By: Cheri Fuller
"When we are lost in the greatness of God,
we realize that there is no physical, emotional, or social loss so great that God cannot bring good out of it and compensate us in the next life."
Gary Thomas
The Turnaround
That night the checking account balance hadn’t changed. My husband still didn’t have a job and was just as withdrawn and depressed as usual, but something new was engaging my thoughts. The next few days in the early hours before the kids got up, I searched the Bible, especially the Psalms, for words to praise God, to center my thoughts on Him. All the feelings of worry and anxiety were still lurking around, trying to drag me down, but I knelt and used these verses to adore the Lord. This time I didn’t wait until I felt better.
As I did, that deep heaviness began to lift and with it the worry about the stack of unpaid bills. It was as if dark glasses were removed and I saw what I’d never seen before: that no matter how difficult or trying our situation was, and even if nothing external changed, I could praise and thank God because the trial would only draw me into a closer relationship with Him.
Like a trickle from a frozen creek in the spring, the icy, troubled thoughts within me began to thaw little by little, and thanksgiving bubbled up. Slowly at first, my perspective began to change. I wasn’t a prisoner of my feelings but could trust and enjoy God for the first time in a long time—no list of complaints or requests. I thanked Him for the inner work He was doing in us, for our health, our children, our marriage that was still together, and how even the fact that it was strained had drawn me closer to depend on Him for the plan He had for us even though we hadn’t seen it, even for the financial losses because they reminded me of the temporariness of material things and our eternal treasures in Christ.
© 2015 by Back to the Bible.
“From Replacing Worry for Wonder, published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Used by permission.”