horror! To them, that trial is the most awful thing that could be wished on anyone.
Why is it that the huge trial was seen as something small, and the small trial was seen as something huge?
It's all in how these individuals choose to react to them.
And that makes me think. If my attitude determines whether a trial is large or small, why wouldn't I choose to think of all my trials as small? Why wouldn't I choose to be positive, to see things in the best possible light, and reduce the stress on myself?
Where does the ability to do that come from?
Trust in the Lord.
When we're able to look at our lives and say, "Okay, I don't understand what's going on here, but I'm going to trust that the Lord's got this," our challenges become so much easier to face. Why do we fight so hard to fix things that only He can fix? It's like we're determined to beat our heads against brick walls, trying to control things that are simply out of our control. As I've practiced turning things over to the Lord, I've found that things go so much better than they would if I were the boss. Kind of mind-boggling, that God might actually be better at being in charge than I am, right?
My challenge to myself and to each of us is that as we are faced with difficulties, we learn to turn them over to the Lord and then ask Him what our part is in the solution. Usually it's so much simpler than the tasks we try to assign ourselves. Let's seek to face our problems with patience and faith. Let's choose to see them as small setbacks rather than earth-ending calamities. The Lord has this all well in hand. He really does.
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