Focus On What You Can Do, Not What You've Lost
I want to do another week on Rewired. Go and get this book. You'll enjoy it. I'm sure you will and be blessed by it. I certainly was.
If you remember from last week, Melissa Loomis had her arm amputated after a raccoon bite got terribly infected. After the surgery, Doctor Seth, who wrote the book, walked into her room to see how she was doing. Melissa and her family were all looking at something on her phone. Melissa had done her research and found out that there were prosthetic arms that could move every joint, opening and closing pretty much like a real arm—a real hand, she said. “Think of the things I could do with a hand like that!”
Power of Positive Focus
Doctor Seth writes here on page 98: “This was very good. Melissa was thinking about what she could do rather than what she had lost. That's a strong recipe for recovery,” he said.
Now, how does this play out in your life? Are you focusing on what you've lost rather than on what you could do?
If you're focusing on what you've lost, there's not going to really be any recovery. And I want to say this carefully, because I know that a lot of you have lost loved ones in the last couple of years, especially with COVID at its worst. I know that life is not like it used to be. I know that that sense of loss is very strong.
But here was Melissa, who had lost her arm, focusing on how she could move forward—focusing on what she could do rather than on what she'd lost.
Moving Forward in Faith
Maybe you and I need to do the same thing in our lives. And I'll say to you that for me, changing jobs at the end of last year and basically being a freelancer this year was something that I had to get used to.
Towards the end of last year, I was quite negative about it because I was thinking about all the things I was going to lose stepping away from eMseni and the Methodist Church. But I believe that God has called me here, and I believe that I can either be sad about what I've lost or I can move forward in confidence, looking for things that I can do instead.
Purpose Beyond Loss
What about you? Don't get caught on the things you've lost, but with faith, move forward and see what you can do for God.
Because I believe that if you're still alive, it's because He’s got something wonderful for you to do.
