You are For Me

Yesterday was one of those days. You know the kind. Not a terrible day, but not a good day by a long stretch. One of those days where nothing big or major happens, but lots of little annoyances, little inconveniences, little frustrations. Things that, on their own, on any other day would be completely inconsequential. But add them all up together in one day and you have one of those days. Honestly, days like yesterday are the days where it's easiest for the enemy to gain a foothold in my mind. They are the days that doubt can so easily begin to creep in. They are days that I really discover what I've truly left in God's care and what I've just told God I've left in His care. And yesterday was no exception. As my little frustrations grew and my attitude faded, I began to doubt God's timing, God's direction, God's plan. But yesterday something was a little different. Beginning early in my day, God had placed things in front of me that spoke directly to the things I would be dealing with later in my day. There were tweets that caught my eye and stuck in my head. There was a short video on the internet that someone told me I had to watch. There were words of wisdom from a friend who had no idea the battle taking place in my mind. And there was one line from a song that seemingly stayed on repeat in my head. At some point in the late afternoon, one of those tweets nailed me between the eyes. It reminded me that my attitude towards all of my frustrations was my choice. As I sat and began to literally consciously choose to change my attitude, I thought about all of the little things of great consequence that God had placed in my path all day. I thought about how I had given the frustrations and annoyances more power to control my mood than little affirmations He was sending me. I realized that all day I had made the decision to choose frustration and irritation over encouragement and affirmation. And then I wondered how often I've done that in the past. How often have I simply overlooked or not acknowledged God's presence in my day in the presence of frustration? How often have I chosen the negative emotion over the encouragement and affirmation? As I thought on those things and made the choice to focus on the things of encouragement and affirmation, my outlook on my day drastically changed. And still the words of a song ran through my head. At that point I stopped and really listened to the song in my head that had been stuck there since early in the morning. "I know that you are for me" played over and over again in my head. As I played the song and said the words myself, the last of the doubt and frustration left me. If I know that He is for me, I can trust that He will always give me a reason to choose joy. If I know that He is for me, I can trust that His plan is always perfect. If I know that He is for me, I really don't have a frustration or inconvenience that I can't overcome, do I? Know that He is for YOU!