Trouble... and Bubbles! 

Yesterday evening as I sat enjoying my sunflowers and taking pictures, I discovered background bubbles…

and I love Bubbles…

I was having trouble getting my focus exactly right. The camera kept autofocusing on the background, the trees and blurring out my sunflower.  I didn’t want the tree but could not remove it. So, I re-focused on the sunflower and that when it happened, the leaves blurred out into little bubbles of light… I was thrilled… I could make that noisy green background, turn into soft, beautiful bubbles…

Counselor words from earlier in the week came tumbling into my mind… 

“Two opposite things can be true at the same time.” 

It’s a matter of how and what I focus on… Focus on the flower and my trouble with the leaves turn into bubbles…  focus on the leaves and my flower blurs… same shot, two different TRUE pictures.

I kept thinking about the counselor’s conversation about my brain tumors and trauma…  I could make the tree disappear no more than I could make the reality of my brain tumor or trauma just disappear, but I can re-focus.

Learn to re-focus the automatic negative thoughts, that focus on the noisy background, my distractions by diligently bringing my thoughts back into focus with what is truly important… my calling, my purpose.  

Turn my troubles into Bubbles… Re-Focus!

Over the last few weeks… I got busy just “doing” something.  Automatically focusing on the noise and distracted by the troubles and trauma. I got overwhelmed, discouraged, could not see, or think clearly. My poor me attitude, lazily auto-focused on… ” Why can’t I eat like everyone else?  I just don’t want to cook tonight; fast food is easier!” or “Why do I have to be the one to go to counseling… I don’t have time to journal or read my Bible right now!

However, when the fatigue, depression, and the migraine hit, and I could not put words together that made sense. Or maybe it was from the anxiety and panic attack that shut me down, frozen….

I knew my focus was off…

It was re-focus time… Two things can be true at the same time… Yes, I have a rare brain tumor. Yes, a strict brain-healthy diet is hard but best for me. Yes, I experienced trauma. Yes, therapy and daily journaling are time-consuming but beneficial for me.

So… I had to ask myself…

Self- do you want to just survive in this life, or do you want to re-focus and become a Thriving, Blüming life… You know like a “Sonflower?”

As I automatically focused on the troubles my TRUE identity and purpose blurred. When I stop obsessing about them, let them go, they lost their power and focus…  When I re-focused on the truth of Who I am in Christ and filter it through Christ’s lens of Love…, all the troubles and trauma softly fade in the background becoming tiny bubbles of beauty…

They no longer control my thoughts or dominate my focus because I brought them back into alignment with what God says to be true.

 I am loved just as I am, by the one who created me and has a purpose and a plan for me. (Jer 29:11)

When I re-focused, I didn’t remove the old reality, I accepted it, for what it was and that it adds beauty and character to my background that would be missed if it were never there.  

Letting go of our troubles will reduce them into beautiful bubbles that God can use for His Glory.

So Loved… One of Abba’s Sonflower- Jacs

Help me today as I respond to the troubles of life by refocusing on You and who I am in Christ, the plans You have for me, and help me to be thankful “in all these things…”   I believe you can transform all these troubles into Joy-filled bubbles. I know these things are providing character and a unique type of beauty to my background… They are no longer my focus or my identity! 

Thank you, Father, for Your Love and Favor.