This past summer, while out of the country, my belt broke. It was the loop that held the excess belt in place. And the rest of the belt was pretty worn, but still held together. It was leather. Because space in my luggage was crammed full, I had only brought one belt with me.
When the loop broke off, my brain raced. Always in the past, I would have thought that this is what happens. And I knew something bad was going to happen on this trip. And my brain would automatically start searching for the next thing that was going to go wrong.
And quite often, I found it. But after much effort and many years of trying to change, I went down a different street. I shrugged my shoulders, said a bad word, and put my belt on without the loop. I spun it over so that the excess belt didn't stick out like something that sticks out from the front of a guy.
And I just kept rolling. I thought about the paracord that I had brought with me and how years ago when one of my sons didn't bring a belt at all to a trip, I had to fashion a quick belt out of paracord. I figured if things got rough, I could do that and maybe start a new style in the country we were visiting.
The big thing for me was that I didn't get upset. So different from the way that I used to be. I was reminded of that when I finally bought a replacement belt five months later.
I'm glad to have been able to make these changes in my life. While I do still get upset over things, it's not the same.
And it's not as often. Thank you, God, for my freedom!
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