Days are better - Nights suck less:)

My days are getting better! Well, I guess I may be speaking too soon since I'm basing this realization on the last three days which immediately followed a VERY significant week for us. But it is what it is:) My nights suck much less too! I'm still up all night, but I'm actually doing something productive rather than listening to depressing music and crying. I think the Bible study I'm in is REALLY helping!

Finding God's Path Through Your Trials
CHAPTER ONE: Accepting the TRUTH
"Life need not be easy to be joyful. Joy is NOT the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ." William Vander Hoven
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds..." James 1:2

This particular study is on the book of James which gives the basics needed for handling trials in a godly way. How to face trials head-on and take a positive approach - to REJOICE!

Trials are a fact of life. While we're instructed to count trials as JOY, God allows us the privilege of choosing our attitude toward trials...sorrowful or joyful. Easier said than done, I thought?!? But now I understand the fact that counting trials as JOY is a matter of FAITH, not feelings! It's done with my mind, not my emotions! It's a mental discipline and an issue of sheer obedience.

God isn't asking me to "feel" joyful because you're not here with me...He's instructing me to "count" (evaluate, consider, decide) my grief as joy. "...for we walk by FAITH, not by sight" 2 Corinthians 5:7

"Just as the stars shine brightest in the darkest night, so your joy blazes brilliantly through life's worst problems when you count them as joy."

God calls me to set aside feelings, fears and emotions, and willfully decide to count all trials as joy - NO MATTER WHAT!

Now, when I said "easier said than done", I totally meant it! I've been studying chapters 1 and 2 of this book with my mentor for over a month! I'm so glad that I'm finally beginning to get it babee! And now that's why my days are brighter, and my nights suck less:)!

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