Tuesday, October 9, 2012

How to Voice Your Upset

That Awkward Moment:  
When you're searching your heart and mind for the perfect thing to write about and nothing comes to mind.  Then you open up your daily devotional and it slaps you in the face...

Before I go into my personal thoughts on this matter, I want to share word for word what my "Jesus Calling" devotional said this morning.  If you personally are in the state of mind that I'm in right now, maybe this will give you goosebumps like it did me today:

You have been on a long, uphill journey, and your energy is almost spent.  Though you have faltered at times, you have not let go of My hand.  I am pleased with your desire to stay close to Me.  There is one thing, however, that displeases Me: your tendency to complain.  You may talk to Me as much as you like about the difficulty of the path we are following.  I understand better than anyone else the stresses and strains that have afflicted you.  You can vent safely to Me, because talking with me tempers your thoughts and helps you see things from My perspective.

Complaining to others is another matter altogether.  It opens the door to deadly sins such as self-pity and rage.  Whenever you are tempted to grumble, come to Me and talk it out.  As you open up to Me, I will put My thoughts in your mind and My song in your heart.

"I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint."-Jeremiah 31:25

Have you ever had moments like that where you put down whatever it is that you're reading and say "Okay God, I hear you."?  That was me this morning.  I got a little "scolded" with this devotional, but also reminded that it's okay to feel helpless and zapped of the energy needed to walk your path.  I've struggled lately with this intense need to voice my upset.  And in addition to voicing those things to Him, I also tug on everyone else's ears too.  Like they can do anything about it but "feel sorry for me"!  Which is honestly the last thing I want.  But in venting to other people (sometimes more than I do to God), I do feel that self-pity and rage bubbling up inside of me.  There are circumstances in my life right now that do make me angry and upset.  It is not the "upset" that is the problem, though.  It is the way I go about venting my frustrations about the hand I've been dealt.  

I write all of this and it makes it sound like I've got a really terrible life (see...self-pity and rage).  If I would just vent to Him, though He promises to fill my mind with HIS thoughts.  I SO want and need that.  I need a Christ centered mind.  I need His understanding, His perspective, His compassion, His vision.  With those things, any curve ball life throws me could be fielded with much more grace and humility.  I wouldn't have to worry about needing to "fake it", because my thoughts would be His.  He is ALWAYS compassionate and humble.  His approach to us is NEVER conditional...He is always genuine!  

So if you have found yourself complaining a lot lately, remember that the voicing of your anger or frustrations is not the thing that is wrong.  It is the fact that you don't bring it FIRST to the One who can honestly transform your mind into being like minded with Him.  If you could just see the hurdles from His perspective, you'd see you can scale them with much more ease than you think!

"Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure 'children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation'"--Philippians 2:14-15 

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