Sorry it’s been a couple weeks! Computer problems have been a big issue for us lately.
Let’s talk about suffering. A couple weeks ago on Epic Every Day, we spent the whole week talking about suffering. It’s gotten me thinking about the suffering we bring on ourselves….
Frankly, the past couple weeks have been rough. My computer finally gave up the ghost, so much of our time has been spent trying to come up with an affordable solution in the face of another set of major car repairs. A solution that includes being able to run my writing program. Something that seems impossible right now.
And I haven’t handled it well. Not being able to write has thrown me in stressed out mode. And money is a weak spot for me. Probably why God keeps giving us opportunities to practice.
Anyway! it’s not suffering as some would call it and I have definitely dealt with worse things, but I wanted to use this week as an example. When the computer and the car happened on the same day, I felt so frustrated. So discouraged. So tired of fighting with “things” just to do the important stuff. Obviously, we prayed about the whole situation. But that hasn’t stopped me from worrying and spinning in my brain.
Somewhere in the midst of thinking about suffering, I had this vision of what it would look like if the computer/car situation was easy. I would pray to the God of the universe who owns/made everything and loves me as His dear child. And then I would wait expectantly. I would be excited at this new opportunity to see God work. I would not worry that things might be impossible. I would not worry about juggling finances. I would not worry about losing time on my writing projects. I would just trust.
That might be where joy comes in.
Sometimes, we get so fixated on the solution we want that we miss out on what God’s doing. For example, this morning I went to write this blog post and realized that I didn’t have my wordpress password (it was in the other room). Rather than writing it in Word or Google docs or my e-mail, I just moved on to the next thing on my list. There were numerous solutions but because I was so focused on one solution, I waited hours to solve the problem.
I wish it wasn’t true, but sometimes, we bring suffering on ourselves. We take stressful circumstances and increase our suffering by not trusting God. We close our eyes to ways God is working because it doesn’t meet our expectations. We agonize over things that God has already solved or answered. Holding things with an open hand means leaving room for God to work the way that’s His best–not my best.
So when you think about your life, is there anywhere you are making things harder than they need to be?
