Count Your Blessings or Rehearse the Curse?

This morning, as the sun woke me, glinting on the beautiful snow, I realized that we all have a choice every single moment of every single day. The choice to count my blessings, our rehearse my curse. What do I mean by that? Simple really. Every single day, we can direct our attitudes and thoughts in a way that views our life as a blessing, or as a curse.

I have Interstitial Cystitis, a condition I will have to live with and compensate for forever. For the last week, I've struggled with a low-grade fever from my IC, and it's been a big struggle to keep my mind on what is good, positive, and helpful. This bladder disease produces pain that is compared to that of cancer. Now, I only occasionally have flare ups, but 5 years ago, I was in excruciating pain and fevered every single day.

There were plenty of days in the middle of my struggle that I woke up in pain and angry at God, the world, and anyone else I could think of. I rehearsed the injustice of my life, what I would do if I could be better, be pain-free, not have to spend thousands of dollars and thousands of hours on this condition I was in. I rehearsed the curse. I focused on the negative. Then, over time, I realized that it was getting me nowhere- actually worse than nowhere- it was making me worse.

Over time, and with many days of relapsing into my rehearsing the curse, I began to count my blessing instead. My circumstances were just the same to begin with, but I began to try to see them in a different way: "Why do I have to suffer?" became "What can I learn from this season of pain? Because some day I will be healthy and help others." And that's when the change began to occur... where my health began to turn around. My mind and my attitude began to believe I could get well, and as I searched for the good, my eyes began opening up to new options for regaining health.

So today, it's your choice- count your blessing or rehearse the curse!