Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. -I Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV)
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. -Acts 16:25 (NIV)
Have you ever found yourself looking at the dark cloud behind the silver lining?
We all do it from time to time. Some of us do it when the waters are choppy. Some of us do it even when the waters are tranquil. Others seem to do it as a lifestyle.
To find fault and gripe in our situations is to look past the innumerable blessings He works in our lives every day. And as we saw in the life of Joseph, He uses all things–even horrific, traumatic events–for the good of His children.
A Crosswalk.com article talks about three things that happy people don’t do: complain, compare, or compete. Spending our time doing these means we’re not spending time glorifying God or reveling in the blessings we’re awash in right now.
God is the ultimate perspective changer. He will make the silver linings in your life glow so brightly that you won’t see the dark clouds. And He will help you understand that even those dark clouds are being used in ways we may not understand till later, like how He took Joseph’s sale into slavery by his brothers to end up saving his entire family 20 years later!
Where we stand right now is the result of so many past and present blessings, and on the way to even more. But we are on a journey, where we can choose to take each step in acknowledgement of His blessings, and that our future steps build on all the ones that have supported us along the way–including the ones that make no sense at the moment, but will later.
Every step of the way
This Our Daily Bread devotional short reminds us that God is with us every step of the way.
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