Optimism

Here are a few thought-provoking quotes about optimism I found for you.  May they help you on your journey in the coming days and weeks!

• Optimism is

taking a camera along when you go fishing:

the ability to smile at misfortune when fortune doesn’t smile at you;

expecting someone to drive a car six feet wide through a garage doorway eight feet narrow;

never worrying about the future because it never becomes serious until it is the present;

the cheerful frame of mind that enables a teapot to sing, though it is in hot water up to its nose.

• The optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.

• A man who gets treed by a lion but enjoys the scenery is an optimist.  Walter Winchell

• The optimist is often as wrong as the pessimist; but she is far happier.

How to be an optimist?

Philippians 4:8 NIV  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.

It's All About Perspective

The study Tom and I have been working on for months now, The Battlefield of the Mind, has been sinking in more than I realized, and I’m not complaining, by any means!  I find myself considering things differently than I used to – differently than most people do.  Of course, that’s not really out-of-the-ordinary for me, as those of you who know me would agree.   The old, “normal” thought patterns actually make it easier to stay in difficulty, struggle, worry, anxiety, etc.  I’m seeing things from God’s point of view much more often now, and it’s amazing how much better my attitude is because of it.

A dear friend’s ministry prayer letter has a good example to make this clear.  One of the recent prayer requests concerned a change of law in India requiring people who are there on a tourist visa not only to leave the nation every six months for a new visa, but to stay away for at least two months before returning.  You can imagine what havoc this could wreak for missionaries, both for consistency in ministry, and for costs associated with having to travel away from the home field frequently for extended periods.

As I began to pray, however, I found the new perspective creeping in.  I prayed for the body of Christ in India to rise up, putting into practice what they have been learning of the Word and the Spirit – that there will be no falling behind when the missionaries have to be gone for longer periods of time.  (After all, missionaries are really in other lands to train up nationals to do the work of the ministry without outside workers required, aren’t they?)  I also prayed for the missionaries’ hearts to be enlarged beyond their previous borders so that the two months in another land is not considered “wasted time,” but truly becomes a part of the mission field to which they have been called by God.

None of this takes away from praying, commanding, declaring, and decreeing concerning the natural laws of the land.  But our victory is not from the natural laws making it easy for us to do what God calls us to do.  Our victory has already been won by Jesus Christ, Who has given us the authority and power to live it out regardless of the circumstances.  When we begin to live like this, we slam the door on the devil’s efforts to steal from us through grumbling, complaining, etc.  The wonderful thing is that it just takes a different perspective – God’s perspective.

Praying for God’s so-much-bigger perspective for you, my sisters!