'the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.' (Philippians 4:7)
It is so easy not be joyful most of the time. We all faced with the ‘killers’ of joy in every season of our lives: circumstances, things, people and worry. Of all of these, the ‘killer’ that I find so difficult to overcome and still grips me a lot is ‘people’. I am easily hurt and in tears when people dear to me lashed harsh words on me. This is particularly so after I contracted cancer. I struggled a lot on these for years till recently.
Somehow I got acquainted with this lady who is about my age through a close friend. Guess what, she survived cancer without chemo treatment more than a decade ago. She confided to me that she was once like me, kept problems to herself, and felt unappreciated for what she had done, deep misery inside. Then her dreadful sickness changed everything. She realized that she had been for years trying to change people around her instead of changing herself. From then on, she learnt to accept people as who they are and willing to ‘let go’. The heavy burden on her back was suddenly lifted up. Since then, she has become a more joyful person.
What a marvellous revelation for me. We often failed to realize that we still cling on to that part of our old self and refuse to change. Last few weeks have been better as I gradually learnt to accept these hard facts: I cannot change circumstances, things or people; and I have more to lose by worrying.
It is so easy not be joyful most of the time. We all faced with the ‘killers’ of joy in every season of our lives: circumstances, things, people and worry. Of all of these, the ‘killer’ that I find so difficult to overcome and still grips me a lot is ‘people’. I am easily hurt and in tears when people dear to me lashed harsh words on me. This is particularly so after I contracted cancer. I struggled a lot on these for years till recently.
Somehow I got acquainted with this lady who is about my age through a close friend. Guess what, she survived cancer without chemo treatment more than a decade ago. She confided to me that she was once like me, kept problems to herself, and felt unappreciated for what she had done, deep misery inside. Then her dreadful sickness changed everything. She realized that she had been for years trying to change people around her instead of changing herself. From then on, she learnt to accept people as who they are and willing to ‘let go’. The heavy burden on her back was suddenly lifted up. Since then, she has become a more joyful person.
What a marvellous revelation for me. We often failed to realize that we still cling on to that part of our old self and refuse to change. Last few weeks have been better as I gradually learnt to accept these hard facts: I cannot change circumstances, things or people; and I have more to lose by worrying.
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