I
lived most of my life with my stomach in knots, and taking very shallow
breaths. Trauma occurred so often that I felt like I would burst if I held my
breath a minute longer! However, God taught me how to change my focus, and this
stressful reaction changed.
Jesus
showed us by example how to relate to our circumstances. He learned obedience
through the things that He suffered during His lifetime, ending with the
scourging and crucifixion on the cross of Calvary (Hebrews 5:8).
As
I prayed about my fears and anxieties over life, I realized that so far my
circumstances had not yet killed me! So, hope must be hidden in my
circumstances somewhere. Like Paul, I wanted to learn from Jesus’ example, so I
turned to the Bible (Hebrews 12:2).
Jesus,
when He entered his time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, focused on taking
the sins of every human ever born to the cross; and He began to sweat blood, as
well as water. He cried out in anguish and tears.
Yet,
when Jesus changed His focus to eternal matters, the earthly matters faded into
the distance. By changing His focal point (Hebrews 12:2), He was able to endure
the cross, as well as our Father turning His back on Him, because of the shameful
sin that Jesus took for us.
We
too can take our eyes off our negative circumstances and put them on the joy
that Jesus provides in the midst of those situations. As we go through life, we
can pay close attention to what our body, thoughts, and feelings are trying to
communicate to us.
Then,
we ask God to show us what is causing the negativity. The Serenity Prayer gives
us a guideline here (See "Thought for the Day" below). We pray that
God will give us the wisdom to know what situations we can change, and which we
must leave in His capable hands.
Prayer:
Father
God, thank You for giving us the strength to deal with the issues that You reveal
are our responsibility, and for giving us the courage to turn the rest over to You
with an attitude of acceptance about them. If we cannot change them, we praise You
for them, in them, and through them.
Remind
us that changing our focus from an earthly perspective to an eternal one will
bring us joy unspeakable that is full of Your glory (1 Peter 1:8). By doing this,
we walk in serenity. If You do not show us how to change our circumstances,
then we ask You to help us to change our focus about the dilemma, so that we can
accept it as Your will for us at this time.
Thought
for the Day:
The
whole Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr
"God
grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change
the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
"Living
one day at a time. Enjoying one moment at a time. Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. Taking,
as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.
"Trusting
that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be
reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen."
