Depending on the day, and the circumstance, here's how I do it...I imagine that this is the VERY LAST headache I will ever have, or the VERY LAST opportunity to answer this child's "need", or the VERY LAST time I will ever miss my nap...and I ask God for strength to respond with grace and faith this VERY LAST TIME. Sort of like finishing the race with everything I could give. Other times, I resolutely set out to think of 3-5 people who have it worse than I, and I write their names down, or I finish this sentence in my head: "It could be worse, because..." There is always someone who has it worse than I do; always a situation that is worse than the one I'm in. (i.e. I was sad that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.) Other times--and this is my personal favorite lately--I remember that each moment I live brings me closer to an amazing eternity of unfettered joy in the presence of my God, in which every big and little unpleasant thing I ever endured will have been worth it, compared to this. The older I get, the more that promise excites and thrills me.

~ Betsy

Up until maybe 5-10 years ago I would have said that the theology of the song was wrong, that God calls us to rejoice IN SPITE OF our sufferings rather than "trading in" our sufferings. 2 Cor 12:7-10, Eccl 7:3 for example.

I still think that's true, but I also have come to suspect that there are also opportunities to "trade in" sorrow for joy; opportunities to choose one or the other - places where we in our fallen state actually choose to hang on to pain or bitterness or failure or sorrow, where we deliberately (even if unconsciously or automatically) reject the joy that God offers us. I think that's been true of much of my life - choosing the wrong thing. I'm not on the other side of it to be able to say how to choose the right thing consistently, but I think sometimes it's possible.

I like Betsy's ideas. That seems like a good place to start.

When I'm at my lowest (and YOU know I've had some low times recently), I call my friends, or think of those who love me, and try to grasp onto a kind of belief that what I'm feeling is temporary, even though it feels like forever. I try to take in the small happinesses: a beautiful flower, the sun in the sky, a cat sleeping so deeply and full of relaxation, and rely on a kind of blind faith that if I am gentle with myself, if I reach out, like you have done, if I have patience beyond what I have been able to manifest before, I will get the help I need. And pretty much, that is what has happened. Sometimes I have had to put the wheels in motion, or reach out more times than I would like to but I have never regretted it. Sometimes I just need to cry and grieve. Be gentle with yourself, have compassion for your pain, and get the help you need. You are not alone, my dear K.

The song lyrics sound like some of the gospel music in the workshops I have attended. I'm signing up for another one.

I can't do the "it could be worse" exercise. Every time I think that, my situation gets worse! And I can't do the "last time" exercise because I tend toward unforgiveness and that would just bring up bitterness. But I do love the verse "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" from Job. I also hold on to the idea that any complaining (even if only in my heart) is me telling God that His plan for me isn't good enough.

When the little things become overwhelming, I try to get back to basics. Scale down my life to the barest minimum and make prayer and praise a priority. I try, anyway. Most of the time when the day-to-day is too much for me, it's because some priority somewhere is messed up.

I'm still growing in all of this, and He knows how far I still have to go... but it helps me to keep my focus on the big picture. These verses really help me:

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 8:28-39)