Journaling and lesson relearned.

My counselor, Henry, suggested I begin to write my thoughts and feelings down in a journal. That way I can always look back and see what I did to get through "stuff" in the past. Well I've been doing that since last year in this blog. Kind of like having your homework done before the teacher even assigns it.

Today was a rough morning. Just thinking about what I'm going through a bit too much and feeling overwhelmed. Meanwhile I'm rockin' my iPod on shuffle and I'm hearing Stryper in my ears. "Are you feelin' lonely? Are you feelin' Blue? Does you life seem empty? You know what to do."

And I do know what to do. I need to get my eyes off my problems and get them on Christ. So I open my email to read my morning devotional. It's not there. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! But then I think, "Am I really that dependent on Charles Stanley's daily devotional? I know how to open my own Bible and study God's word. Then I remember Henry's words about my journal and I decide to read my own past lessons. I decide to go to the very beginning. March 12, 2010 and I read the words from 1 Peter 1:3-9

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I find great comfort in the words I have emphasized. These are facts that known, but needed a reminder. I have grown more in the last few months than the last few years. I am calmer, more patient, loving and I try to see the other side. I no longer feel that I have to win every argument. I still have a long way to go. The closer I get to God the more sinful and selfish I realize that I am.

Are you going through trials? Let it strengthen your faith.

God Bless.