I am thankful for my problems!

You read that right, I am thankful for my problems.  Let me explain!  Several years ago we went through a really difficult time.  When I say difficult, I mean I felt like we got one sucker punch after another for months/years on end.  We were praying and working hard to improve our situation but every time we turned around we just couldn't get out from underneath of our situation.  No matter how discouraged I got, I knew in my heart that if I continued to do the right things and keep my motive for change pure, than God would be able to use our situation for our good!  I will not lie, sometimes it was a daily struggle to come to that perspective and live life by making the most of every opportunity.

 Finally, after much prayer there was a break through in our situation!  The answer to our prayer came in the form of a move though.  After we moved, a relative uploaded a picture of the beautiful fall foliage at our old house to their Face Book page.  I looked at the breath taking colors of the trees that surrounded our home and was shocked to see that it was at our house.  I was so surprised because I somehow failed to notice it for myself, even though I drove by those same trees 2 (sometimes 3 or 4 times a day)!  The more I thought about it over the years, the more I wondered how many other subtle opportunities I have missed to watch my God wow me in everyday life because I was too focused on my problems.  It makes me regret wasting my thoughts and energies on all of the crud that was going on around me.  And when I really think about it, did it solve anything?  NOPE not at all!

 It was a huge blessing to finally see some answers to some of our problems and move forward in our lives, but truly the real blessing was in how those problems developed our character and brought us closer together as a family.  We emerged stronger and better because of our challenges. More importantly, those challenges increased my faith in God as He is the only person to have opened doors for our situation to improve.  I can actually say that I am thankful for those challenges.

Whenever I get discouraged, I remember that my God is so much more powerful than our problems.  I try to be more intentional in taking a break from daily struggles to notice the simple things that are going on around me and I remember that with the right attitude, pure motives and my God anything is possible.   As you enjoy the spendor of fall in these next couple of weeks, think about challenges that you have had in your life or about a challenge that you are currently going through.  Be thankful for those problems because in the end, the real blessing is the change that occurs on the inside of us!