Often we go through life with issues we’ve gotten so accustomed to
dragging around, they’ve become part of us. Others might see them, but we
don’t. We learn to cope, adapt or assimilate versus learning to be free and
delivered from whatever it is. I have a 30 challenge which can shed some light
on those little devils. Are you game?
Last week I shared I was doing a 30 day challenge with a
small group of women started by my bible study teacher, and the day you read
this post, I would have just completed my 30 days of journaling.
Each evening you are to assess your day—looking at the
things you had no control over. Judging the things you couldn’t change, any
problems you encountered and how it affected your day? And with one very
important question being answered, “Did I please God today?”
Simple enough…right!
Well, yes and no.
My writing brain is pretty tired by the end of the night, so
I am not good at journaling before I go to bed. I either want to put on the
television, or listen to music. Reading or writing past a certain hour is
something I find great difficulty in wrapping my mind around.
I’m a morning person! I wake up full of vim and vigor at
least 350 days out of the year. No, seriously, I am not exaggerating. Whatever
I need to do, I do best first thing, and so, I didn’t even attempt to do my
journal entries at night (I just know better). But that didn’t stop me from
doing the assessment. It's very important to think about the
day and especially if something happened to upset you or prompted you to act
out. If you’re going to get all you can out of this experience then it’s imperative
to take note if your actions, attitude or mindset were not pleasing to God and
why? You must acknowledge that you had a hard day and think about why and if
you could have changed or done anything different. In fact if you can….write in
your journal at the end of your day, but if you’re like me, it’s a must you
have the time to do it first thing.
The biggest thing you must guard against, are all the things
that will crop up to keep you from making the full 30 days. Oh yeah, it’s going
happen. So makeup your mind when you take on the challenge that you are going
to take on the fight too! Anytime we take a step forward to do better, our
enemy is not going to lie down and say, “Oh, okay. Go ahead; get free from (fill
in the blank).” No, that is not his MO. If you’re stuck in a place which is
to his advantage, he is not going to let go without a fight. Is this to scare
you off? Of course not, “Greater is He that is in me, than is in the world.” I
just want you to have your guard up and be ready.
At the end of the 30 days, you will take time to re-read
your journal entries. This is where you will see patterns and strongholds.
Issues you thought you had dealt with that are still lurking about and popping
up here and there. You might even see things you have been dealing with for years,
but have gotten so used to them; they’ve become a normal part of your everyday life.
You will also see how many times in 30 days, you did or did not bring glory to
God and if your focus was to please Him, yourself or others.
And there will be a big bright spotlight shown on how you
handle or respond to that which is out of your control, and things you cannot
change. That’s going to be a real biggie for sure.
About halfway through, the Holy Spirit told me to also start
looking at things I did have control over. At first I wasn’t sure why I
received this instruction. The truth is, we may not have control over a lot of
things, but we do have control over how we view them, respond and handle them.
This is what He wanted me to see. And my count on pleasing God at the end of
the day—improved.
Three days into the challenge, the community I live in lost
electricity for about half an hour on a Friday and the Wi-Fi didn’t come back
on. After a couple of hours I texted my roommate (and owner of the home) to
advise what happened. I need Wi-Fi during the week for writing, but more so on
the weekends to skype and stay in touch with my daughter in Honduras. She told
me she would take care of it when she came home.
Well, long story short, I had to push her to call about it
and when they tried to reset it from the office her modem was shot. She had the
choice to pick one up (free of charge), the next day, but she wanted to put it
off until Sunday when she was off. Now all of this was out of my control, but
nonetheless—I was pissed! I was so angry I could have gone in the woods and
screamed! But instead, I was able to remove myself from the situation and go
over my girlfriend’s house for awhile.
Now you might question, “Why such a harsh reaction?” Well,
because what you will begin to see in your journaling, is how we keep a record
of wrongs or injustices when we think we are not. My reaction was such, because
it was just one more thing she wasn’t doing in consideration of me—according to
my record keeping.
Of course I had to come to grips with everything before I
went to bed. I tried to put a period at the end of it, but it was a real
struggle, especially when I woke up around 4am and it was still on my mind. I
fought to pray for her versus be angry and upset and rehashing old stuff. It
took close to 2 hours before I fell back to sleep. But when I did get up
Saturday morning, I quickly made the connection—it really wasn’t as big a deal
as I was making it to be.
Wi-Fi was up and running by Saturday evening.
At the time if I had been more focused on what I do have
control over, I would have realized I needed to control my emotions and temper.
I didn’t do anything outwardly to displease God, but inwardly, I failed that
day. My thought life and heart issues were far from good. The truth is, we
can’t change what we don’t know needs changing, but that’s the beauty and
blessing of this challenge—it will let you know.
Before I even get to do my re-read, I see an area I’m stuck
in which I’ve been working through for years. And I can’t wait to sit down with
the Lord and really talk to Him about what is going on and what needs to happen
for me to be free? I’m also seeing many situations are not always a big deal,
they are only as big as we make them. (Again, the anthill turned into a
mountain.)
In I Corinthians 11, Paul talks about the state of mind and
heart one should be in to take communion, and in verse 13 (Amp), he instructs “ But if we evaluated and judged ourselves
honestly [recognizing our shortcomings and correcting our behavior], we would
not be judged.” And I’ve found that this applies to us daily—the judging,
recognizing and correcting.
There will be a (Part 2) somewhere down the road, because I
do want to share all that my re-read reveals and what I’m doing about it.
Sisters, we are talking about 30 days and a
few minutes each evening—come on—take the challenge. It could change your life
forever. Amen!
Until next week...
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