Happy Wednesday friends! Welcome back to my blog. Today I will be sharing with you the second lesson I learned while I was in Africa. This lesson goes along with last week’s lesson and honestly, God knew that I would need this lesson for when I came back home.
I’m going to be honest here, I am not a morning person. Not at all. While we were in Uganda we were dealing with a 7 hour time difference and unfortunately my brother & I never adjusted, which lead to me being incredibly grouchy in the mornings. Like I said in last week’s post there are a lot of inconveniences we had to deal with while there. Nothing huge, just things we weren’t used to living in Canada. One of the things I complained about a lot was toast, I know it sounds super silly, but I’m just being honest here. The toast in Uganda tastes delicious, but no matter what it wouldn’t stay toasted and it just really annoyed my overtired self. Silly, I know, but God dealt with me because every morning we had a 45 minute drive into town and on the way into town I would see children with no clothes, kids playing with garbage, and the little shacks they called home. I felt like such a terrible person because my perspective was wrong. I was consumed by one little inconvenience that really wasn’t a big deal. God spoke to me and was like Alisha where is your focus? Some of these kids don’t even have the luxury to have bread, let alone a toaster. I realized that I was accustomed to complain, accustomed to being annoyed by slight inconvenience, and ultimately accustomed to allowing silly things influence my mood. So, when I returned from my trip I was overwhelmed with gratitude. My perspective shifted, as many of you know when I came back from my trip my work life fell apart and if I hadn’t learnt this lesson the next 6 months would have been a whole lot more miserable because my perspective would have been I don’t deserve this, I hate this job, why is this happening to me? Instead of thank God I have a job where I’m able to make money, that gives me benefits, a job that allows me to really not worry about much. Now, I’ll be honest I had days where I was anything but thankful, but when I remembered those kids and their families I was reminded how important perspective is and how truly blessed I am to live in a land of such abundance. I hope if anything I hope these last two posts challenge your thinking & help you to shift your perspective and see that a bad day doesn’t equal a bad life.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2
I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.
Psalm 7:17
Love,
She Laughs Mission 