Circumstances and Perspectives

I am on week four of the Unglued Online Bible study, and the first couple weeks were quite uneventful as far as facing moment where I would become unglued. I was thinking that I had this managing emotions stuff under control. Then week three happened.

It started with a sick cat and a trip to the vet on Monday…

…then it lead to a discovery of some unwelcome flea guests, of which we managed to clean up round one on Tuesday…

…then a busy and rough workday for both me and my husband, on the same exact day as our church small group on Thursday…

…then on my way home from my other small group the very next day, my check engine light came on, and the repair would not be covered under my maintenance plan at the dealership I bought it from because they are not a Mazda dealership…

…and finally, 11 p.m. on Saturday night, we had a mouse running around in our closet. Which, might I add, had piles of stuff on the floor that the mouse was able to hide in until just the right moment to run out at our feet.

Needless to say, I had reached my limit by Saturday night, and I became quite unglued when the mouse actually ran over my foot.

That is why these words in Chapter 7 stood out to me:

“…if only I were more in the habit of having a thankful heart full of praises instead of a grumbling heart consumed with circumstances.”

It’s a matter of making the habit of being thankful. Putting circumstances in God’s perspective, instead of just my own.  Praising God even if nothing seems to be going right…after all, the world is still turning, and I’m still breathing.

So last week in review with a new perspective:

I have two pets who entertain me, are companions (sometimes, anyway), and are normally healthy…fleas aren’t so fun, but we got free medication, which helps us a lot financially, and we caught them early so there weren’t that many of them…both of us have jobs and we have a great group that meets in our house every week…we both have cars, that are in good condition other than a couple minor things that need to be fixed…and finally , the mouse was tossed outside the same night, and I got a great laugh at my husband as he was chasing the mouse across our backyard yelling “go little mouse, go, go!!!”

Lysa also says, "...how powerful it is to shift from an attitude to gratitude and to praise our God in the midst of it all. When I do this, my circumstances may not instantly change, but the way I look at those circumstances certainly does.” By looking at the above circumstances with a new perspective, I believe it has opened the door to me being able to look at other circumstances with a new perspective as they come.

Today, I was allowing myself to get all worked up about a situation that hasn’t even happened yet. On my lunch break, I chose to sit and read my Bible. I looked up verses on being anxious, and 30 minutes later, I had a much better perspective and I went back to work with the reminder that I should “give all [my] worries and cares to God, for He cares about [me].” I was reminded to take each day as it comes.

God wants to take our worries. He wants to help us not be controlled by our emotions. If we waste time worrying, or being upset over something, or stuffing our emotions, we become ineffective in what God has given us to do in this very moment.

 

 

Unglued - Labels

I am on the second week of the Unglued Bible study on Melissa Taylor's blog, and it is amazing how aware I am becoming on the moments where my emotions get the best of me. The biggest thing that I have noticed in the past couple weeks is how in the heat of the moment where emotions are going haywire, it is very hard to reign them in and deny them control over my actions.

In chapter 3, Lysa says a very simple sentence that hit me in a HUGE way: "Labels only stick if I let them."

I have lived my entire life with the "quiet person" label. I don't speak up very often in big groups, and I have a soft voice. It was while reading this very quote that I finally realized how much control that label has over my life.

What I have realized is that by having my "quietness" pointed out in group settings, it actually made me believe the lie that I am a quiet person, and I do not have much to say in big groups. It shook my confidence.

And I have been living this label for years.

This label has hindered me from believing that I can really do what God has called me to do. As Lysa states, "Those labels start out as little threads of self dissatisfaction but ultimately weave together into a straitjacket of self condemnaton."

The "quiet person" label has me tempted to believe that I'm not going to be successful at my job...that I'll never be able to impact someone's life because I don't know what to say to some people...that I'll always be intimidated by the people that are outgoing and always talking to everyone about everything, never seeming uncomfortable in any situation.

Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

Masterpiece...We have all been created by God, exactly as He meant for us to be.

Created anew...When we trust Jesus for salvation and eternal life, we are a new creation. God has given us a new life, and we do not have to be the "same old" people we always were.

...the good things he planned for us long ago." God already knows what we will be able to do in our lives. We just need to step up to them.

The truth is this: I do not have to be controlled by the quiet person label. I do not have to be afraid to speak up in a group setting because of the fear of not being heard. I do not have to go into every conversation with a stranger with the worry that I won't know what to say next. I do not have to be intimidated by outgoing people but instead, observe how they keep conversations going with complete strangers and learn from them.

What is a label that you need to shake off?