Attitude Adjustment Series: Complaining Doesn't Help

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Attitude Adjustment Series: Complaining Doesn't Help

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing so that you may be pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” -Philippians 2:14-15

I used to be such a good sleeper. I’d hit the pillow exhausted from chasing my five kids around and wake up refreshed early the next day ready to tackle the world again. I required eight hours of sleep for optimal productivity. But the past few years insomnia has become my unwelcome nightly companion.

Lately, I’ve been waking up at 3 am, and I lay there wide awake, flipping and flopping with thoughts rolling through my brain. “How’s this going to work?” “When am I going to get that done?” “What if…?” It usually lasts until 4:30 am and the alarm goes off at 5 am or 6 am depending on my work shift. I wake up frustrated from my lack of sleep, and I know I have a choice to make. I can choose to thank God the night is over and perhaps I’ll sleep better tonight, or I can complain and whine all day about how tired I am.

I wish I could say, I always choose the way of praise and thanksgiving. I do not. I can get pulled into the vortex of negativity, just like anyone else. But it doesn’t take long for me to be disgusted with myself as Holy Spirit whispers, “There’s a better way to handle your frustration and weariness.”

Do you ever notice when you complain, it invites everyone around you to join in too? People gather in their break rooms, near the water cooler, or over cups of coffee and try to convince each other who’s situation is worse. It’s all quite dismal when you think about it.

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Attitude Adjustment Series: A Godly Perspective

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Attitude Adjustment Series: A Godly Perspective

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.” -Job 38:1-3

Our attitude is one thing we can control

We begin a new series for May about our attitudes. There is little we can do to control the circumstances or the people in our lives, and we aren’t supposed to control them anyways. The one thing we are in charge of is ourselves, our attitude, and our response to life. The surest way to survive a challenging season is to do it with an attitude that pleases God. This month we’ll be looking at the different ways to move past our bad attitudes and be able to recognize the goodness of God, even when life is hard.

I’m optimistic by nature and have the strength of positivity, but even I wrestle with an occasional bad attitude, whether it’s about work, family, or the difficult situation I’m facing. During one particularly challenging season, I remember being upset with how I perceived God was treating me. I didn’t find my situation fair or just. I was sucked into the “why me” realm of negativity and self-pity.

When believers go through difficult trials, they often compare their story to the life of Job in the Old Testament. Job was a devout man, who loved God, had impeccable integrity, a successful business, abundant wealth, a large family, and servants. He was well respected. Here’s some excerpts from Job’s story.

Satan is roaming the earth, and he asks God what is going on. God shows him Job and Satan says, ”Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has and he will surely curse you to your face.” - Job 1:9-11

So, God allows it, and Satan takes everything from Job: his property, his servants, and his children. Job tore his clothing in grief and shaved his head, yet he did not curse God.

The next test for Job was when Satan covered his body with boils from his head to the tips of his toes. Satan thought he would surely curse God if his health was taken. Job cried out to God in anguish, and his friends who initially come to comfort him, encourage him to curse God and die. His wife also takes this harsh stance.

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Trusting God Series: God Is Trustworthy

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Trusting God Series: God Is Trustworthy

“The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.” -Psalm 145:13b

The best wisdom I can share about trust comes from God Himself. What He says about Himself in the Word has convinced me beyond the shadow of a doubt He is trustworthy. I’m tenacious enough that when God speaks, I long to listen and believe. Of course, we all struggle with unbelief, but there was a season of great testing where I learned about trust.

“Do you trust Me?” - God

My husband and I had been married for seven years and had three children under five when he became sick with Chronic Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Our newborn was two months old when the first paralysis took place. God had just brought us through an amazing miracle with our baby, so our faith was strong, but we had no idea the devastation we’d face in the next two-and-a-half years, as the disease progressed.

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Trusting God Series: Seeing Beyond Your Circumstances

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Trusting God Series: Seeing Beyond Your Circumstances

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”- 2 Corinthians 4:18

The Unseen Realm

One lesson we need to learn when it comes to trusting God is His work in the unseen realm. All He does and is, how He moves and shifts takes place in the unseen. We know Him and accept Him by faith, and He is always doing so much more than what we see. His unseen activity needs to be our focus.

The days leading up to speak at Women’s Conference in Arizona, I was depleted from the non-stop busyness of life at church and activities with our teenage daughters. I was crabby, exhausted, and my usual sunny disposition had up and left. My hubby even noticed. I landed late in Arizona and crawled into bed at my parent’s winter home. The next morning I got up early, found a cup of coffee and plopped myself in a comfy chair on the patio. The warmth enveloped me as I relaxed in the lounge chair. As I lifted my eyes, there were the Superstition Mountains, literally in my parents back yard. They stood strong, proud, and clothed in desert red.

The moment I settled back and looked at the mountain, the Spirit whispered these words from Psalms to my weary soul: “I will lift my eyes to the mountains-where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” -Psalm 121:1-2

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Trusting God Series: Knowing God

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Trusting God Series: Knowing God

“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.”- Jeremiah 24:7

Do you know God?

I spent most of my childhood and teen years knowing about God, but I didn’t know Him at all. He seemed distant, aloof and uninterested. I knew He was holy and to be revered, but I didn’t understand how revering Him would impact me. My Grandma taught me to be quiet in the vestibule and sit still for everyone around me while at her little Lutheran church. We didn’t attend that often, so church always felt a little stiff and formal to me. There was singing songs with lots of verses, reading from the Word and praying, but I didn’t really know how it effected me personally; there was no awe for me. I recognized some stories from the Bible as learned on the flannel graph in Sunday School. I knew Easter was a big deal because we got up early for sunrise service and I got wear a new dress and head to my Grandmas with all my cousins.

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Trusting God Series: Hope Required

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Trusting God Series: Hope Required

Remarkable Hope

I had the privilege recently of helping a fellow Hope*Writer launch her second book, Remarkable Hope. I thought of you as I read her compelling book. She takes common Biblical stories and retells them as fiction then provides beautiful insights about hope. You’ll will find yourself breathless as you read her Biblical accounts, then so filled with hope by the wisdom she shares about people who’ve been disappointed, disillusioned, and running out of hope. I’ve been there, how about you? Welcome Shauna Lettellier to Be Encouraged!

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” -Hebrews 6:19


Thomas Chisholm was not a formally educated man. But in 1941 he wrote in a letter, “My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. Although I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness."*

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Trusting God Series: The Surrendered Heart

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Trusting God Series: The Surrendered Heart

We’ll continue the Trusting God Series today talking about the surrendered heart. Often we struggle with trusting God because we don’t want to surrender to the unknown, or we’re just plain stubborn as we resist the leading of the Spirit. We fear surrendering to God will land us somewhere we never wanted to be. However, surrender is the door to trusting God.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says, ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.’” Isaiah 30:15

My husband stepped into the pulpit one Sunday morning at our church, and the Spirit whispered, “Your time here is over.” My husband was stunned by the timing, but he gathered his composure and went on with the rest of the service. We had spent seven years revitalizing this rural church in Minnesota. It is a grueling adventure to bring restoration and healing to a body of Believers. We left the church a healthier bunch. We had just received a raise and a clause in our contract that we could stay as long as we wanted. We assumed we would retire there, but God had other plans.

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Marriage Series: When God Rescues A Marriage

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Marriage Series: When God Rescues A Marriage

”You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”-Genesis 50:20

In February, on my blog we’ll be talking about marriage.  I believe God’s heart beats for healthy marriages, where unity, compassion, kindness,  support, and forgiveness flow freely. Marriage is two coming together as one to impact the world.  Apart from Christ, we can’t have a healthy marriage. The best marriages create an environment which fosters movement towards God and each other.

As a ministry team, my husband and I meet with couples struggling in their marriage.  Often couples are wrestling with how to forgive their spouse about something.  I lean in close with a grin and say, “Let me tell you my parent’s story.”

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The Most Forgotten Feeling: Longing

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The Most Forgotten Feeling: Longing

About seven years ago, I was in my usual place of morning reflection and time with God, and I was reading a book on spiritual formation; the topic of longing came up. I sat in my chair, thinking about this word—longing. What does it mean? Why haven’t I given it any thought? A longing is a yearning desire. Its synonyms are pining, craving, thirst, itch, urge, need, and zeal.

Ruth Haley Barton wrote this in her book, Sacred Rhythms, “When was the last time you felt it—your own longing that is? Your longing for love, your longing for God, your longing to live your life as it is meant to be lived in God? When was the last time you felt a longing for healing and fundamental change groaning in you?”

As I sat with this thoughts, the tears poured out. I’d been too busy, too fragmented, too focused on the daily demands of a large family and ministering beside my husband in the church. I was exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I knew there was more to life. I longed for deeper connection with God, more impact on reaching others for Christ, and the desire to do something significant with my life.

As I sat there in God’s Presence, I recognized my longings were never given a place to grow. I pushed them aside, buried them, and suffocated them with my constant motion. Was it because deep inside I didn’t think they would happen? Had disappointment made me a little jaded? Was it easier not to address my longing? Had I learned to settle?

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