Sunrise…
Category Archives: Prayer
The other side of COMPLAINING.
It’s a choice….
What’s not going right with you at the moment?
Have you noticed how natural it is to always see the negative in every situation? I didn’t really realize how bad it was until a few months ago when I actually ‘heard’ myself one whole day at work. As I drove home that day, I was just amazed at all the things I complained about. This person didn’t do this……this person didn’t do that…..my boss doesn’t keep up with stuff……how did I get assigned to do this?……it is so hot outside…….it is so cold in the office…..blah blah blah.
I mean, it seemed like I had dedicated the whole day to complaining.
We complain about what’s going wrong in our life and our relationships. About our spouse and our children, our family and friends. Our job, our bodies. And some of us have a constant gripe about things that we have experienced in the past, seeing the whole world through the speckled glasses of that complaint. Not to minimize any grievance, but no one is worth years of committing ourselves to a negative mindset.
If we took a day, just to listen to ourselves, at our choice of words, which in turn shows our choice of perspective, we will be amazed at how our attitude is hindering our altitude.
About 2 months ago, I started a gratitude journal that I journal in every day. My prayer was that God helped me to make gratitude my default setting. I had to force myself to go against that natural grain of seeing the negative and finding that spark of positivity in every single thing. I asked God to help me get to the other side of complaining. To see the positive and hear the positive. To choose to live in a state of gratitude, that’s the other side of complaining.
Give every situation a second look and find the gratitude spot!
My prayer for you today is that in the midst of any disappointment and delay, remember that “no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly”. That God is faithful even when we are not. That gratitude turns what we have into enough.
Blessings always
JC
Another Chance….
So in my quiet time yesterday morning, I asked God for the fodder for my next post. Usually I could feel it brewing already, see the illustrations, the exact photos to use and the word flow……what did He want me to share?
Two weeks ago my coworker and I stopped at a nearby Target because I wanted to get a plaid shirt for a possible trip to the rodeo. We were joking around about getting the hat and boots to complete the ‘cowgirl’ look but as we approached the Express line, my eyes were immediately drawn to the face of the cashier and my joking words trailed off. She didn’t look right; she looked like she was in pain. My eyes honed in on her and I asked “How are you?”.
She said “I’m good”. Trying her best to mirror that statement.
With my eyes still intently on her face I said quietly “You’re in pain aren’t you?”. It seemed like we were in a vaccuum, and she said “Yes, it’s my back”.
All of a sudden the vaccuum went away and I became immensely aware that I was in uniform, in the front of Target, in the Express line with people waiting in line, and my coworker besides me. And I thought to myself ‘Lord, please don’t have me pray for this lady right now’.
I quickly got the bag with the plaid shirt and left; missing a Golden opportunity to be used by Him.
So today as I was teaching noon bible study, wrapping up Acts chapter 2, we were talking about Peter’s bold address at Pentecost. A young visitor brought up Peter’s healing of the man at the gate called Beautiful (Acts 3:1-11). God led me to share my experience.
Where was my “silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give to thee; in the name of Jesus, get up and walk”?
Oh the transparency of my walk…..I asked HIM for another chance 😉
This is my story to share…
Blessings always
JC
Prayer Appointment
Sunset….Turks and Caicos
Today I was sitting in noon day Bible Study and we were talking about Luke 19:45-48. My pastor began speaking on the topic of the church being a house of prayer. We all got to discussing how the church as a whole has lost the effectiveness of prayer as a true offensive weapon. But even in our own prayer lives we don’t seek after God like we should. We don’t make the necessary sacrifices to check in with God for our every move.
We don’t see God in our everything. We don’t yearn after Him to where we want to stay in constant communication with Him. In all honesty, I believe some of us don’t even like to pray. It makes us uncomfortable, we don’t know what to say or how to say it. We’re worried about what it will sound like and even what it should sound like. We have these thoughts that if God knows everything, then why is there a need to pray? We cast that down in the name of Jesus. Read the rest of this entry »
The Sound 