9/88

—A Talk to David & Techi on Staying Positive!

Maria #173 DO 2818

1. If we get too attached to things, then we don't get desperate enough with the Lord or attached enough to Him. If anything else became more important to us, then the Lord wouldn't be so important, & we wouldn't have to cling so desperately to Him.

2. With all the things that happen in your life, just count them as good experiences that the Lord's given you. Even though something might seem bad, it's an experience the Lord's using to teach you‚ so it's good because it's from the Lord, or the Lord allows it in some way. With all the experiences you go through in life‚ some are more exciting, some are less exciting, some you maybe learn more lessons from & others you learn less lessons from, but the Lord uses them all.

3. Even if you don't get to do something at all, thank the Lord for that, because the Lord has His reasons. And if you do get to do something, then just enjoy it to the full as long as it lasts, even if it lasts only for a short while. And when it's over, don't negate all the fun that it was by saying, "Oh, it's so awful to have to stop now & not be able to continue having all that fun!"

4. Instead, think of it in the positive: "Look at the wonderful experiences I had & the nice time I had & all the lessons I learned! Even if it was only for a week, it was really a lot of fun, we got to do things we never did before!"‚ instead of negating the whole thing & making the whole thing a sad experience by saying, "Oh boy, I couldn't even stay!—It's all over!" Look at it in a positive way, at what a good experience it was: "Well‚ maybe it only lasted a short while, but it was such a good experience!" Or, "Maybe I didn't even do so great, but I learned a lot of good lessons from it."

5. It's much better to get positive lessons out of things instead of spoiling them all by murmuring at the end & saying‚ "Well, yes, it was nice, but I had to leave." A lot of people do that & then they spoil all the good that it was & the nice experience that it was by making it negative & by making it bad.—"Well, it was nice but it didn't last & I wasn't able to enjoy it for very long." That really spoils it, because then you're emphasising the negative instead of looking on the good. "Whatsoever things are true‚ whatsoever things are honest‚ whatsoever things are just‚ whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, & if there be any praise, think on these things!"—Phil.4:8.—Amen?

6. Every experience should be treated positively. At the end of it you shouldn't say, "It was nice living here, but oh dear, now I've got to leave my kitties & my garden." Instead you should say, "Praise the Lord, it was really nice living here, & I'm so thankful I had my kitties & my garden! Those will be so nice to remember, & I learned so much about gardening & taking care of pets," & just look at it in the positive. That makes it a good experience & that's the way the Lord wants us to look at it.

7. But so many people do just the opposite: They say, "Well, yes, it was good, but now I have to leave it. I had this great game I was playing but I couldn't finish it, so what good was it?" Well, you had fun playing part of it, didn't you? If you get called out in the middle of something fun you're doing, well, you enjoyed part of it, even though you didn't get to finish the rest.

8. That's the positive way to look at things! The way to get the most out of life is to look at the good things that you've had instead of all the things you're going to miss or you didn't have! So even if you don't get to do something, you can think of all the good things you had here & all the good things you're going to have in the next place & the fun times you're going to have, different experiences in life. Right? Or if you just got to do something for a little while, well, that was fun‚ you had a really good experience, & thank the Lord He let you do that much, but now we're going to do something else. Don't you think that's a better way to look at it?

9. It was hard leaving the last place‚ but you soon forgot about it, & you found something better, & now you don't even miss it. You have kitties here, even nicer kitties than you had there. So the Lord gives you better things along the way. You had your own little garden here that you didn't have at the last place. And you've had different experiences & the Lord's given you different things along the way to grow you up.

10. In your experiences here you learned a lot of lessons. Maybe you even learned some of the benefits of backsliding. If you'd just been perfect & good all the time, you might not have learned so much. You really learned a lot, the benefits of backsliding too!

11. Maybe you learned even more than you would have if you'd been so good! Sometimes we learn a lot more when we're bad than when we're good. But next time around, please try to be good, okay? You often only get one chance at failure, not two. All right? PTL!

12. So you want the Lord's Will, right? Techi, you said there are so many different options, so many different alternatives. And what did you conclude?—That you'd be happiest in whatever the Lord wanted you to do, right? So that's really good. PTL!

13. Amen, Lord, You help them to know whatever You want them to do, with Godly counsel & with the right feelings & with Thy Word, to make the right decision. Or Lord, if the decision has to be made for them, help them just to be thankful & happy in whatever it is, "in whatsoever state they are, therewith to be content."—Phil.4:11.

14. Thank You‚ Lord, for the good lessons You've been teaching them here & the good time that they've had to learn different lessons. Lord, if it's Thy time to teach them a new set of lessons now in a different environment & with different people, well, You can do that too. Sometimes we need changes to teach us different lessons, so if they've learned these lessons & been faithful, maybe You want to give them a chance to learn another set of lessons & give them a new challenge.

15. So help them, Lord‚ & have Your way, whatever it is, & give them happy, contented, thankful spirits in whatever they need to do. Wherever they are, whatever they do, help them just to press in & learn as much as they can from it & be thankful, in Jesus' name. TYL! Amen, TYJ! Amen?—Are you thankful? GBY! (—In Jesus' name‚ amen.—D.)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family