A Change of Perspective

I feel I need to share with you a battle I fought on Sunday. Yes, Sunday of all days! I have spent the last couple of weeks working on and off on the slideshow presentation that is a big part of our Easter program for church. My husband and I put the finishing touches on it at 10:30 Saturday night, just in time for the complete run through on Sunday during choir practice. We watched through the entire presentation a couple of times just to make sure everything worked like it was supposed to. Satisfied, we saved it and went to bed.

We arrived at church a little early on Sunday morning so we could preview the slides on the overhead and make sure nothing was washed out or anything like that. When Jason went to open the file, an error box came up and said something to the effect of "We're sorry, but the files you are trying to open have been corrupted and cannot be recovered." We tried everything we could think of to open those files, but they were gone. The entire slide show was gone!

Let me pause here to say that this is not a good way to begin a Sunday morning. I was not in the mood to worship! I was not in the mood to pray! I was in the mood to sit down in the floor and cry. My head was pounding from lack of sleep over the weekend, and now I was faced with the fact that Jason and I had to rebuild the entire slideshow again in the afternoon between church services. It took us hours to do it the first time, and I honestly wasn't sure if we'd be able to get it done. No sir, I was not in a Sunday worship mood.

I stomped up the piano and noticed the hymnal was still open to the song we had sung Wednesday night, "Joy Unspeakable." "Oh, it's unspeakable all right!" I muttered. Yes, I was angry and felt that I had every right to be. I knew it was the devil. I knew he didn't want that slideshow to work. After all, it's a beautiful picture of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's a reminder of Satan's defeat at Calvary. Of course he would try to stop it. Not only that, but he knew how it would affect me. In essence, he could kill two birds with one stone: destroy the presentation and ruin my attitude.

But God saw my plight, and He stepped in. No, He didn't fix the presentation, but He removed my focus from it for a while as my pastor brought the morning message on the cross. My mind recalled the last verse from the song I'm supposed to sing during the Easter presentation. "I, too, have walked beneath a heavy burden, stumbled down a dark and lonely road, trying hard not to be discouraged, knowing victory awaits when I reach home." As I thought about all the pain and suffering of the cross, I felt ashamed. Here I am complaining over a computer glitch, but look what my Lord had to face. Was my situation really that bad? Was it worth sacrificing my joy and my chance to worship the God who suffered so much for me?

We were able to finish the slideshow with nearly thirty minutes to spare. The practice went very well, and everyone was pleased with the final outcome. My head was still pounding, and I felt totally exhausted, but I'm happy to say my attitude was a little better. I wish I could say it was all better, but evidently, I still need to grow some in that area.

I didn't tell you this to make you feel sorry for me. Think of it as a warning. If you're living for Christ, Satan is not happy about that, and he will do everything in his power to make your journey difficult. He will strike when you least expect it. It's so tempting to throw up our hands in defeat, but if we do that, he wins. Instead, let's try to make a point to shift our focus. Turn away from the problem and instead look to Jesus. Pray and ask for help. Open your Bible and read encouraging verses. And if you still feel bad, weigh your problems against the weight of the cross and ask yourself, "Is this problem really that bad?" You might be surprised at the change in attitude that can come with a simple change in perspective.