Poor Me! Намуна

Give Thanks

First Thessalonians 5:18 tells us not to “quench the Holy Spirit” but instead to give thanks in everything. 

You and I both know that it’s hard to give thanks in the middle of a self-pity party! One thing is for sure—a self-indulgent attitude isn’t focused on gratitude. 

When I’m thinking only of myself and my “poor me” circumstances, you could say that I have a one-way ticket on the self-pity train, and it’s zooming along at breakneck speed! 

Well, I was on that train one day after someone had hurt my feelings, and I happened to be reading in 2 Corinthians 4. When I got to verses 17 and 18 I read: For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Right that moment, I felt like the Lord spoke to my heart, saying, “If you want this ‘affliction’ to be light and temporary, don’t focus on what you see or feel—focus on my truths!”  Instantly, I could see what He was saying. Feeling sorry for myself was keeping me from forgiving the person who hurt me, and kept my focus on myself and the pain I was feeling. If I wanted to be free, I needed to focus on something else—on God’s goodness! 

I realized that yes, I might have been hurt, I might have a mess to deal with, a struggle to overcome, a story to tell, but I didn’t want to stay there. I wanted to be an overcomer and move forward in my life with the Lord. It made me stop, reevaluate, and decide to stop the self-pity train right there. 

You can do the same thing by forgiving, refocusing your attention, and giving thanks for all of God’s blessings! 

Did this plan help you? It’s an excerpt from Chapter 8 of my book “I Forgive You, But…” You can read the first part here.