REJOICE!

"Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful."

Psalm 33:1

God has been teaching me lately to rejoice in Him. Sometimes I have to make a real effort to keep a joyful spirit, but that only makes it all the more sincere, right? It is easy to be joyful when everything is going perfectly. It is harder when...

• your children are arguing or needing your attention all day long

your dinner burns or turns to mush in the frying pan

you feel like you can't bend over at all because of the huge bowling ball that your stomach has turned into, and yet you are constantly dropping things

you lack carefulness, and back the car into a green pole in a ditch, hence putting a hole in the bumper and pulling it down from the frame

you can't pick up your children for fear of causing more complications to your pregnancy

Yes, all of these are frustrations of mine recently. But, in the same order, I have tried to turn the frustrations into rejoicing:

• I rejoice instead that I'm home with my children, and it's me taking care of them, and not somebody else.
• I rejoice that we have the extra money to grab an emergency dinner at SubWay :)
  
• I rejoice that the baby is still inside of me, healthy and growing, and that I have a capable three year old to pick things up
  


• I rejoice that all that happened was a 'fender bender', and no harm was done to me or my unborn baby (and that I have an understanding husband who didn't even get upset)
  


• I rejoice instead that the most major complications of my pregnancy are resolved, and I can look forward to a normal delivery in July. Then, I will pick my children up a million times a day!!
  

You see, it is only through God's grace that I am able to rejoice in my annoying situations, instead of losing my temper or getting angry. I am finding that it is so much more relaxing and calming to:

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"

Phil 4: 4

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