I have a confession.
A confession of who I used to be.
I am was a chronic complainer.
That’s right. And don’t act surprised. The only people who read this blog are people who know me (as far as I know, at least) and I’m sure you’ve all been a victim of my negativity at some point. Myself included. Myself especially!
Over the years the Lord has convicted me of this time and again. Yet the conviction never seemed to make much of a difference over the long term. It will not be too surprising for you to hear that it has been my husband who has helped me to realize the impact of my complaining on my own attitude as well as that of others. Now, he’s never criticized me for being as I have been, per say, but when you live with someone who easily finds the good in nearly all situations or simply doesn’t fixate on the negative you start to see where you aren’t quite “there” with certain things. (Side Note: I think this is part of how we are to be Jesus to others. By us simply living a life that lines up with His will that demonstrates to others the characteristics of Christ. Thus, provoking one other to want such Christ-like characteristics.)
My desire to overcome my faulty view on life was also helped when Graham Cooke was speaking to us about a year ago. He shared something along the lines of remembering that whenever we face a trial we should look at it as an opportunity to overcome. All obstacles are really just future successes. That is something that really stuck with both me and Zach.
Also, one of the speakers at school this year, I think it may have been Doug Stringer or Julie Meyer or maybe Steve Swanson, I just can’t remember and I’m not realizing it isn’t that important! Ha! Anyway, this person was sharing how complaining could be looked at as the antithesis of praise/worship. It is giving glory to Satan and his ways. That simple thought had a HUGE impact on me.
So, how have I been working on this?
First…I pray about it. Asking the Lord to transform my thinking and to make me aware of times when I am falling into negative thinking or complaining.
Second…Whenever I realize a situation is ideal for complaining, I begin to thank God for who He is and focus my attention on praising Him rather than complaining. It is actually much easier to do when “big” things are going wrong and I have found that it is forming a habit that is now impacting the “small” things.
A testimony to go along with this:
On the way home from our vacation we had mechanical issues with my car. At first it seemed the AC was not working properly. So we went to the auto-part store to get Freon. Upon closer inspection Zach realized it was a far greater problem. At that point, we prayed and decided to keep on with our journey and just trust God that we would make it. As we drove away from the auto-part store we began to praise God and thank Him for His protection, provision, goodness, etc. Then we prayed that the Lord would even do as the Word says and turn “all things into good”. We don’t think for a second that the Lord caused our mechanical issues, but we trust that He can take what Satan intends for bad and turn it into something good for His glory.
After several hours of travel we needed to stop to eat. Zach is a fan of shopping/eating at local establishments rather than chains. To support local economy and usually it is just a more memorable experience. On this occasion we found a local barbeque restaurant and decided to stop. It was an “interesting” dining experience but we were thankful for the nourishment and hometown feel. Plus, we realized a little later it was just across the street from an auto-part store! Upon leaving Zach was checking under the engine and I was walking Miss Maggie.
While this was going on a young girl came up and wanted to pet Maggie. Soon after her mother joined us and we began to talk. It wasn’t long before they opened up about their lives. Their last puppy had died and they were looking for a new one in hopes to helping to lift the spirits of the husband/father who was suffering from deep depression after a painful injury that led to his job loss which led to severe financial issues. Along with this list of unfortunate events, many other things that would seem little to us had also been going on in their lives but, when you throw them on top of everything else, they were just continuous blows to an already beaten down family. We spent about half-an-hour talking with them, praying with them, and encouraging them.
As we left and continued our travels we once again praised God for who He is and then spent a good bit of time in prayer for this family. In the end, we thanked the Lord even for our car issues. Had we not had them we would not have been there at that time and Zach wouldn’t have been working on the car and me walking Maggie. (To that end, even the fact that we got on the road 2 hours later than I had planned played into us being where we were at that exact time.) The entire time we were talking with the woman and her daughter I couldn’t stop thinking about just that and I am still thanking God for it and praying for that little family.
I know that story isn’t anything any one of you hasn’t experienced in one form or another. It’s just the way the Lord works in our lives and allows us to work in the lives of others on His behalf. It’s awesome! Still, I wanted to share because the power of the testimony does help us to overcome in our own lives and encourages others. Plus, it was so amazing to me to see that in the midst of the Lord retraining me to be more thankful and less negative, He allowed me to have nearly immediate results in the process.
For He is good! And His mercy endures forever!
