When You feel Down
by Grace Bull
Some time ago, a friend of mine told me this interesting story. He described a time when life had been quite a struggle for him. He had been feeling very discouraged and low in mood and this wasn’t just temporary- it had continued for months.
He decided to keep a notebook and every night to write down three things he was thankful for. At first it was a bit of an effort to think of things, but he discovered that he could always find something eventually.
After doing this for several weeks, one day he picked up his notebook and, starting at the beginning, he read all the things he had written. He says it had a surprising effect of lifting his mood. “After all,” he said to himself, “if all these good things have happened to me already, why shouldn’t I expect more good things to happen in the future?” Before long, as he continued to write his three things every day, he began to feel back to normal again.
At the time he told me this, I was struggling with things myself, so I thought I might try doing the same. And do you know – it really worked!
I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, because being thankful is part of God’s solution to the problems and worries of our lives, as today’s verse reminds us.
Why not give it a try yourself?
Grace Bull is a member of the Ellel Ministries team, working in course development and the support of Ellel centres worldwide, having previously been a full-time GP (family doctor) for 15 years. Her passion is relationship with God and doing anything that will help other people to find that close relationship too.
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