What to Do With the Yucky Days

I have every reason to be happy, ecstatically happy.

Yet sometimes . . . I'm not.

I get stressed and anxious and worried. Some days I think I stink at everything I do. I fret over the future. A lingering sadness sets in I can't explain. I blame most of it on stupid hormonal changes or lack of sleep. Occasionally, though it may sound strange and melodramatic, it feels like an all out attack by Satan, like no matter what I do he holds me down.

I analyze myself to death (to the exasperation of my poor husband and friends) and come up short. I try to figure it out so I can snap out of it, but when I can't, it's one more thing to beat myself up about.

So I ask God, "What am I supposed to do with this?" I wonder what He expects of us in these melancholy days (I know you have them too. I see it in your eyes.). How does someone honor God in the way they handle the not-so-good times?

But you, man of God . . . pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. (1 Timothy 6:11)

if we endure, we will also reign with Him . . . (2 Timothy 2:12)

Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. (Titus 2:2)

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. (Revelation 3:10)

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

Seeing a trend? God values ENDURANCE--the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.

What does this mean for us on those mopey days? What does He expect of us?

He wants us to simply endure them. We are to live through them without giving way, without succumbing to self-pity and whining. We don't have to like them. We don't have to spend hours analyzing ourselves to understand why we're feeling like we do. We don't have to make anything of them at all. We honor Him by living through them without complaining. We only have to endure, for "weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:5)

What better way to show our faith?



Photo Credit: johnath