No Pity Party, No Whining… Just Praise Him!
We all go through hard times, disappointments, and even setbacks or delays. When faced with these challenges it is easy to feel sorry for ourselves, our family, circumstances, etc., or to complain about the way things appear. Yet, WHAT we focus on during such times has the power to change not only our circumstances, but how long we remain in valleys.
Join us below as we discover how to rise above and find solace and victory in praise!
YOU Can Change at ANY Moment!
We have all been there. Our health, or a loved one’s, is poor. We may find ourselves laid off from our job. Maybe even our fondest dream suddenly appears distant or completely out of reach. No matter what the exact circumstances are, when times are tough it is easy to feel sorry for ourselves or complain endlessly about the way things are—or the way they should be. Yet, there is power in choosing not to dwell there…
Yes, it is normal to have a period of sadness in the face of loss, trial, and disappointment, but this should never be a permanent place. After a while, and with God’s strength, we NEED to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off. After all, pity parties and endless complaining have no place in God’s Kingdom!
Still, this is often easier said than done. After all, we can become familiar with feeling sorry for ourselves or complaining. It can become comfortable and far easier than actually moving forward. Particularly when we consider that moving forward requires us to step outside our comfort zone and into a place of unknowns!
For instance, if we are sick, not as much is required of us. We can place blame for delays, difficulties, etc., all at the door of sickness and never on our own issues or insecurities. Further, when we can ignore our own issues by blaming something else, we never have to attend them. It is ‘never us,’ and always something else. We never have to go before God and seek His forgiveness and help. We are not required to learn new things, and people almost always cater to us… even if it is detrimental in the long term for us, and even for them.
This is not to say that sickness is not real or that it cannot be an issue—this is just one example and we can easily replace sickness with getting laid off from work, or any number of other things. However, sickness, and other issues, can act as a crutch for areas that are unrelated! It can even become a part of our identity, disallowing God’s healing from taking place as we cling to our sicknesses and problems.
The same is true for hard times of any sort. Lose a job and suddenly the inability to pay off a loan is not our fault—even if we struggled before then to maintain payments. Get a bad review on a business, and suddenly we never should have even begun in the first place—even if God specifically told us to start. The list of things that could be at the root of complaining, pity parties, or even blame shifting—which is often at the heart of both complaining and pity parties—is endless. What we can do to end them, however, is not… because it is actually quite simple.
It all starts with realizing there is a problem that needs to be corrected. Yet, the true FIRST ACTION STEP involves making a choice. A choice to change.
Now, how long it takes to reach the end of ourselves, our self-destruction, our pity parties and complaining… that varies. It is easy to blind ourselves to these things, and in that, we often fail to realize we NEED to change. Yet, the first action step is deciding that not only does a change need to happen, but that we are ready to change.
Once we choose to change, God will help us. The important thing for us to realize is that it is NEVER TOO LATE to change. We can make the decision to change at any moment, and God will not tell us that we missed the boat. He wants us to succeed. He wants the best for us!
Making the Change:
Once we realize that we not only need to change, but are ready to ACT on it, that is where God can meet us in the fullness of His glory and power!
The Word says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ …”
God does not want us to sink into sin or cycles of self-pity or complaining. God wants us to prosper as Jeremiah 29:11 says! This is why, that in our weakness, God’s strength fills in the gaps. He is strong for us, giving us His strength out of His love. Without God, we could easily go around and around the mountain, trying to pull ourselves up!
Once we decide to change, one of the most important things we can do is to lean on God. Turning to Him and asking Him to help us change as we step toward the change. Another is to praise Him and to thank Him for all He has done—battling in the opposite spirit of our trials, complaining, and sadness.
By praising and thanking God, we are doing the small thing so that God can do the big thing! With every moment we decide to praise and thank God instead of wallowing in pity or complaining about things… we are changing from the inside out. This is the power of praise. Of thanksgiving…
In praising and thanking God, our minds begin to shift from sadness and anger to joy—creating a beautiful place for God to work. A place where God can change us into His image, while keeping the beautiful uniqueness He built into each and every one of us intact… shining out with His love and purpose for us!
This change does not mean that God desires us to be like everyone else, lacking our special combination of likes, dislikes, and quirks. What it means is that God loves us so much that He wants to shape us to be the best version of ourselves as possible! He wants to mold us in His image so that we can accomplish every beautiful and perfect thing written in our books; a molding that retains every unique thing He loves about us.
Love. God’s love for us and our love for Him. That is at the heart of all this…
Changing for love’s sake takes away the sting of change; of being molded and shifted into a new season.
If we realize that the time for change has come, we ought to say to God, “I’m ready to change. I WANT to change. I’ve come to the end of myself and only You can satisfy. Take me and mold me into Your image Lord, into Your perfect likeness. I can’t do this alone, but I trust You Lord. I trust You!”
It is time for us to take that step of faith, trusting that God will do the big thing—that He wants the best for us—and praising Him, thanking Him, even when our instincts say we should whine or complain.
By praising God. Thanking Him. We allow bonds of oppression to crumble into dust. We prepare ourselves for the new wine of Heaven—the new wine of our new season!
Let us choose to change. Let us praise God. And let us say to Him who loved us when we did not love Him, “Thank You, Abba. Thank You for all You do, are doing, and will do, in and through me!”
If YOU would like to discover the power of praise and thanksgiving, then click HERE!
If YOU would like to help spread the Word of God to those in need, then click HERE!
If YOU would like to learn how gratefulness can bring joy, then click HERE!If YOU would like to explore your full heritage in God, then click HERE, to purchase Curt Landry’s book, Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage!