“Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name! The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.” Psalm 142:7 (ESV)
Your habit was completely disrupted for over a month. You chose to take 4 specific steps towards freedom:
1. Recognize • You decided to be mature and recognize you have a problem with complaining. You can’t change what you won’t see. The first step is to own up to your failure.
2. Repent • You decided to pray and repent from complaining so much. You decided to ask God to teach you how to live a life of Thanksgiving. When you repent, you say, I will not be a complainer. I will be who God wants me to be.
3. Read • The best way to know what God wants from you is to read His book. My suggestion was to start with Psalm 142 because in the beginning, you are detoxing from a lifestyle of constant complaints. You have to see that God is not anti-complaints. He is the only One who can do something about your troubles. The end of Psalm 142 fills the heart with hope. God will answer me. He is good. Reading the Bible also helps us to change from a toxic mindset to a Godly mindset. When God’s words enter the heart, our words change from complaints to words of thanksgiving.
4. Recommit • This process is similar to taking a shower. You have to do it often. You will find yourself being tempted to complain by thoughts or words. You will be quicker to recognize. You will repent and read God’s word. Recommitting means I will do what it takes to live a life of gratitude.
This challenge is not a cure for your lifestyle of complaining. It is more of an upgrade to a lifestyle of gratitude from the heart.
As the story of your life with God continues, you will find yourself repeating these 4 steps. I encourage you to be mindful to Recognize, Repent, Read and Recommit.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for this soon-to-be-over journey. Thank you for the lessons you taught me. Help me to be the person You are calling me to be. Help me to be humble enough to receive your help as many times as I need it. I want to be grateful from the heart. I pray for all of those in this gratitude journey with me. I pray that the world will see the difference you make in my life. When they ask about it, let me be quick to give You the glory for changing me. I thank you in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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