A New Perspective

My eyesight is extremely horrible, and when I say horrible I mean HORRIBLE. Now I'm not blind, or close to it, but I can't watch tv without my glasses on. Now I thank God for the little eyesight that I do have because there are so many people in this world that has no vision at all. (Physical vision that is because babbbbby there are some people that have physical sight but are still blind... That's a topic for another day). But each year I have to go to MyEyeDr in Macon, GA for my amazing optometrist, Dr. Monte Murphy (yes I am plugging my optometrist that's how great he is), to test to see if my eyesight has gotten worse. Now spoiler alert, my eyesight gets worse every year, I always have to get a new prescription, this is something we were aware of from the beginning, genetics I tell you *sigh. But each year I have to go through this exam for Monte to go through the routine of asking, "So tell me does this lens work for you, or does this one... Does it get better or worse with lens 1 or lens 2." Now I had just had to shoutout Monte out on this one because I bet he never knew that his exam would be used for a moment of encouragement.

Now what Monte is doing through this exam is changing my focus, changing my perspective. He is asking me, hey through this lens is your eyesight better or worse. And lets be honest who wants to go through life continuously choosing the worst perspective. In those moments he is challenging me to not focus on the blurriness around me, but to flip my perspective so that I can see clearly, so that I will be able to walk out of the office with the ability to see things from a new light, so that I can now see from the best perspective, so I'm not constantly worried about the obstacle, the challenge of not being able to see the world fully.

How many of you know that life is like that? That life is so blurry that we sometimes don't fully or clearly see the goodness that God has promised us in life. But instead our focus has been so distorted that all we see is the obstacle, our challenge, our trouble. So many times in life, the trials, the heartache, the struggles, the betrayals in life get so overwhelming that we lose our "sight", we lose the visibility of the promises of God. The negativity around us begin to become so overbearing that we begin to believe that there is no way out, that this is all life has to offer us, that all we will ever see is the blurriness of life. Even when we are hurt personally, we begin to believe negative thoughts about ourselves, that we aren't meant for greater, that we aren't good enough, that we're less than what we thought ourselves to be. But the truth is we are none of that, none of what the enemy tries to tell you about yourself. The truth is our life is made for greater.

We must learn to change our perspective, change our mindset, learn to lean on what God says about us and the promises that He has for our lives despite what we see around us. We must set our mind on things above. When we begin to see things from a new perspective, begin to lean more on the positive than the negative, things will begin to shift in our lives. When we begin to see ourselves as God sees us, we will begin to walk truly in the person that God has called us to be, into the abundant life He has for us. You begin to tune out the trials around you, the hardships, the obstacles, and start living for the future, start walking in faith and living for the life God has before you.

So how do we get to this point? How do we begin to see things from a new perspective?

1. Focus on the promises of God

The Bible is filled with God's promises to each and every one of us. God promises He will never leave us. God promises that He will provide for us. God promises that He will protect us. God promises that He will use whatever we're going through for our good. I can go on and on about God's promises. But when you learn to focus on the promises that God has for you, you begin to realize that the trial you are facing is only temporary. You begin to remember that weeping may endure for a night, but joy is coming. You begin to understand that no matter what you face in life, God is going to guide you through it , be right there with you, and deliver you from whatever you're going through.

2. Focus on you

I am a true advocate for self-care. Now there are so many types of different things that people consider self-care. Do what works for you. But in the end you must not only focus on God, but also focus on you. When you focus on God first, you begin to understand who you are and whose you are. When know that you are a child of God, that you are a queen or a king, that you are called for greater, that you were beautifully and wonderfully made. You begin to not let your circumstances define you, but instead you use who you are in God to tell your circumstances that they will not overtake you. That everything the enemy says about you is not true, that you will be all that God has called you to be. When you focus on God, then focus on yourself, you can walk boldly through your trial, your valley, past or over your obstacle because you know God has supplied you with everything you need to overcome.

3. Surround yourself with positive minds

My mother always said birds of a feather, flock together. If you have focused on God, focused on yourself, but you still find yourself with a negative mindset, you need to check your circle. Some people are in your circle but not in your corner. Some people are feeding you negative thoughts about yourself and about your circumstance. You need to surround yourself with people that are going to encourage you, push you for better, support all your endeavors, who truly loves you unconditionally. You need people in your circle that when you can't get to God, when you can't focus on yourself, when you can't seem to get out of negative thinking, they will get you to God for Him to make a change in your life, in your perspective. They will carry you to God if they have to. Those are the people you need in your life.

So ask yourself, does things look better through lens 1 or lens 2? Are you going to focus on the negative or the positive? Are you going to keep changing your perspective so that when you get the right "lens" you can see the promises that God has for you, you can clearly see that greater is in front of you? Ask yourself, What's your perspective?