A Thankful heart and an optimistic perspective.

This post almost became a ranting post. Last week was a looooong week. It began with a horrible cold and ended with a terrible upset stomach. It was punctuated with disorder at a conference, incompetent caterers, washing hundreds of dishes, yelling supervisors, frustration, exhaustion, cold and finally a robbery in the middle of the night.... Yeah! And that's not everything! By the time I was home on Sunday I was so tired that I went to sleep at 6 pm and got up today at 7. Kuchoka nayo! But you know what? After writing a while post on 'But God' I can't go around focusing on the lowlights when at each point God was there for me. He healed me, gave me strength, and healed me again... :) So, Dot.... what were the highlights? Hmmmmm..... I did visit this art gallery for the opening night of a photographer's exhibition. I do not get modern art, but I did have a fairly good time there and I met some new people.... What else?......... Oh YAH! The e-night praise n worship session was A-MAAAA-ZING. There's nothing like a good praise n worship session to renew a weary soul. By the time I was leaving there at like 9.30 the weeks' battles were long forgotten and I wasn't even bothered that I had to be at work the next day at 6 a.m.

So, instead of me spewing negativity all over this blog, I will just take time to thank God for how far He has brought me. On Friday evening during e-night we had the chance to thank God for one thing and I found myself overwhelmed with all the reasons I have to be thankful. I learned that it really isn't just about optimism; it's about counting your blessings. I used to be a highly pessimistic person and to me life's high points were lived out in fear and dread because I was always sure they would be followed by a really low low. For every peak I saw a valley; what a terrible way to live. Believe me. I was too mopey and sad to enjoy the good times and when the bad times came I was so busy wallowing in self pity that I probably lengthened the bad times. One day, I can't remember when, God started helping me change my perspective. I became a glass-half-full type of person. I became a hopeful and joyful person and I learned to view challenges as learning opportunities and to see tough times as 'but God' times. I stopped regularly having my pity parties and started writing more thank you lists. I started writing myself letters using the website futureme.org where you can write to yourself and they deliver the email to you at a time in the future you have chosen. I started to listen to more upbeat music and basically I let the little goth in me go. It isn't always easy, because optimism and thankfulness do not automatically make the tough times go away. However, it helps face the hurdles when they come; it puts me in the right frame of mind to come up with solutions quickly; it helps me keep my head above the waves. Knowing that God has got me no matter what gives me this peace and assurance that carries me through the tough times. I just have to say Imela. That's all I have for this week; a thankful heart and an optimistic perspective will make a world of difference in the trenches.