Recently, my daughter found a copy at a thrift store of “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” by Judith Viorst (available at Amazon at http://amzn.to/1PLVLTq This delightful, insightful book is most certainly at your local library also.
When my daughter was little, I never actually read the book to her but I talked about it and explained the principle behind it. That principle is that all of us, sometimes, have days when things, every little thing, just seems to go wrong – all dreary day long. And, like the little boy in the book, we want to move to Australia – or anywhere, to escape what our life is like today.
I had one of those days yesterday – yes, out of the blue it seemed. And yes, though I have oh so gratefully followed Jesus for more than 30 years now. I should know better than to give in to feelings. I should have been able to rise about it immediately. But, I am human, oh so so very human.
Having been blessed with good health for most of my life, this aging thing has been hard to accept, and especially being sick and asthmatic for two months as the cedar and mold levels have exploded here in Austin. It finally got to me as did the fact of having gotten little work done during these last two months while I have felt so bad.
But God. . . but God saw and He understood. I just told Him how I felt, and finally just laid it all in His hands, confessing my sin of doubt and, yes, resentment about being sick, and fear that it would grow worse and that I was getting too old and tired to work productively. (Now that was all certainly a poison bouquet of lies from the enemy of our souls!)
Nothing happened immediately, except a sense of relief at finally labelling the feeling, with God, in prayer. Then I fixed my oatmeal and took it with me to eat at my daughter’s house, where I help with my two grandsons.
As I helped with their breakfast and held the sleepy two year old while he ate his “bed”, as I took my four-year old grandson to the gym with me, and then played on the playground after. . . I got my perspective back, and rather quickly.
Making an effort to get your mind off your problems and to actively trust God, counting your blessings – and genuinely enjoying them, just as they are presented to you, and seeking to help others – it works every time, even when our humanity and the enemy have managed to gain a foothold of fear and worry we did not recognize until it has grown to stumbling block size.
In First Peter, chapter 5, verse 7, God says to “Cast all our anxiety on Him [God] because He cares for you.” Dear friend, what more do we need to know than that? Listen to this song and be lifted up. http://http://amzn.to/1PLVLTq
He loves you so so much more than we can ever imagine!