Our Relationship with Ourselves--by Linden Malki

We are learning that we are all different, and react differently to the stresses of our lives. That's something that we need to remember when we are trying to relate our own pain with someone else.  There are very few people who get through life without pain; but the first thing to remember is that life changes. Each of our days is unique; while we go through many of the same trials, each one of us experiences it differently. That doesn't mean that we can't learn from each other! In fact. one of the advantages is that we can learn from someone else who may have had something similar but discovered different lessons and insights that can help us cope--and share insights that may help someone else in their pain.

Some of us think we need to take over others' issues and solve everybody's problems, and then feel guilty when that doesn't happen the way we think it should. Sometimes we get hung up on the idea that nobody appreciates everything we do; however, we can fall into the trap of doing what we think we ought to do, and may or may not realize that our answers don't necessarily match the actual needs of the situation.  And we may need to face the fact that we can't do everything for everybody; that we see everybody else's shortcomings without seeing that the problem just might be our own lack of understanding ourselves. One of the biggest traps we need to recognize is that our own "feelings" are not a good gauge of the real world.

Yes, there are cases that require professional medical attention. But the most powerful therapy, in many cases, is  prayer and the willingness to listen and allow Him to change our life. One of the most important things to appreciate is that every day is a new day, and each day is a new opportunity. "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for Him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him." (Lamentations 3:22-25) This book was written in the days after Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, and the Judean people scattered from Egypt to Iraq. However, they did persevere and maintain their relationship with God. They did survive in exile. Their nation was restored in about 400BC, only to be scattered again in 70AD, and there were communities of Jews in North Africa and Iraq as well as many parts of the world, until they were finally enabled to re-establish their nation within the last century.