Choosing not to Fix Our Struggles with Nice Thoughts
@bethvogt
When I was a child and had trouble falling asleep because I’d had a bad dream, my mom would sit beside my bed and comfort me by telling me to think nice thoughts.
I’d remember swimming in the lake in Vermont during a family vacation. Or winning the class spelling bee. Or playing outside in the rain with the neighborhood kids.
Thinking nice thoughts worked until I grew up and confronted scarier life issues that loomed larger than any nice thoughts I could think.
Yesterday, I talked with a friend who is facing something hard. Something heartbreaking. The kind of situation that steals your breath away and makes everything else in life unimportant.
You can’t fix what’s wrong by thinking nice thoughts.
In the last month, I’ve kept running across the same Bible verse at random times. When I read the same verse in all sorts of different places, I’m reminded once again that, in God’s economy, nothing is random.
In context, Jesus is talking to His disciples and He tells them straight up they are going to have tough times.
It might have been nice if Jesus had offered a lighter, brighter message, but I prefer honesty.
After saying the world would have tribulation in it, Jesus didn’t say, “Think nice thoughts.” No. He said to be brave. The courage we need to endure suffering and pain and trials demands a whole lot more than conjuring up nice thoughts about fun times.
When I was talking with my friend about her situation, she said, “I know other people are dealing with hard things too. Harder things.”
As if she had no right to be rocked by the turmoil in her life because someone else’s situation was tougher than hers – worse than hers.
The comparison game is always a trap, and it’s never more dangerous than when we are hurting and begin to compare our pain to someone else’s. Believing the lie that we can’t express how we feel because our trouble is somehow less significant than another person’s struggle undermines our courage.
How can we be brave, how can we embrace the peace God offers us, if we feel we don’t deserve it? Or if we believe someone else deserves it more than we do?
Our struggles should never to be lined up against one another and weighed and measured. Instead, let’s accept when we need encouragement and prayer, knowing there’ll be a time when we provide it for someone else. And never forget that God promises us His peace.
Choosing not to Fix Our Struggles with Nice Thoughts https://bit.ly/3wwwmXz #faith #encouragement
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'Fear may fill our world, but it doesn't have to fill our hearts.' Quote by @MaxLucado #hope #courage
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