June 24, 2018
Attitude of Gratitude
Have you ever felt depressed because something you planned for didn’t come to pass? Something you wanted to do with someone didn’t pan out? Have you ever thought you did everything you could but were still shoved down?
Sometimes an unexpected illness happens even when you are doing everything to keep yourself healthy. That causes mountains of bills. Maybe we are contract employees or making “too much” to qualify for assistance, yet we can’t afford insurance premiums. Sometimes, even an insurance policy doesn’t help much. Maybe, it turns $40K bills into $14K with “rate adjustments.” (That’s still $14,000!) You thank God for discovering the cause and pray you can manage the enemy that infects your home so you can breathe.
Bills that big can bankrupt people. Some medical providers will work with a former patient to take monthly payments. But for some families, the additional $200 or $300 a month means no food. (Yes, most will take $25 or $50 a month, but when you have six or eight different bills from one visit, that adds up to a lot.) You know you have to pay it. But you can’t manage it. You can’t even go afford to visit the doctor for the required “follow-up.” You just pray.
Fiscally responsible people cancel all unnecessary expenses. But when your annual clothing budget of $50 is already gone, you don’t go out to eat, you don’t do theaters, you don’t buy new things, you haven’t even replaced your broken couch with a $50 resale one, and you already spend less than $350 a month for food for 8 people, all you can do is cut food. You just pray.
Or try to get a higher paying job.
But you’ve been applying for every job you think you have qualifications for in north and central Florida for over 20 months with only one interview and three emails claiming: “you are overqualified.” That’s seriously frustrating. You have no experience with “foodservice” or “retail” and all those jobs want experience. You just keep applying; you pray each time you email, drop-off, or hand-in an application. You pray God’s will for your job life and pray He opens a door for you. You’ve expanded from a 20 mile commute to a 100 mile commute. You just pray.
You can look for cheaper housing – but that’s hard when you are paying less than what you’d be required to pay for an income-restricted apartment. You keep looking, but really don’t have any money to move anyway. The home you’re renting is the cause of your medical illness and thus financial problems, so yes, you’d like to leave it; you just can’t afford to. You just pray.
This is the time when it’s very hard to really mean “I’m believing God for my needs.”
Then you had planned to go visit family for a couple of days, but because of another unexpected expense, you find you won’t have the gas money to go. Besides, if you miss work, you’ll just fall further behind in bills.
This is when you bury your head in your hands and scream. You’ve been trying everything humanly possible, or so it seems, and something that appears it would be so simple for most people is just out of your grasp. Driving 10 hours to visit your brother might as well be a mission to Mars.
You may not have control on the circumstances that have put you here, but you can control your attitude (how you handle this stage of life).
This is when you have to remember to encourage yourself. You have to say “God, you are my Rock, my fortress, my help in time of trouble. God, you are my provider, my father, and I thank you for life, health, and provision.”
You choose an attitude of gratitude.
You have to take stock in what you do have: you have a roof (even if it’s the cause of health issues you’ve never had), you have a job (your “unofficial second job” is what you love; just no paycheck yet), your children are doing well, your marriage is strong, and you have family and friends who love you.
The last three are the most important.
Family is life.
Money is just a currency of this world to give us stress. We either stress because we don’t have enough and literally pray for our daily bread or stress because we have too much and worry about losing it.
I can choose to have an attitude of gratitude, be thankful for what God has gifted me and trust Him for everything else. I want my children to see thankfulness and trust. This attitude works for every stage in life – valleys full of bills and mountains with plenty.
I choose gratitude – I choose to smile. I choose to trust. I choose to rejoice.
Thanks for reading!
Type at you next time…
~Nancy Tart