Out from the ashes

A couple of days ago, I was feeling a little discouraged. It was a couple of things that got me a little discouraged. A little of this and a little of that, coupled with a little of others, got me down. But God send encouragements in ways that I didn't expect.

First encouragement was from Mr Brown's blog. He wrote about being happy. It was his simple faith in being happy that cheered me up and got me to look at things in different perspective.

The next encouragement was from a quote that was posted on the stairs of work. The quote was simply, Contentment makes a poor man rich, discontentment makes a rich man poor.' When I read that, I pondered a little and thought further. Well, I'm not asking for more money or for more material goods. I've got heaps, well, not heaps of money but enough but I've got heaps of material goods. Way more than I ever needed. But rather the discontentment comes from not knowing what the future beholds. I had not having control over my life but the reality is that God is in control of my life and not me.

The last encouragement, was from Dana. Dana is a fellow Christian and she's in the same role of job as me. She sent a random email that really made my day. I didn't have a great day at work. Had a monsterous student and it was really trying. And her email just made me crack and laugh. It was a simple email with pictures but it did mean quite a bit to me.

A phoenix raises from the ashes, that thought always gives me hope that with each trial that I go through, I'll be stronger and more resilient. However, often I forget that it is not with my strength that I emerge stronger all the time. It is through the grace and strength of Jesus that I get stronger all the time. As much as I hate going trials, obstacles and difficult periods of my life, I understand and am thankful that God has a purpose. I may not understand the purpose now or I may never ever understand the purpose, and there are many whys that are not answered. But I know that my Lord reigns and He's always in control.