The Apostle Paul was shipwrecked four times as he travelled around the Mediterranean sea, spreading the gospel (the good news) of Jesus. He spent "a night and a day" in the open sea. He travelled with "perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen [the Jews], perils from the Gentiles [the non-Jews], perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and without adequate clothing." 2 Corinthians 11:25-27

Once upon a late night awake, I was feeling sorry for myself and dejected about my life, illness, financial stress caused by illness, and other concerns. Lying in bed, I started flipping through a Bible. I came across the end of 2 Corinthians, where Paul writes about his sufferings for Jesus. I also read a fair chunk of the book of Philippians. Which Paul wrote from jail. He's actually really happy, even while he's in there. So happy that Philippians is generally known as the book of joy. And when you read it, it shows.

My Bible had a picture of a shipwreck next to those verses from 2 Corinthians. The closest I've come to dying (that I can remember) is once when I nearly drowned. I think that was part of why that night of Bible reading had such an effect on me. Paul didn't drown, and neither did I. He went on to spread the gospel to the rest of the world outside Jerusalem. I'm still alive too.

My entire mood started to completely reverse. My own problems and suffering seemed trivial in comparison to Paul and the other Christian martyrs. I prayed to God, and started to really feel blessed and fortunate to have the faith and closeness to God that I do have. And that seemed to be truly more valuable than the worldly things I'd been wishing I had. My mood lifted, and stayed that way a long time since.