Ask God to help us make the right choices and find joy
"I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now you choose life."
- Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV)
By Annettee Budzban
Daily Herald correspondent
"Life is what you make it" was something my father use to say.
Over the years, through different challenges and struggles, I came to realize I had choices to make. Choices that could move me forward. Through my choices whether good or bad, I was making my life.
Sometimes, we have multiple issues that are weighing heavy on our hearts, some of which may be serious. I know, like many of you, I have problems to solve too.
But we can choose to find some bright spots to relieve our troubled mind and motivate us to make something good from our circumstances. We can choose to live with optimism that something good can come about (this is called faith), or we can live pessimistic or depressed.
Deciding to see the good or make a different choice isn't easy. We need to ask God for his help to make right choices and find some joy for our lives.
There are simple choices we can make every day. The one I really like is that we can decide to like ourselves and the life God has given us. This is our life. And although we want and need some improvement, we can't beat ourselves up over the fact that we've been rejected, fired, divorced, abandoned, broke, sick or left out. We have to choose to achieve regardless of the hurts and disappointments in our lives. We have to spend 24/7 in our skin, so we might as well learn to choose to like ourselves. I think that's one great resolution for the New Year.
We can choose to become wiser. Keeping a desire for self-improvement is a good step in making our lives better. In this day and age, with libraries, internet access, and learning channels, we have a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips. It's free education!
God tells us we even have the ability to create wealth. We can learn a new line of work, or how to budget and plan our money wiser.
Since life is what we make it. Why not make this the year to cultivate a better one.
• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She is hosting a "Writing for Fun or Profit" mini-conference Saturday, Feb., 9 from noon to 3 p.m. Register for details and to reserve your spot. Annettee can be contacted at Annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413. She is available to speak to your group.