Each and everyone of us are given a set of problems from God as a challenge. You have problems, I have problems and the person sitting next to you has problems of their own. Our problems are different because each one of us is unique. God strategically tailored our issues to compliment the lives that we live and to teach us to work on the things about ourselves that need to be improved. One might suffer from health issues, while the other suffers financially, but whatever the inconvenience is, it's there and must be dealt with.
No matter how comfortable your life is, we are going to be faced with problems that will break us down because we are not perfect. There is no such thing as a perfect life, if that was the case then we'd all be Gods in our own ways.
There are 2 ways to deal with your troubles:
1. Cry and whine about it and let it consume your life.
or
2. Accept the struggle and try to understand the challenge that God has given you.
It's easy to cry and whine about our issues. In fact, that's our initial reactions when something doesn't go the way we planned. To hear the doctor's diagnosis of cancer brings out the first round of tears. It's OK to cry about it at first, but the next step is to either allow it to consume you or to accept it and move on.
If you let your problems consume your life, you will NEVER be happy. Each minute of your existence will be absorbed by the powerful pores of the sponge called PROBLEMS. The life you USE to know will be depleted because you have replaced it with the current issues at hand. Don't get me wrong, problems do change things, sometimes it changes EVERYTHING, but those changes are not so bad when they are simply accepted and dealt with.
Accepting your problems means admitting that it is there to begin with and then receiving it with favor in order to improve your own personal life. The reason we have problems to begin with is because we are not perfect. We all need to improve something about ourselves and problems are what high-light those personal issues. They challenge us to really look into the mirror and see what's inside of us.
"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us."
-- Helen Keller
For example, a bad break up tears your heart into pieces and demolishes you from the person who you thought you were. You yearn and think you "need" that other person in order to survive life. Your broken heart starts to exhaust you and the overwhelming pain you feel starts to change the person you are. It feels as if you can't ever smile or laugh the same anymore just because the other person chose to walk out of your life. You're desperate and try to do anything and everything to get them back. You even convince yourself that a friendship with that person is going to eventually make them love you again.
So what now?
After the crying and accepting that because the person left you makes you sad, take a step back and look at what God is trying to tell you. Because they are gone, you realize your attachment to that one single person, so ask yourself: "What else could I be attached to?" What does that say about YOU? That attachment feeling might make you realize that you are attached to worldly things such as money, expensive goods, etc. and try to control everything and anything around you. In reality, you control NOTHING except for your own life. So the lesson learned from the bad break up?? LET GO!! Don't hold on to the things you really can't hold on to because it's an impossible task! Once you've learned to "let go" of that other person, you will learn that you can "let go" of anything in life and won't hold such an emotional attachment to anything.
Another example I have is my own personal problems. For those of you who know me also know that the Prelude hasn't been working since February. I get around, but not the way I use to. It truly sucks to have to wait for a car or wait for a ride just to simply go to Wal-mart or the gym. I feel like I've lost my personal freedom and independence because I'm relying on other people for rides. After months of trying understand what God is telling me, I've realized my faults. It's not a punishment from God that I have no car, rather it's God trying to teach me responsibility. A car is responsibility. There's insurance to keep up with, stickers, oil, gas, tires, etc.... the list goes on forever. Responsibility is something I know I take for granted and it's obvious with the current status of my car. Lesson learned: Don't take your responsibilities for granted. They are there for a reason and must be taken cared of and not ignored.
If you ask God for patience, he won't just give you patience because you won't know what to do with it, rather he will put you in a situation to TEST your patience so you will understand what patience really is.
If you ask God for a job, you won't get the jobs you think you qualify for because that job is not the one you asked God for.
If you ask God to strengthen your faith, you might get stricken with an illness to test how strong your faith can be.
Just like you can't give a 1st grader a book and tell her to read, she must first learn the sounds of ABC's. If a toddler cried every time he fell from walking a few steps, he will never grow up to be a track star. God teaches us virtues through our problems. So look inside your heart and figure out what your problems are and embrace them. The more you understand your crosses, the more you will realize about yourself that a bathroom mirror can ever reveal.
Problems are not negative, in fact, they are the first steps to your solution to happiness.
BE OPEN. Opening your hearts to your problems will allow the happiness to seep through.
