Reason #516

It’s funny how God challenges me with my own thoughts and words. How His quiet voice speaks to me when I am least expecting it, and as I stood in the bathroom getting ready for work this morning, I was confronted.

 

Sometimes I just get really tired and annoyed. I start to get annoyed by the smallest things and before long everything gets on my nerves. And so I become frustrated and my frustration turns into complaints. My complaints into discouragement, discouragement into defeat. This is pretty much the pattern every single time yet somewhere in that pattern a breaking point occurs where I just feel the need to let it all out. Say what’s on my chest, but truthfully, speaking words doesn’t always help. And so I found myself feeling this way as I brushed eye shadow onto my already heavy eyelids this morning.

 

I’ll be real honest, sometimes I struggle with submission. Submitting to God’s will, to authority, to the things I should. And I know that’s what’s expected of me, so I do it, but often times begrudgingly. I don’t always submit out of a reverent heart or out of desire. I do it because I know I am supposed to. I find myself biting my tongue as hard as I can to keep quiet, but inwardly I am irritated. I’m not happy about it, and I often times find myself thinking “why should I have to do that?”

 

But as I entertained this internal struggle this morning, I was challenged with my own words from last night. You see, I often times think of defiance and disobedience in the major forms. Acting out in such a way that is blatantly wrong. In a completely dishonoring fashion. Yet scripture tells us to be joyful always and to continuously give thanks. And so I quickly realized I was eating my own words. Because I so often look at situations and I’m not thankful. I am not joyful, either. I am annoyed and frustrated and I just want to change it. I want to speak louder, act stronger, and be heard. But it’s not about being heard, it’s not about changing things or making them different, it’s about having a grateful heart. About focusing on the good rather than the frustrating. About actually doing what the Lord has asked rather than disobediently saying no and following human emotions.

 

Maybe you, too, find yourself in this boat. And maybe you feel like it’s not going to change. But God doesn’t ask us to change our circumstances, rather, He asks us to change the way we look at them. To be thankful in our circumstances. And when you do that, it makes a world of difference. When your thankful for everything, it’s hard to be frustrated. This is a lesson I’m continually learning. The only thing you can ever change, the only thing you can control, is the way you think. And the way you think greatly affects how you view things. And so if you think of situations as annoying, you’ll be annoyed. If you think they are too hard, you’ll be discouraged. If you think you can’t do it, you’ll most likely be defeated. But if you praise God for everything, no matter how you may feel at the moment, He will help you see it in a different light. And the truth is, we do these things not for people but for the Lord. We practice on one another, but ultimately, it strengthens our relationship with God. And so I don’t have to give my two cents or say everything that’s on my chest. Rather, I can just be thankful for a God who hears and understands. For a God will help turn the negative into the positive, and in the process, I can become pleasing to the Lord.

 

#516 - Because He will help us view the negative as positive.

 

"Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight." - 1 Peter 3:4