So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. -2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT

When troubles arise in our lives it almost seems backwards or counterproductive to not focus on them. The best way to handle it is to identify the problem and work on a solution. It’s natural to feel the need to fix the problems that pop up so that we can continue to live our lives as trouble free as possible. But it all comes down to our attitude and perspective, and focusing on our problems only becomes a negative when we overly fixate on the issue. Take for instance a spouse who doesn’t help with the dishes, we can take a relatively small inconvenience and blow it up to a super-sized marital issue. Or a coworker that isn’t pulling their weight on a project, can turn into a hasty career change. If we constantly are fixated on the issue, then we can’t see God’s hand in the situation. It’s when the problems and troubles get bigger than God in our lives, that we need to stop in our tracks and shift the focus back to Him. Thinking about small day-to-day troubles are one thing, but daily recounting all of our issues and playing them on repeat is another. And I speak lovingly from experience.

I used to be the person who would fixate on every little thing, running them through my mind until I was worn out with mental exhaustion.  Finally, when I had no more energy to even think straight, I would bring them to God and pray repeatedly over the same issues pleading for them to be “fixed”. What I never did was lock eyes with God and meditate on who He is and what He has for me. I never sat in awe of Him and what He could do in my life if I simply let go of the reins. Even in my prayers I wouldn’t praise Him for who He is, I would just talk about me and my issues. Until finally, I found a better way to live.

I began to focus on His attributes, who He has been from the beginning, and who He will continue to be in the future. I began to shift my focus from what I could see in my life to what I couldn’t see but was promised to me through faith. I used to pray about healing MY anxiety and how it was crushing my life, until I discovered a much better way, praying about HIS goodness in my life.

You see, when we make everything about ourselves, we can’t see the immensity of God because our eyes have been trained to only see so small. We must expand our focus to truly find freedom. When our problems seem big, let’s open our eyes even wider to see just a glimpse of the of the size of our God. Let’s resolve that when a trouble arises, instead of honing in on it and dwelling on something that will “soon be gone”, we turn and instead focus on Him who “will last forever.”