Are you battling with a problem and feeling weighed down and discouraged? Here’s some advice to help lift the weight.

First, take a short look at the problem. Many people who experience setbacks ask why. But they never move beyond the question to the answer. We can’t solve problems by ignoring them, but we also can’t solve them by becoming fixated and immobilised by them either. Once we’ve recognised and analysed the problem, it’s time to focus on a solution.

Second, take a long look at the possibilities. Sometimes the problem we’re facing can help us see possibilities we didn’t know existed. James Spangler was a cleaner who had asthma, and the hard work of sweeping floors, not to mention the dust that flew about as he worked, made his life difficult. So he decided to invent a machine to help, and came up with one of the first portable domestic vacuum cleaners. A culture that Dr Alexander Fleming was working on in St Mary’s Hospital in London was altered when mould was accidentally introduced into it. But the mistake gave birth to the miracle drug penicillin, saving millions of lives.

It’s likely that the negative thing you’re facing today has an opportunity contained in it somewhere, somehow. It might not be easy to find, and it might not lead to a breakthrough like Fleming and Spangler had. But then again – it might – especially if it causes you to turn to God for answers. In the words of Jeremiah, ‘Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.’

What Now?

Are you being weighed down by a problem at the moment? Spend time with God meditating on possible solutions, and ask Him to open your mind to new opportunities that might be contained in it.