Things to be thankful for

John Piper said, "This is God's universal purpose for all Christian suffering: more contentment in God and less satisfaction in the world".  It is so important to remember this!  Loneliness, suffering, trials...God is working it all out for good.  How kind of him to love us enough to bring us through things like this!  He doesn't just allow it to happen - he is much too powerful for that!  Every single thing that we go through, no matter how small, has already passed through him first.

A friend has recently challenged me to write down 3 things that I am thankful for before I go to bed each night.  It is way too easy for me to focus on the present and the difficulties I am facing, forgetting the amazing faithfulness of God.  He has been faithful and he will be again.  This has been a small but helpful way for me to re-center my thoughts.

Today I am thankful for my boss.  A few of my friends were talking about how their bosses seem to forget they are people sometimes, and immediately I thought, "wow, I've never had that problem!".  Thankfully, I was able to see it right away, and thank God for it.  Although my job isn't glamorous and can get monotonous at times, I am so grateful for a boss who is kind, understanding and caring - I know this is a rare thing.  She is quite funny too...she participated in 'zone-lympics' last summer:
 

Here I am spinning her in a chair before she tries to curtsy in a straight line with her eyes shut...

I am thankful that God's word is unchanging.  The sun might not be shining today, but his promises are the same today, yesterday and forever!

And last and by no means least, I am thankful for my mom!  I can't tell you the amount of times I have called her, or emailed her, or texted her...and she is always there, ready to encourage :).  She is the best!!!

Putting things in perspective...

"You do not find one godly man who came out of an affliction worse than when he went into it; though for awhile he was shaken, yet at last he was better for an affliction".

I have been thinking a lot about this type of thing lately, because life has just seemed so hard.  Do you ever have those days where you just feel like you're failing at everything?  Those days when nothing seems to go right, and you just feel like giving up?  I've been having a lot of those days lately.

But that's not the point of this post.  The point is that no matter how discouraged I feel, I have something to hold onto.  And, no matter how much I feel like I'm struggling, it is nothing compared to what Christ suffered for my sake. 

The crazy thing is how easy it is to forget about his sacrifice.  I so often catch myself living with such entitlement.  It is so easy for my heart to fall into thinking that i deserve good.  That i deserve to be happy, healthy and content.  But that is not true!  What I deserve is hell, because I have sinned against a holy and righteous God.

When my thoughts start going in a downward spiral, the only thing that helps is teaching myself again, and again and again that Christ is enough.  The quote above is from a book called "Be Still My Soul", which has been invaluable to me.  I can't recommend it enough!! It is a compilation of excerpts from different essays on pain and suffering, and the thing that has been so helpful is that every single one points me back to Christ's suffering.  It is full of such clear, practical and helpful truth...a welcome breath of fresh air from my thoughts.


Here are a few more quotes that have been so helpful for me in breaking the cycle of my thoughts:

"Because Jesus is raised from the dead, it is the very meaning of history that life comes out of death - that out of devastation comes redemption". - Keller

"I have the comfort and confidence that the entire matter was under God's overarching decrees, and that nothing happens in my life outside of his loving plans for me...God cares most...about teaching me to hate my transgressions and to keep growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus". - Joni Eareckson Tada

" Believe that God is loving enough, and powerful enough, and wise enough, and gracious enough to do what he says when he promises to work everything for your good". - Benton
 
There is SO much more I could say about this, but suffice it to say that I have been greatly encouraged by this little book.  There is nothing like a little perspective!