A couple months ago, I was driving down a back road when a tractor trailer turned coming the opposite direction towards me. The truck started to pull over to the right, into the grass, so I started to move over as well to make sure they had enough room to pass by. It usually isn’t any problem doing that, but this time, a mailbox had come loose from the recent rain and was leaned over my side of the road. I didn’t even expect to hit it, but in a split second, my rearview mirror was shattered.

When I finally got to where I was headed, I parked and just stared at the shattered mirror. I was upset that it was destroyed, but God quickly reminded me of two things:

• 1) It was just a small piece of the car. A piece that was replaceable. My daughter and myself who were in the car, were not: It’s unfortunate that it’s broken, but the car as whole was not.

We tend to focus on the shattered mirror – the pain, the hurt, the frustration, the uncertainty, the brokenness we are experiencing. When we focus on the negative, we can quickly lose sight of things that are right, whole, and ultimately protected.

Challenges in life will come. I can testify to that. In the months after this, and still today, I have struggled with some physical troubles. For a while, it just kept getting worse instead of better. While it has improved, new issues still seem to keep coming. It is incredibly frustrating, but I need to change my perspective. I need to stop focusing on the broken mirror… the small things in my life that really aren’t as bad as I think or as they could be. Yes, it stinks that’s it’s happening, but there is much more to be thankful for.

• 2. It was better than the alternative of hitting the tractor trailer: Even though something got broken, I made the right choice.‘

Just because something bad happens doesn’t always mean we made the wrong choice. Sometimes, there are no good choices. In life, things are going to come after us or toward us, like the big tractor trailer on a small back road. Other times, we might not even be aware of the things coming our way, like the mailbox. Again, if we focus only on the thing that went wrong, it makes it harder to see the bigger picture and the understanding that God has protected us from larger things; things we might not even be aware of.

Tough times are going to happen. The Lord doesn’t promise us problem free lives, but He does promise to be with us when troubles arise. ‘The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him‘ Nahum 1:7.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 tell us that ‘ We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…’ Even the mirror, in its brokenness, still reflected. It was still useful, and so are we. So, let us fix our gaze on Him and away from the shattered mirror. Let us put our trust in Him and allow Him to shine through any of the hurt or brokenness we’ve felt along the way, because ‘yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us’ Romans 8:37.