My Attitude Adjustment

Ever have one of THOSE weeks? I am not talking about the kind of week where everything goes badly. I am talking about the kind of week where you mind can't stop thinking negatively. I am ashamed to say that for several days now I have really battled to keep a positive frame of mind. I was so busy feeling sorry for myself over the groceries that I wanted to get that I managed to overlook the cart full of groceries that I COULD get. Instead of telling my husband all of the cute things Kyndra did yesterday, I told him about the numerous times I wanted to lock her up so I wouldn't kill her. You could definitely say that the glass was half empty for me! Deep down inside I knew that this way of thinking is dangerous. It bothered me every time I would catch myself thinking negative thoughts, so I decided to take action. I needed an attitude adjustment!

This August we will hold our first annual youth conference at our church. Most youth conferences revolve around a fun theme, yet for some reason, God laid it on my husband's heart to choose a very unusual theme for this year: Martyrs. Teenagers want to be treated like adults, he said. I want them to have a serious theme that causes them to stand up for their faith in God. Because of this theme, I bought a book for my husband called "Tortured for Christ". It is the story of Richard Wormbrand, a pastor in Romania, that was tortured in a Communist prison for 14 years. Realizing my recent lack of appreciation for all of the great things God has given me, I picked up this book hoping to be changed. I was.

In this book, I read the story of a man who was taken from his family just for preaching the Gospel. He was beaten, starved, frozen, burned, abused, brainwashed, and tortured, and yet he loved and prayed for his captors. As I read this book, I was so ashamed of myself. Wormbrand was given ONE slice of bread A WEEK! Oh, poor me! I can't buy every food item that I want at Kroger! Wormbrand was stripped to near nakedness and put in a freezer until he almost died, only to be thawed out and put back in again. Poor me! I can't seem to find an outfit that looks great on me! That saint of God spent 14 years away from his family, and I was complaining to myself because my husband was working a little later than usual!

I have only read 62 pages of the book so far, and already I am stirred. Sometimes it takes somebody else having to endure a tragedy for you to appreciate the lack thereof in your life. God has been so good to me! I am thankful to Richard Wormbrand for suffering so that I could see that I am not suffering at all.