Archive for December, 2008
Dec
12
That is a description of our recent life here. I am so tired of choosing the wrong attitude, and watching my family go down with me. I try so hard to teach the girls that they have a choice. They can choose the right attitude. Is this what I’m teaching? Yes. What I’m modeling? Absolutely not.
We were blessed to have one of Sten’s professors – Dr. Allman and his lovely wife over for dinner last week, and they were such an encouragement to me! We were able to have a great discussion on God and suffering… a topic they’ve learned a lot about, and one we are every day more familiar with. When you get lost in a bad attitude, how do you recover? It feels impossible. Dr. Allman shared one of his bad days with us, and that he started thanking God and praising Him for what He has done. He said he started in Genesis 1, and didn’t make it to chapter 7 before he had been raised out of his foul mood.
I am leading my girls and some friends of theirs through a little Bible Study of sorts. Last week we talked about learning contentment. We talked about the importance of thankfulness, and how when we are tempted to be discontent about something, we could instead find things about that same thing to thank the Lord for. I’ve really been struggling with discontentment lately, and God keeps gently reminding me that I need to thank Him instead of complain.
Yesterday, we went to Richardson to pick up our old recliner and bring it home. When we got back in the van, it wouldn’t start. Immediately, I did the one thing I’ve learned to do a lot here in seminary. Pray. Just kidding. I cried. I infuriate myself sometimes. My attitude started plummeting. What were we supposed to do? We’ve decided to remain debt free, so credit cards are a thing of our past. (good riddance!) We didn’t have a dime. God reminded me to think of things to be thankful for in that situation, so I started thinking.
I was thankful that Sten was with me. I was thankful that we were in a safe parking lot and not on the side of the road. I was thankful for jumper cables in our van. I was thankful to our friend Bill, for being able to give us a jump. I was thankful the van started right up. I was thankful we have the van, and that it is paid off… you get the idea. It wasn’t but a few minutes before the tears had dried and I was praising God.
Please pray for me if you remember, that God would help me see things to be thankful for in every situation. That I would learn to get a grip on my attitude, and teach my girls to do the same. He is SO faithful, and SO good to us. I want to make sure I stay constantly aware of all He has done, and is doing in our life. I don’t want a bad attitude to cause me to be blind to His work around and in us.
One last thing to thank Him for… my recliner has returned! 🙂 Okay. I know it seems ridiculous, but suddenly I look forward to getting up early, making a steaming cup of peppermint tea (thanks Erin!!), and climbing into that chair to meet with my Father. All is right with the world.