4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-9
I don’t know about you, but life can really get to me sometimes! For instance, the long hours at work that blur into the never-ending chores at home. If you show up to our house unannounced, there will be piles of laundry everywhere you look. Finally, it’s time to sleep, but not before washing baby bottles—again.
You know what I’m talking about. The physical and mental exhaustion keeps coming back. When it does, we get stressed out and overwhelmed, which makes complaining really easy! Still, letting all my frustrations out through mouthy griping and complaining doesn’t help anyone. Just ask my husband. In fact, it nearly always makes me feel worse. So why do I do it? Out of the mouth, the heart speaks, and my heart is selfish! We all have selfish hearts.
So how do we stop it? Here’s one thing that’s helped me to be less selfish. Think of what you complain about. Then, flip it. You’re probably complaining about some of your greatest blessings you never earned in the first place. Next time you want to complain about your job, flip it and thank God for providing for you through it. The bottles I wash every night belong to another gift from God, my baby, whom I absolutely love and adore. My husband, who also gets tired and stressed out, is an amazing dad and my best friend.
When we look longer at our circumstances to see the true gifts they are, we can flip most anything into praise. Complaining brings discontentment and makes me feel empty. But running to Jesus with both my pain and my praise fills me up every time. And His grace is never-ending, just like the laundry in my living room.
Pray: Jesus, thank You for every blessing You’ve given me. Help me run to You when I’m feeling worn down. You are my joy and my sustainer. In You I have more than enough. Thank You, again, for Your love and grace! Amen.
Have you ever thought it would be cool to hear some C3 leaders discuss the daily verses, share about their lives and mostly just talk about nonsense? Of course not!…even though nobody has ever thought that we are still doing it. You can follow along with us each morning in a brand new podcast – Worst Church Podcast Ever.
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