accept whatever happens, and be happy

while just now was chatting with a sister, i came to talk bout accepting whatever happens and be happy bout it. it's easy to accept something we want to happen, or something that we can easily rejoice over, but are we able to accept something that we don't wish to happen?

i was saying also that in almost everything, we have a choice. the sad thing is, most people don't know that we do have a choice, and freedom is the ability to make that choice. freedom isn't really just doing what you want to do, but making the choice, and the right one on that. i can go deeper on this, but i'm not touching on that in this entry. choice. too many times we blame it on other things when things don't go well. we blame it on our family, our upbringing, our character, our circumstances, etc, but rarely on ourselves. so what if you grew up in a bad environment, your boss mistreats you, blah blah. what are you doing about it? don't look to others, look to yourself. if you think, "aiyah, is like that one la..", do you know that you have made the choice to give up? something bad happens, and you get depressed over it. well you know what? something bad, never happens. to God, it is that way. or at least, i chose to believe it this way, cos God allowed it to happen, He must have intended it for good, cos He is a good God. so everything that happens, is good! we say it is bad, just cos we can't see why it is good, doesn't make it bad. if we can see things from God's perspective, we'd see why it is good. the problem is, majority of us don't know God well enough to be able to see it from His perspective. and maybe, we won't ever understand given the limited brain power we have. here's where faith comes in.

you see, on things that happen, we can see it positively(probably closer to God's perspective) or negatively(what satan wants us to think). imagine a piece of paper. something good happens, is like the piece of paper is filled with white, with some black dots. we can easily see the white. something "bad" happens, is like the paper is filled with black, with white spots. most of us will then see the black part, but here's the deal: you can choose to focus on the white spots than see all the black. i believe that's what God sees in us. the good parts, and accepting the not good parts, and slowly He cleanses us, making the white parts bigger and bigger. on this analogy, i once heard someone say, what if the piece of paper is completely black? my answer to that is, you're really shortsighted to have missed the white spots. you need to work much harder to find the white spots. of course, it's not easy to focus on the white spots. you have to make a conscious choice to do it. likewise, to be positive, to be happy, we have to make a conscious choice on it!

many pple i've seen, say they want to be happy, and they don't want to be depressed, don't want to be emo. the problem is that they only say, but not doing anything bout it. they chose to just leave things as it is. yeah, they chose, without even realizing it. cos to change, takes effort. taking effort is hard work, so subconsciously, they've made a choice not to put in effort. so in wanting things to change for the better, we have to consciously put in the effort, regardless how unwilling we are to do it, as long as we know it is for good. eg, your grades are bad. if you remain the way you are, not changing anything, you grades aren't going to improve, unless you work harder. but working harder isn't fun, so we don't want to do it. but unless we work harder, our grades are not going to change! get what i mean? unless we make the conscious effort to work harder, nothing is going to change, not our grades, not our emotions, not our thoughts.

yeah, so in choices, we can choose to accept "bad" things that happen and believe them for good like God intended. since some time ago, i started to change in the way i pray for others' healing from illnesses. an example:

a couple of weeks back i was praying for a brother in church. he's in NS, in OCS. he's injured, so he can't continue the course. he wants to be an officer very much, and it's not just for himself, but for God too. the usual thing i'd have done in the past, was to pray for his injury to heal, so he can resume his cadet course and eventually be commissioned as an officer. but what if, that is not God's plan? my prayer for him was that, he'd be able to accept whatever outcome it is and be happy, even if in the end it meant that he cannot be an officer. what's most important, is not whether he becomes an officer or not, but whether is he happy. now he wants to be an officer cos that's what makes him happy. so i prayed that even if he can't be an officer, he'll be happy too! no matter what, he'll be happy! is this God's plan? yes i'm very sure! God wants us to be happy! so in this prayer, i know i'm definitely in onto God's plan.

another example:

a sister was diagnosed with lymphoma recently. generally, we'd all be praying that she'll recover, cos if she doesn't, we'll be sad right. how bout this then: no matter what happens, we'll be happy, cos we know God is in control of it all. this way, sure win de ma. haha. we don't know the outcome, but we'll be happy whatever the outcome is. this, is my prayer. i'm glad to know that she's accepted that she has lymphoma, and she has faith that God will heal her. i can sense that she's still happy. that's what truly matters, doesn't it? to be happy!

to everyone out there who's not being happy, snap out of it. you do have a choice to be happy. put in the conscious effort. being happy is part of God's plan for you! if you still choose to remain the way you are, not doing anything to change, nobody can help you. if you still think that the choice is not up to you, then really, nobody can help you le, cos you've already chose to give up. so don't give up, and come join in on God's great plan for you, and be happy! :)