Have you ever taken a photo on your phone or on your camera and it was completely out of focus and looked a bit blurry? Then you retake the photo, by adjusting your settings or by adjusting your lens and focusing the camera lens until you get the right shot , the clear shot, the money-making shot.

Let’s be honest ‘out of focus’ shots aren’t that great, and you won’t exactly print or frame it, or use it as a profile picture for social media! Hence we make sure that all the settings on our cameras are right, with the right lighting, right angles, through to the right lenses.

This got me thinking; often we go through things in life that aren’t always that pleasant. These things often end up distorting our perceptions. We just see the mess, and automatically feel defeated and overwhelmed by it. The way we look at our situation is clouded and out of focus. We may even find ourselves just focusing on our mess, without seeking to find the good in and amongst the mess.

ADJUST YOUR FOCUS

Changing our perspective , by adjusting our focus may mean : 

BIGGER PICTURE

  • Start to look at your situation with a bigger eye’s view. Start to see the bigger picture, knowing that this moment will move on into the next one. Every season, good or bad eventually moves into the next. Instead of focusing on the problem, focus on what it is that you need to learn and overcome in this current situation. Know the vision and bigger picture for your life, and let that motivate you to keep on pressing forward.

CHOOSE JOY

  • Look for, and point out, the good in and amongst the mess. Choose joy and hope for what good is still to come. Choosing joy lifts our burdened hearts, and keeps our gaze up and forward. Joy overrides fear and it gives us that extra strength and fresh perspective to keep pushing on.

GRATITUDE

  • When we feel stuck and overwhelmed by our situations or seasons we start to focus solely on the bad. Focusing on all the bad will cause us to feel defeated. However, when we focus on the good, even if it’s something small and we acknowledge its goodness and blessing in our lives, it starts to cultivate gratitude in our hearts. Which in turn lifts our spirits, revives our hope, and leaves us feeling encouraged regardless of the season we find ourselves in.

PRAYER

  • I firmly believe that if we call out to God and ask Him to comfort us, lead us, carry us , speak to us, refresh us , restore us , love us , and heal our brokenness, that He will. He will never leave us or abandon us. In fact, he is waiting for us to call out to Him. When we call out to him, we release the need to control and we then surrender every burden over to Him. This, in turn, releases us from feeling emotionally bound and defeated. Surrendering our cares to God stirs our faith, and it encourages us to face every season courageously.

Never underestimate the power of prayer. Why not start today by calling out to God and laying your cares and burdens on Him. Let Him carry the weight of your burdens, let Him comfort and carry you through this season.