Flip the Script-A Personal Challenge

God has been challenging me a lot in the area of my perspective lately. It can be natural for me to initially view things with a slightly melancholic twist. Whether it is a situation in my life, a problem another person is having, or something I am unsure about, I struggle with a first response that sees things as more of a “problem” than an “opportunity”.

In the last few years God’s been putting his finger on this area of my life. He’s been challenging my thinking, using difficulties I’ve faced to improve and mature me-rather than to deplete me. He’s allowed me to go through trials, on large and small scales, and used them to shape and mature me in my faith and in my calling. He’s taken my initial “melancholic” reaction to things and allowed me to see his hand in using a “problem” as something to bring about positivity and change in an area.

Rather than seeing issues that arise as problems, He has been helping me to seize them as opportunities. Yes, when things come up they can be frustrating, and I may feel an immediate sense of annoyance, anger or discouragement. However, He has been challenging and retraining my thinking to begin see every PROBLEM as an OPPORTUNITY for growth and improvement.

It is through God’s graces that we mature in our faith-and often, it’s the “issues” we encounter that are his greatest tools. I love how many leaders in history have learned and applied this lesson-saying:

•   “Opportunity? Often it comes in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat."  Napoleon Hill

• “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” Sir Winston Churchill

• "We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems." Anonymous
•  “Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes” Henry J Kaiser

The last quote by Henry J Kaiser is definitely my favorite. I’ve found that when “problems” present themselves it’s actually just a God given tool to get me to work in an area. Sometimes a problem highlights an area I need to work on within myself, or they may highlight an area where our family needs to get better or make a change. Other times, God uses problems in areas of a team or system where growth and discipleship needs to take place. Whatever it may be, there is always a chance to get better, stronger, and wiser in every problem we face.

The Bible tells us to essentially CELEBRATE our problems, saying in James 1:2-4 “2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Today I am reminded that the “problems” I face are not necessarily “problems” at all. Rather, when I submit them to God and seek wisdom from him, they are actually OPPORTUNITIES he’s using to give me MORE than I already have (and not to be lacking in anything). So today I am challenged to flip the script-and see a problem as a tool in God’s hands to make something even better.