Have you ever heard the expression, ”Bad things happen in three’s.”? Actually, I put little stock in this statement because I really do believe that God has absolute control in my life. But if the expression has any truth to it than today I have fulfilled it!
It’s been a very tough day but don’t worry I am not going to bore you with the details. Trust me, it’s been one of those days. So how do you handle a day plagued with tough stuff like disappointments, unexpected difficulties and rather big problems?
Here is where you need to start. Take stock of your daily preparation spiritually. Whatever you have been doing as far as your own spiritual fitness will be a pretty good indicator about how you will do in a crisis. Your reaction to difficulty is not a mystery. If you are daily preparing yourself by praying, reading the Word and standing on God’s promises, chances are that you are going to develop an attitude of trusting God in times of difficulty. Trust is the key to developing a good attitude in tough times. When you are trusting in what God says in his Word concerning your circumstances, you stay in an attitude of peace. If you are doing what the Word says about concentrating on today, you will not get anxious in difficulty. Many times, our anxieties arise in tough times because we are visualizing what could happen in the future. If you are thankful as the Bible says, it helps put your problems in perspective. Being thankful helps you ”see the forest through the trees.” Often the tree (the difficulty) in the forest is all that we can see because we are standing right in front of it and cannot see the wonderful other things going on in our lives.
Now my difficulties today did not rise to the level of a crisis and hopefully they won’t. I don’t like crisis in my life as much as the next person. But if it comes I want to be ready spiritually. I am not Eeyore in Winnie-The -Pooh. I am neither pessimistic nor a fatalist. However, life does present us with difficult times and I want to have a great attitude when it arrives.
Prepare yourself spiritually daily. It is worth the effort. Reacting horribly in difficulty is awful! I’ve done it and I hate it. Dig into the Bible daily. Stand on what God promises. Thank Him daily for the things that He has given to you. Name them one at a time. Pour out your heart to Him, He wants to hear it. Do this and the next time trouble rolls around the corner, you are going to surprise yourself by having a better attitude because the spiritual training you have been doing will kick in.