Help Me...I don't want to be a pessimist anymore!

A friend told me I was a pessimist. I don't really see myself like that, but then sometimes we are blind to ourselves and our own faults. I just like to look at things from every angle before I come to a conclusion. My biggest problem is that my thoughts are never secret. My big mouth gives me away every time before my head actually has time to fully assess the situation. But, as iron sharpens iron I am trying to correct this. So let me share a story where much good came out of a potentially very bad situation. A situation where I deliberately chose to be optimistic.

Last year, as I was sitting at the lights at Kingston Road and Morningside, complaining to myself about how much my back hurt (I'm a bit of a complainer too but we will discuss that deficiency another time), when all of a sudden someone smashed into the back of my car, full speed. The back bumper of my car was already in bad shape from when I backed into my sons car in the driveway and then again when I backed into my daughters car a week later (I know, I know, we'll discuss my driving skills another time too...they just shouldn't park behind me in the drive way that's all!).

Anyway, this guy hit me so hard that everything in the front of my car including everything on the dashboard and in all the little compartments, ended up being in the back seat of my car. It all went flying and everything happened so fast. I was in such shock that I couldn't move for the first few minutes. Never really had an accident like that before and I didn't have a clue what to do. It's a good thing that God was looking after me because although the man who hit me gave me a card with all his info on it, I didn't even think to write down his licence plate number. (I know, we can discuss my stupidity another time too....let’s keep focused on the story!) I just couldn't think straight, I was completely dumbfounded and confused. He could have completely shafted me....but he didn't.

Fortunately for me the man ended up being an auto mechanic and a really honest guy. He fixed up the bumper and returned the car to me looking better than the day I had bought it!!! I wanted to go out and get a new front end just so it matched the back. (My son’s situation did not turn out as well as mine. He drove around with a big hole in his car for over a year. He finally bought himself a new one.)

God took a potentially bad situation and worked it out better than I could have ever thought. I now have a great looking car!(at least until someone parks behind me in the drive again!)

Oh, and my back has been completely better from the time he hit me, no more pain! How amazing is that!

On that note I invite you all to hold me accountable for my pessimistic attitudes when you see them. I can’t promise to change over night but I’ll be working on it and hopefully someday I’ll be seen as the optimist in every situation. (Learning to keep my big mouth shut might help too!).

So my friends, here’s to living a life of optimism! I hope you’ll all walk it together with me. We have an exciting future ahead of us and I for one wouldn't want to miss seeing it for anything!

Happy Trials Everyone.....oh sorry that's Happy Trails Everyone!!