Wait, what am I looking at?

One of my all-time favorite movies is Soul Surfer. I love the message it spreads about hope, family, and perseverance. Bethany Hamilton is a true inspiration and role model. Something from that movie that has always stuck with me is the lesson Bethany’s youth pastor (played by the wonderful Carrie Underwood) taught about perspective. She shows the group a couple picture zoomed in and asks them to guess what it is. No matter how hard they try their guesses are always wrong. She then zooms out and let’s them see what the pictures actually are. (If I’m correct it was a fly’s eye and a walnut) The same is true about life.

Some of y’all know life lately hasn’t been too easy for me. Among other things I’m bed ridden and can’t work, dance, or even help my family out. Life has been very difficult and I have two choices.

1.      Wallow in self-pity and cry because my whole life has just dramatically changed.

2.      Look over my circumstances and see what God is trying to teach me.

These perspectives can also be applied to how we live life. Life can be brutal. It can knock us down so hard we can’t see a reason to keep on living but this is the time to fight. Through every circumstance whether good or bad there is always a lesson to learn. That is where perspective comes in. We can look at our problem from a close up view and focus on just that problem or we can step back and see the whole picture.

Many people have told me how sad they are that I’m going through so much pain. Wanna know a secret?.............I’M NOT! I am so happy that God has deemed me worthy to go through this trial. Yes, it hurts but James said…...

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

James 1:2-3

It’s a blessing! I know that the first thing we do when life hits us is not jump up and down and scream, “Yeah! I’m about to go through fire and through it all, I not only have to survive but I also have to learn something!” But you can’t have stars unless you have darkness, you can’t get diamonds without fire, and you can’t get a rainbow without a storm. Are you smelling what I’m stepping on? Trials produce beautiful things if you’ll let them, but if not you become like the pharaoh from the story of Moses. The more plagues God sent the more he hardened his heart until eventually God had to break him. Don’t be Pharaoh but instead learn from your trial. The last thing God wants to do to you is break you.