Two men looked through the same bars:
One sees mud, and one the stars.
The two men who looked through the same prison bars reacted in widely different fashions to the stress factors in their confinement: one was frustrated by the bars, whereas the other, subjected to the identical environment, was inspired by the stars.
All of us are subjected to many stress factors in our daily lives, but that does not mean we have to develop inner stress.
Try to diversify the stressful factors so as to avoid fatigue.
There are three angles of life:
Worship, Work and play!
Daily Bible reading, prayer and attendance to Church services are of great value.
Our attitude of mind is a most important factor in determining wether we shall suffer from exposure to life´s daily stress. Our tendency is to start blaming others around us instead of blaming our troubles on our faulty reactions to those people.
Chronic brooding over sorrows and insults indicates faulty adaptation.
The most common form of faulty reaction is self-pity.
Here is an important key to longer and happier living.
We hold the key and can decide wether stress is going to work for us or against us.
Our attitude decides wether stress makes us "better or bitter".
Avoid a long and continued exposure to severe stress agents, without resting.
"Come ye yourselves apart into a dessert place and rest awhile..." Jesus invited his disciples to rest.
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength comes to perfection where there is weakness.So I am happy to take pride rather in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may abide in me. I delight therefore in weaknesses, in insults, in needy circumstances, in persecutions, in dire calamities, all on account of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong".
By Dr. S.I.McMillen, M.D.
My dad would always tell us that life is like a glass half full of water but also half empty of it. It depends on our out-look if we will choose to see one or the other.
ReplyDeleteTo give thanks in all circumstances is highly recommended.
It will be our attitude that will make the difference.
We cannot change some circumstances.
We cannot change people around us but we are certainly in charge of our attitude!
For example, if you have a pile of dirty dishes to wash, you can choose to be thankful for all the friends that visited you and even pray for them as you wash each dish!:)
The Apostle Paul wanted so much to visit the Church in Rome but it was the delay that moved him to write that letter that is now one of the finest documents that contains the whole doctrine of Christianity.
God is in control and He knows the way!
We must trust Him!
He might be preparing us for the future!
Training us!
It is in the difficult moments that we learn to depend on Him.
If someone has died and you miss this person very much you can thank God for the times you have shared together in the past.
If people at work seem difficult to get on with, we can thank God that we have a job in the first place and we can pray for our collegues.
Pray whatever the circumstances.
Pray no matter how hard the chances.
God promises to come through!
Pray...
And in everything give Thanks!
Because this is the will of God.
We can even thank Him for the half empty glass!!! :)
David wrote in Psalm 23: because the LORD is my Shepherd I have everything that I need.
In Him we are complete.
In Him we lack nothing.
In Him we move and live and have our being.
Without Him we can do nothing!
So lets abide Him!
I am willing to go through all the tests and trials once again just because it was then that I learnt to know Him more!
And because with each consolation I am able to comfort others with that same comfort!
I thank God for being able to share with you, beloved reader!
I thank God for you and I pray right now that you may know the richness of his love, the joy of His company,the comfort of his words and the power of his mighty strength and hope!
In His amazing love,
Lilian