Charisa asked: With all you been through, you've seen how precious life is and I'm sure have learned what is really important. How do you deal with just stupid stuff without getting self-rightous or aggravated. You know, when someone is mad or upset about something trivial, do you ever want to yell "yeah, well my daughter is in the hospital with cancer" or "yeah, well people are starving in Ethiopia?"
Answer by Michelle
Honestly, no. I never want to get to the point where the concerns of others don't touch me, too. People truly matter to us and we want to encourage, pray for and help others, even in the midst of this trial. I really love it when people talk about problems that are "less" stressful than what we are going through. We feel bad that people always want to say "I know my problems aren't as bad as yours." It's all relative. We don't measure or compete about who has more difficulties to handle. It's all relative. Those "smaller" problems, used to be our normal problems, too. Hearing about "normal problems" reminds us that someday, our lives will be less stressful again. God loves us all so much. One of the ways we are encouraged is to interactive on a normal level with friends and not have every conversation be about cancer.
There are BIG, BIG problems in this world and we are passionate about helping orphans and people who are living in abject poverty. I appreciate it when God uses little "normal" things to softly speak to my heart. We are not naive enough to believe things will always be "normal" throughout life (you shouldn't either). We are forever changed through this experience even if it is only because of the deeper appreciation for the boring "normal" times.
My prayer is that God will use the new and improved us (which is how trials serve Christians for the good) to serve Him.
2 comments:
That question really hit home for me. My husband has been either deployed or on unaccompanied orders for the entire 3 years we've been married. So we have not been allowed to live in the same house at all. He sees me and our baby 3 days a month. I find myself loosing patience with my friends when they say things like "My husband works way too much! I only get to see him at night." Its so hard for me to keep from saying "Shut up and be thankful your husband is even there at all." But Michelle's response to this was a great reminder that peoples' needs matter. Not only the ones that are "as big" or "bigger" than our own, but all of them.
Thank you!
I read somewhere once that "our problems are always bigger because they are ours". I try to keep that in mind when others complain about things in their lives that I feel are petty or even when I find myself mired in self pitty over my own problems.
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