Choose When You Don't Feel

 Some times it's easy to be loving, cheerful, content, happy, thankful, prayerful, confident, patient, kind, hardworking, generous, unselfish, faithful in Bible reading etc. It's easy to be those things when we feel like being them.

But other times it's plain difficult. We feel discontent, lazy, miserable, scared, frustrated, greedy, unkind, grumpy. We don't feel like reading the Bible or praying. What do we do then?
I have found that I can't change or choose my feelings. But I can choose my actions. I can choose to act cheerful, to pray, to read the Bible, to trust God, to give, to speak kindly, to do some work etc. And when I do those things, often feeling follows. Not always--sometimes we just have to wait it out, have a rest, get a good nights sleep or deal with whatever is causing those feelings.
 But often when I choose to be cheerful, I start to feel more happyl. When I choose to be kind, I start to feel more loving. When I choose to pray, I feel like praying more. When I choose to get busy with jobs, I start to feel more motivated. When I choose to count my blessings, I start to feel more thankful.