Every news broadcast reminds us that just breathing could be dangerous.
Covid-19 is everywhere and it feels as if everything changed overnight.
We are smack up against the truth that life is hard and beyond our control.
It's astonishingly easy to be a sponge and absorb the constant stream of bad news and scary warnings on all sides.
Then we fall into the trap of expecting the worst, justifying it by explaining we just want to be ready for what comes.
Who wants to live that way?
Re-think your thinking
You and I cannot change the world or what's happening, but we can change where we fasten our thoughts.
Whatever our personal situation may be, here's what we know for rock-bottom sure:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. --Hebrews 13:8
Does that make us immune to hurting when someone we love becomes ill or dies? Do we laugh at job loss? Do we feel nothing when crises wipe out retirement savings?
Of course not. The difference is we don't give in and park our minds in Pity Land.
If anyone knew about suffering, it was the Apostle Paul. Try reading his words aloud and listen with your heart.
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this is all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed ... Therefore, we do not lose heart. --2 Corinthians 4:6-9, 16a
I believe every word of these passages, yet I confess, this "jar of clay" sometimes gets discouraged, too
That's why I love this phrase from Psalm 103:14:
. . . for he remembers that we are dust.
Whenever I start beating up on myself for not being the shining strong example of faith I want to be, I think of these wonderful words and remind myself I am only dust.
Imperfect.
Human.
But loved by God, who knows my weaknesses and loves me simply because I love Jesus. That means I can forgive myself and move on.
So can you.
We see what we look for
Once the question of who we are in Christ is settled in our minds we look at life from a different perspective.
We let go of the "victim mindset" and accept that life can be hard but like Paul, we may be down but we are are not destroyed.
Here's what God said to His people through Moses--and to you and me.
I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life . . . --Deuteronomy 30:19-20
That means every morning--every moment, really--we decide: Will I choose life?
Because that makes all the difference.
Still learning, too,
Lenore
