Im running short on funds, friends, and fun! boo hoo!!

You ever feel like you are running low on funds, friends, and fun? Maybe not all at once, but maybe at different times. I feel like I'm running low on all three at present, but whether you are low on one of these, all three, or several other things in life, we all have two choices in how we are going to deal with it. Have a grand pity party, become bitter and bummed, wallow in it, and go nowhere, OR realize everything that hits our lives is first sifted through the mighty hands of God. I think I often battle with the idea that life should go my way....I have an attitude of entitlement I am ashamed to admit, I am entitled to posses what most other people I know posses. Funds, friends, and fun! I am in a season of continual stripping...almost everytime I look up, something else is being taken from me. Now my first response is often that of a 2 year old, gripping on to whatever is being taken from me with a fierce grip and shouting at the top of my lungs NOOOOO!! MINE!!! But, no matter how loud I yell, no matter how fierce the tantrum...God takes it from me. Now is God being mean to me? Is he being unfair? No, not one bit. You see if I choose to look at my life through my God glasses, I can clearly see with 20/20 spiritual vision that God takes away for good reasons...and in time, He will give back in His way. It's a time where God wants all of me, He wants all my allegiance...I am easily distracted, I LOVE people, fun, activities...I like to have enough money to be able to have fun. But God is saying, not right now, Diane...those things are not bad, but they distract you from what I currently want from you...your allegiance, your time, your affection, your life without distraction. Now if Im not careful, my bad attitude can become the distraction. I don't want to wrestle with God, I don't want to foolishly fight against what He is doing and desiring to produce in my life, so I have to discipline my mind, I have to make my mind think on what is true about the character of God. He has only the best in mind for me, not the best in reference to what we in our flesh define as best, ie, plenty of money, health, perfect children and marriages, ect. ect. But what is best in reference to my life as a Christ follower...what in life is going to make me more sensitive to that which is eternal, what is it that will make me more compassionate to those who suffer, to those who are lonely, to those who have far greater needs than I do...well, its the ability to relate with them on some level. If my life goes the way I would like it to go, i would be living in my own shallow world of fun, friends, and funds and everyday would be a party!! I would be making my fun plans all the time! I would have little time or concern for those who are less fortunate than myself...I would be inclined to have pity, but perhaps not do a thing about it in a tangible way. There are more reasons than these for going through hard times, but in short, whatever suffering or uncomfortable things come our way, it is just God in His sovereignty telling us he loves us too much to allow us to live in our selfishness...he wants us to experience life as He intended it...GIVING to others, investing in others, walking through the hard times with others..as we look at the life of Jesus 2,000 years ago, that's what He was all about...others...loving on them, investing in them, hearing them, spending time helping them. If I call myself a Christian, (defined as little Christ) I am challenged to live like He lived...after many years of being a Christ follower, I still have so much to learn and implement in my life..He will keep stripping, i will keep learning, and hopefully one day very soon I will be implementing the lessons He has taught me and life will be pure joy...I know that is what HE desires for me...and you as well. He who began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it...blessings to you my friends.