Journal Entry ~ 11/28/17

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:4-7

This is definitely one of my life verses...mostly because He brings me back to it so often as He gently reminds me of all the wisdom He has shown me through this verse.  He did that very thing again this morning. 

I used to be a complainer...well, truth be told I still do complain far too often when I when I get wrapped up in the things of this world and I forget. I’m so thankful for how He reminds me of these lessons with His Word. As soon as I spend time with Him and He refreshes my soul and cleans my heart with verses like this, I let go of the complainer in me.  

When you get right down to it, we become complainers when we place ourselves at the center of the universe. That truth always gets me, but it's the reality of my life. I complain because I have removed Him from the throne and placed myself up there. My world becomes about my wants, needs, and feelings....and it doesn't take long to get to the "I deserve" place. That's when the grumbling starts. It's a dark and discouraging place to live, and there is very little peace to be found there. 

We all have complainers in our lives - those people who always seem to have something negative to say. You know the people - the ones who insist the expectations at work are unreasonable, who grumble about family members or even their friends behind their back, who insist they were treated unjustly. The dark cloud hanging over their heads is hard to be around, their stories are often filled with negativity and harsh criticism of others.  Complainers seem to enjoy stirring up controversy as a way to align views - they build alliances with others by finding a commonality in their dislikes. They’re not interested in solving problems, evidenced by the resistance to any efforts to see a different point of view, they’re more interested in getting people to feel bad for them, to shock them with a story of injustice, or just to get people on their side. 

The universe doesn't exist to serve me and my needs. I was a pretty consistent complainer years ago until He humbly brought me to my knees and revealed that I deserve nothing more than His wrath, and in an unbelievable act of mercy and grace, He rescued me. Every single thing in my life is an underserved blessing. Every single thing. When my heart finally accepted this truth, my life began to change. My complaining heart filled with gratitude and my soul began to find rest. The blessings became abundant - but mostly only because I began to see the blessings that I had not seen before. 

Each day we have a choice - we can choose to complain about the things we see as wrong in our lives, or we can choose to be thankful for the abundant way He has blessed us.  If you’re struggling to find things to be thankful for, begin with your rescue. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.  We are instructed to be rejoicing in the Lord - for everything. He still has to remind me often enough - and He will either do it gently as I spend time in His Word, or He will do it a little more painfully should my complaining heart begin to take over - but He always reminds me when the focus has shifted from Him to me. 

It would be easy to list all my complaints in this diagnosis and treatment.  In fact, there are many times when I’ve gotten caught in that trap. None of this is fun. But I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to be the person who finds something negative in every situation because things aren’t going my way or I’m not being treated as I believe I should be treated. I want to be the person who sees good in every situation, and find something to be thankful for in all things. My God rescued me when I did nothing to deserve His grace and mercy. For that alone, I am eternally grateful. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗
Many of you know I have been trying to raise money to replace the uncomfortable caregiver's chairs in the infusion center at Illinois Cancer Specialists.  It is important to me that our caregivers are able to sit comfortably for hours while we receive our chemo treatments ~ we need our caregivers to be at their best so they can care for us at our worst.  Please consider donating ~ every little bit helps!  Here is the link:



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