There are several answers to the question: “How Do You Feel?”
“I feel fantastic.”
“I feel great.”
“I feel good.”
“I feel fine.”
“I feel okay.”
“I do not feel very well.”
“I feel … (followed by a whole litany of aches, pains, and symptoms.”
There are some people that ask that question and they are not really interested in our answer. They do not listen actively to our answer, and their attention wanes before we even get a few sentences out of our mouth. There are others that we dare not ask the question, because we will be there for the next hour or more listening to all their constant woes, illnesses, and diseases.
Our answer to this question depends on our perspective, attitude, personality tendencies, and physical, mental, and emotional health. Some people see the glass half full, and others see the glass half empty. Negative thoughts increase our pain and make us feel like a martyr or that we are suffering worse than anyone else.
We all need sympathy or for at least one other person to feel sorry for us. For some reason this often makes us feel like we matter and that someone actually cares about our state of being. That we matter to someone other than our self makes us feel like we are not abandoned or alone.
Some people can be suffering greatly; and yet, we could never tell that they are in need, because their attitude is so positive even with debilitating pain or diseases. As authentic Believers, we see our state of being through the lens of an eternal perspective. God cares about us more than any person we know.
Prayer:
Father God, as a person who suffered greatly over our lifetime, we comparatively feel better or worse than in the past. Our mind believes our thoughts – positive or negative. If we meditate on faith, truth, and love, we will believe it (Philippians 4:8). Taking our health to You to heal in Your timing and way gives us hope for tomorrow and a positive attitude for today. We never want to take You for granted or to demand from You an immediate answer to our prayer.
As our Father, You know best. We trust You with our whole heart, soul, mind, will, choices, and strength. You place Your desires in our heart and grant them according to Your wisdom and grace for us individually, and as a Body of Believers. Help us to walk together in faith in Your choices for us and enable us to have what we need to carry out Your will for our life. We want to live as a praise to You and for Your glory.
Thought for the Day:
Sympathy, empathy, and compassion are truly healing attitudes that we can share with one another, and a quick trip to the hospital will show us the truth that comparatively there is always someone else who is suffering more than we are; we have much for which to be thankful, because we are a blessed people in the family of God.
