Last week, my daughter, Kayti, took her car to a place to have her doors fixed. The panels are falling off and we just needed someone to put them back on securely. I called and got an estimate and had her go the next morning. When she arrived, the man told her that he was unable to fix them and that they would have to be replaced--at $1000 each! Ha! I only paid $1000 for the entire car! No way were we paying that amount of money to fix door panels. My dad subsequently fixed them himself (I didn't want to ask him to begin with because he is not in the best of health, even though I knew without a doubt he would be able to do it) for around $10.
But when she called to tell me what the man had said, she was EXTREMELY upset. My poor daughter, she comes by her emotions honestly. As I tend to get upset over the little things, even when I know I shouldn't. I just told her she had to get control over herself and that we would figure something out and everything would be okay. She seemed to calm down and ultimately, of course, everything was okay, thanks to Dad.
But in reading my devotion this morning, I realized that many of us are just like me and my daughter. Our first response to our problems is rarely ever prayer, let alone praise. We usually cry, complain, yell, deny or pout. This is because it is not normal to be joyful in the face of trials, even the little ones. But we must work on developing this trait because God does not promise that we will not have problems. He knows well that we will because we live in a fallen world. But He DOES promise that He will use those problems to shape us.
I have recently begun working out--strenuously! With every ache of my muscles and pop of my joints, my body not used to this regimen, cries out to me, "Woman, what are you doing?!" But I know that the benefits of my pain will ultimately be worth it. I will be in better shape. I will look and feel better. My overall health will improve and my risk for obesity related diseases will diminish. So I push forward.
We need to view our problems in life as spiritual exercise. When we are able to view our suffering as something good in our lives we will be able to rejoice. God uses our problems to strengthen our faith as each time we go through something, we always come out stronger and with more faith than before. Without these troubles, most of us would not maintain a relationship with God because we would never see the need to cry out for Him, let alone praise Him for anything good.
I must tell God every day that rejoicing does not come natural for me (He knows this anyway) and ask for His supernatural help to my make responses to difficulties and pressures in life line up with His ways. That is my prayer today and every day from now on.
Be blessed!
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