Look Around

A few weeks ago, my mom was not doing well and we decided to find a place to stay so we could be close to her. The place we stayed was on a farm and it was so peaceful. One of the days we were there, I began to struggle with being in such a hard situation. Between my mom being in hospitals out of town and our house flooding, we have barely lived in our house for over a year. I began to go down the pity party road. Ever been down that road? I began to think of my little girl who has had an extremely unusual first year of her life being moved from place to place. I began to think of all the time we spent putting her nursery together and realizing she has never even slept in it. In fact, it was destroyed when our house flooded. I was complaining and said to the Lord, "I just want to give her something normal. It's summer! I want to be able to take her on a summer vacation!"

Immediately, the Lord corrected me. He said, "look around!". As I looked at my daughter, she was having the time of her life on the farm. She was so excited to be surrounded by cows, a pig, a goat, donkeys, chickens, dogs and cats. In the middle of the hardest season of our lives, He had provided the very thing I asked for. A family summer vacation on the farm! I immediately repented and began thanking Him for His incredible provision! He is faithful, not just to see us through the hard situation, but to provide what we need in the middle of the hard! Our life may not look anything like we expected right now, but, WOW! He is so good and He knows just what we need. There is so much peace and joy when I surrender to His ways and trust in His goodness!

As I look around at my situations, I can choose to see only the hard and all the problems, but it will only lead me down a road of complaining, which will only lead to anger, bitterness, depression, etc. But, if I can choose to find the things I am grateful for, whether big or small, I can begin to see Him working on my behalf and it brings me to a place of hope! Sometimes it's a hard choice to look for the good. Sometimes it's a battle. Sometimes I complain and He has to correct me. But I am learning to hold on to the truth that He is good! Truth sets us free! I must get that truth way down deep! If I really believe that He is good, then I have confidence that He will work everything for my good just like He promised! (Rom 8:28)

I encourage you to look around today for things to be grateful for. Look around and see His goodness at work in your life.