Peace family, as the temperatures dip and we start really appreciating our thermostats and fireplaces, I can’t help but be reminded of an illustration my pastor once made.
We all know that a thermometer reflects the temperature around it, but a thermostat determines the temperature around it. Do you function more like a thermostat, or like a thermometer?
Obviously, because we are human, our surroundings are going to affect us at least a little bit, but are you making more of an impact on your surroundings than your surroundings are making on you? When you are around negative people and situations, do you absorb the negativity and reflect it back, or do you give off peace and warmth with you wherever you go, making your surroundings more peaceful and warm?
I want to encourage you that even when it’s difficult (and sometimes it is incredibly difficult during the holidays, if we have strained relationships in our families), you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (see Philippians 4:13). God will not abandon you, and if you are in a relationship with him, his Holy Spirit is there inside of you to keep the warmth of God’s love glowing when your surroundings might try to snuff it out. If things are very challenging for you, put together a prayer team whom you can text for prayer at a moment’s notice. Read the Bible and know God’s character. Focus on his goodness and his love for you, and be renewed in the security that God loves you deeply, more deeply than is possible to understand, and he is rooting for you. You can do it!
Anyway, just a few thoughts from your friendly, neighborhood Kat.
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